#BragginRights On The Line as @MizzouHoops Faces Illinois on Saturday

Saturday, December 23

St. Louis, Mo.

7 PM CT

University of Missouri

Illinois

#BragginRights On The Line as @MizzouHoops Faces Illinois on Saturday

12/22/2017 11:55:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Tigers and Fighting Illini tip off from the Scottrade Center at 7 p.m. CT on ESPN2

Mizzou Men's Basketball (10-2) aims to complete its first undefeated month of December since the 2011-12 season on Saturday, Dec. 23, as the Tigers face Illinois (8-5) in the 37th Annual Bud Light Braggin' Rights Game presented by State Farm Insurance at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis.

Mizzou vs. Illinois
Dec. 23, 7 p.m.
ESPN2

Game Notes

Story Lines

The Tigers have won five-straight games for the first time since the 2013-14 season when Mizzou compiled a steak of 10 wins to begin its campaign. Mizzou's 10-2 start is the Black & Gold's best since that 2013-14 campaign when the Tigers began the season 12-2.
Senior forward Jordan Barnett, a St. Louis native, is averaging 18.7 points and 7.6 rebounds per game over the Tigers' last seven games.
Barnett logged the fifth 20-point game of his career and second this season with his 22-point effort in the 82-81 win over Stephen F. Austin (Dec. 19), shooting 6-of-12 from the field, 4-of-7 from deep range and 6-of-6 from the free throw line.
Mizzou's 118 three-pointers rank as the most in program history through 12 games, ahead of the 2009-10 season's 112. The 1999-2000 season comes in third at 108 through 12 games.
Freshman forward Jontay Porter, Texas A&M's Robert Williams and Mount St. Mary's Chris Wray are the only three players in the nation averaging 6.5 rebounds, 2.0 blocks and 2.0 assists per game.
Mizzou trails in the all-time series vs. Illinois, 16-31. In the 36 prior Braggin' Rights matchups in St. Louis, the Tigers trail the Fighting Illinois, 12-24.

Scouting Illinois

Mizzou and Illinois will meet for the 37th Annual Bud Light Braggin' Rights Game presented by State Farm Insurance at the Scottrade Center, with the Fighting Illini leading the all-time series between the two schools, 31-16.
Under first-year head coach Brad Underwood, Illinois has posted a record of 8-5 to start the 2017-18 season. Most recently, Illinois dropped a 74-69 contest to New Mexico State at the United Center in Chicago, Ill., on Dec. 16.
Three Illini are averaging double-digit scoring figures, led by Leron Black at 13.9 points per game. Aaron Jordan (12.1) and Michael Finke (11.8) join him in double-figures.
As a squad, Illinois averages 82.5 points per game and allows 70.8 points per game. The Fighting Illini have shot 44.8 percent from the field thus far in the 2017-18 season.

Notes From The Stephen F. Austin Win

With the win over Stephen F. Austin, Mizzou improved to 7-0 at Mizzou Arena, just one win shy of matching its best home start since the 2013-14 season when Mizzou won its first eight home contests.
Mizzou sank a season-high 85.2 percent (23-of-27) of its attempts at the charity stripe. Seven Tigers made shots from the free throw line, including perfect nights from senior forward Jordan Barnett (6-of-6) and junior guard Jordan Geist (4-of-4).
Senior guard Kassius Robertson led the team in scoring for the fourth time this season with 23 points (7-of-12 FG, 5-of-9 3PT, 4-of-6 FT). The 23-point output matches his season-high, and is the second time this season and 16th time in his career he has reached 20 points.

#BragginRights

The holiday tradition known as Braggin' Rights, the college basketball matchup between Mizzou and Illinois, began formally in 1980 and has been played in St Louis' Scottrade Center since 1994.
Mizzou trails in the all-time series against Illinois, 16-31. In the 36 prior Braggin' Rights matchups in St. Louis, the Tigers trail the Fighting Illinois, 12-24.
The past six Braggin' Rights Games have been decided by single-digits.
After winning four-straight from 2009-12, the Tigers have now surrendered four in a row to the Fighting Illini. In the final three Black & Gold wins in the series (2010-12), both Mizzou and Illinois were ranked.
Prior to 1980, Mizzou and Illinois traded trips between Columbia and Champaign, with one neutral site contest in Kansas City in 1946 (won by Mizzou, 55-50).

More Story Lines

In Mizzou's five-game winning streak, it has outscored its opponents by an average margin of 16.0 points (79.8-63.9). Mizzou has made 42.7 percent (53-124) of its three-pointers, while holding its opponents to 29.2 percent (33-113) in that span.
Freshman guard Blake Harris is one of just five players in the nation averaging at least 3.0 assists per game while playing fewer than 14.0 minutes per game.
Head coach Cuonzo Martin's squad has outrebounded its opponents in 11-of-12 games this season. Mizzou ranks second in the SEC in rebounding margin (+9.5).
Mizzou is 7-0 at home to start the season -- its best home start since the 2013-14 season when the Tigers won their first eight.
Junior guard Jordan Geist has hit 48.4 percent (15-of-31) of his three-pointers to start the 2017-18 season, an increase from his 28.6 percent success rate from the entire 2016-17 season.
Ball movement is on the up-tick for the Tigers this season, as Mizzou has averaged 16.6 assists per game -- an improvement over the 12.1 dimes averaged last season. Martin's squad has only posted two games with fewer than 12 assists this season (11: at Utah; vs. Emporia State).
The Tigers are out to a 10-2 start -- the best start to a campaign for Mizzou since the 2013-14 season when the Black & Gold started 12-2 (wins were later vacated).
The Tigers have improved immensely as a blocking team, more than doubling last season's blocks per game average (2.1) with their current 5.2-blocks-per-game average.
Mizzou had two players record 10-or-more rebounds in the same game for the first time since the 2015-16 season in the win vs. North Florida (Dec. 16). Senior forward Jordan Barnett (11) and freshman forward Jontay Porter (10) accomplished the feat, with the last occurrence coming on Dec. 29, 2015 (Jakeenan Gant, 11; Russell Woods, 10) against Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
Mizzou grabbed 52 rebounds against North Florida (Dec. 16) -- its first game with 50-or-more boards since last season vs. Auburn (51, Jan. 10, 2017).
Mizzou put up 100 points for the first time since the 2012-13 season in its 100-77 victory over Green Bay (Dec. 9). The Tigers defeated South Carolina State by a score of 102-51 on Dec. 17, 2012.
Graduate senior guard Kassius Robertson had played in 108 games in his career prior to the game vs. Miami (Ohio) on Dec. 5, which began with three seasons at Canisius, but never before had Robertson recorded two blocks in a game.
Martin's Mizzou squad has scored 90+ points four times 12 games into his tenure as the Tigers' head coach. From 2012-13 to 2016-17, Mizzou scored 90+ points just nine times in 164 total games.
Mizzou's 62-59 win at UCF (Nov. 30) was the first road win for the program since Jan. 28, 2014, when the Tigers defeated Arkansas in Fayetteville, 75-71.
Iron Man! Robertson has played at least 20 minutes in 88-straight games dating back to midway through his freshman season (2014-15) at Canisius.