Illinois Basketball Outlasts Missouri to Win a Braggin’ Rights Banger

Date:

Braggin’ Rights aren’t supposed to come easy.

And so it went Sunday in St. Louis, where Illinois endured a virtual bloodletting – a total of 43 fouls called, as well as countless elbows, body blocks and throwdowns – to outmuscle Missouri 80-77 in the team’s annual Braggin’ Rights border-rivalry game.

The Illini (8-3) predictably outrebounded the Tigers (10-2) by a 42-30 margin and held them to just three 3-pointers in the game – both Illinois specialties – but still needed late-game heroics from freshman guard Kasparas Jakucionis to take down a Mizzou squad that played with aggression and swagger.

After a pair of free throws from Tigers swingman Jacob Crews tied it up at 77-77 with 45 seconds remaining in the game, the Illini spread the floor and cleared out for their playmaking point guard. Jakucionis – who had been wiped out on a 3-point attempt that drew no foul call at the end of the first half – drove the right side of the lane, jump-stopped and, rather than leaning in and testing his luck with the officials, fired a turnaround jumper that gave Illinois a 79-77 lead with 28 seconds left.

On the other end, the Illini – missing center Tomislav Ivisic and swingman Tre White, who had both fouled out – forced forward Mark Mitchell into a missed 3, which was tussled for and corralled by Kylan Boswell, who offered an appropriate full-body flex after he was immediately fouled.

In the resulting trip to the free-throw line, Boswell made the first but back-ironed the second – the first and only miss all game for Illinois (22-for-23 on free throws). The Tigers grabbed the rebound with five seconds on the clock and found Crews for a last-gasp long-distance look from the left wing, but the Illini hounded him into a miss to seal the win.

Jakucionis finished with a game-high 21 points, while Boswell – despite another rough outing from the floor (2-for-12) more than made up for it with his defense, shooting from the line (11-for-12) and other contributions (including nine rebounds and five assists).

Terrence Shannon Jr. to Be Honored at Illinois-Michigan State Game

Former Illini Marcus Domask Has Career Night With Windy City Bulls

Play of the Week: Illinois’ Ben Humrichous Flies High for Putback Jam

Share post:

Popular

More like this
Related

Maiocco’s Observations: Deebo resembles old self in 49ers’ loss

Maiocco's Observations: Deebo resembles old self in 49ers' loss...

Bills don’t play a great game, but avoid a bad loss by coming back to beat Patriots

The NFL season is long. There are bound to...

Eagles grades by position after loss to Commanders

Eagles grades by position after loss to Commanders originally...

Fantasy Football Waiver Wire: Early pickups for Week 17

It's never too early to look toward your next...