Braggin’ Rights On Campus: Illinois & Mizzou to Broadcast Coin Flip Special Thursday to Decide Home Team for 2020 Rivalry Clash
11/11/2020 4:46:00 PM | Men's Basketball
The 2020 edition of the Braggin’ Rights game will be played in either Champaign or Columbia
COLUMBIA, MO. – Braggin' Rights is back. Both Mizzou and Illinois have worked step-by-step in coordination to ensure the historic rivalry matchup continues in 2020 in light of challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic preventing the game from occurring in St. Louis.
The two programs have agreed to square off on campus at either Mizzou Arena in Columbia, Mo., or State Farm Center in Champaign, Ill., on Saturday, Dec. 12. Television designations and tip times will be decided at a later date.
To fairly decide which venue will feature the premier matchup, national college basketball personality Andy Katz will host a Braggin' Rights On Campus: Coin Flip Special live production on Facebook, YouTube, and both schools' official athletic websites, MUTigers.com and FightingIllini.com at 6 p.m. CT on Thursday, Nov. 12.
Braggin' Rights on Campus: Coin Flip Special will feature interview segments with several key figures from both institutions including both head coaches, Cuonzo Martin and Brad Underwood, Mizzou President & Chancellor Dr. Mun Y. Choi and Illinois Chancellor Robert Jones, and Athletic Directors, Jim Sterk and Josh Whitman. Mizzou senior standout Jeremiah Tilmon, Jr., and Illinois star junior Ayo Dosunmu will also join the program.
At the conclusion of the show, Katz will flip a two-sided coin that displays Mizzou's "Oval Tiger" on one side and the Illinois 'Block I" on the other, and whichever institution's logo lands right-side up will host the 2020 edition of Braggin' Rights.
"The annual Braggin' Rights game is one of St. Louis' great sporting traditions, and I'm grateful that we have been able to work with Josh Whitman and his staff at Illinois to ensure that this meaningful game continues this season despite the challenges we are all facing due to COVID-19," Sterk said. "St. Louis has been the site of many memorable games in this storied rivalry over the last 40 years, and we look forward to returning to the Enterprise Center for future games. The passion and intensity of this rivalry is what makes college athletics special, and despite playing on campus this season, I am confident those elements will be there for both teams. Given the financial realities facing many schools today, I believe intercollegiate athletics needs more regional rivalries like this to be played in all sports, and we look forward to working with Illinois to play in as many different sports as possible in future years."
In an effort to maintain some of the neutrality that St. Louis' Enterprise Center provides for this annual contest from a staging standpoint, the institutions mutually agreed that fans would not be able to attend the game at either site. Following the 2020 edition of Braggin' Rights, plans are to continue holding the event at the Enterprise Center in 2021 and beyond.
"The Braggin' Rights game is special," Whitman said. "It is important to our teams, our Universities, and our fans. It also means a great deal to the city of St. Louis. We enjoy a nearly 40-year partnership with our many friends in St. Louis and the Enterprise Center; unfortunately complications in the current climate are too many to hold this year's game there. We look forward to returning the Braggin' Rights game to Enterprise Center in the coming years, but are excited to bring the 2020 edition of this series on campus. In a time when so many difficult scheduling decisions are being made, we worked diligently with our friends at the University of Missouri to ensure this great rivalry game will continue. Our calendars are all marked for December 12. Now let's hope the coin lands with the "I" up!"
Mizzou and Illinois have met 50 times in program history and the 2020 edition will mark the first time Braggin' Rights isn't played in St. Louis since an overtime thriller in Champaign on Dec. 4, 1979. Illinois leads the all-time series 32-18 with Mizzou winning the last two outings. The two teams have met in Champaign five times and Columbia on five occasions in addition to one lone matchup in Kansas City on Dec. 16, 1946.
