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The 44th edition of the McBride Homes Braggin' Rights between Illinois and Missouri is set for Sunday afternoon at Enterprise Center in St. Louis (12 p.m. CT / ESPN).
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The Illini are looking for back-to-back Braggin' Rights victories for the first time since a stretch of five straight wins over Mizzou from 2013 through 2017.
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Illinois returns just two of 97 points scored and four of 200 minutes played from last year's Braggin' Rights victory.
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Sunday's matchup with Missouri is Illinois' first game in eight days, following the team's 66-64 loss at the buzzer to No. 1-ranked Tennessee on Dec. 14, and its only contest in a 14-day period before the team's final game of the 2024 calendar at sold-out State Farm Center vs. Chicago State on Dec. 29.
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Illinois is No. 15 in the NCAA NET rankings through games played Dec. 17. The Illini rank third in the Big Ten.
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The Fighting Illini are 1-2 away from State Farm Center, including a 1-1 mark in neutral-site contests with a 100-87 loss to then-No. 8 Alabama on Nov. 20 in Birmingham, and a 90-77 victory on Thanksgiving Day vs. then-No. 19 Arkansas in Kansas City.
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Following the Illini's 66-64 setback vs. No. 1 Tennessee in their last outing, the Orange and Blue are now 1-2 vs. SEC foes this year. Missouri – which is receiving votes in this week's AP top 25 on the heels of a 10-game winning streak – is the fourth SEC team Illinois will face during non-conference play. The Illini met an additional SEC opponent prior to the regular season, traveling to Ole Miss for a charity exhibition game on Oct. 27.
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Illinois is the winningest team in the Big Ten since 2019-20, registering a 70-32 (.686) mark in league play. And when including the conference tournament, the Illini have a league-best 76 wins during this time span. The Illini won the 2024 Big Ten Tournament championship as the #2 seed, captured the regular season championship in 2022, and led the conference in wins while adding a B1G Tournament crown in 2021.
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Head coach Brad Underwood has also led Illinois to the Big Ten's best road record since the start of the 2019-20 season. During that span, the Illini are 29-22 (.569) in conference road matchups, and have finished .500 or better in four of the last five seasons.
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Illinois' victory over No. 20 Wisconsin on Dec. 10 marked the 150th victory of Brad Underwood's Illini tenure. In his eighth season in Champaign, Underwood now ranks fifth on the Illinois all-time coaching wins list, and is just one win away from a tie for fourth place.
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Underwood has led the Fighting Illini program to AP Top-25 rankings in six consecutive seasons. The Illini are receiving votes in the latest AP and coaches polls released Monday.
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Following the 2024 Elite Eight appearance and Big Ten Tournament Championship, Illinois has a dramatically different roster this season. The program returns just one rotation player – last year's ninth-leading scorer Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn – and returns just 2.9% of its minutes, 2.2% of its points, and 2.0% of its rebounds overall
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Newcomers to the Illini roster have accounted for 93.2% of the team's scoring so far (783 of 840 total points), with UI freshmen accounting for 43.7% of those points (342).
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Illinois' top three scorers and rebounders are all in their first year of collegiate basketball. Freshman G Kasparas Jakucionis ranks first in scoring (16.1 ppg) and third in rebounding (6.1 rpg). Sophomore C Tomislav Ivisic nearly averages a double-double at 14.2 points and 9.7 rebounds per game. Freshman F Will Riley is the Illini's No. 3 scorer at 13.5 points per game. And Freshman F Morez Johnson Jr. ranks second on the team at 6.2 rebounds per game.
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Illinois has nine newcomers among its 10-man playing rotation. The Illinois lineup features seven underclassmen: three freshman and four sophomores.
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Kasparas Jakucionis has scored 20+ points in five consecutive games, the first Illini freshman to do so in program history. Over that span, he is averaging 22.0 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 4.6 assists per game while knocking down 17 3-pointers at a 50.0% clip.
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Jakucionis is the fifth freshman of the Brad Underwood Era to record at least five total 20-point games in his rookie season, joining Ayo Dosunmu (7 in 2018-19), Trent Frazier (5 in 2017-18), Giorgi Bezhanishvili (5 in 2018-19), and Kofi Cockburn (5 in 2019-20).
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Illinois leads the Big Ten and ranks among the NCAA leaders in: 3-point attempts per game (5th in NCAA, 32.7), total rebounds per game (2nd, 45.6), defensive rebounds per game (2nd; 32.2), offensive rebounds per game (46th, 13.4), field goal percentage defense (8th; .369), and 3-point percentage defense (8th; .264). The Illini also rank second in the Big Ten in rebounding margin (8th in NCAA; +11.3), 3-pointers made per game (21st; 10.6), and free-throw attempts per game (23rd; 25.3).
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KenPom.com ranks the Illini 16th in adjusted efficiency rating (+22.06). Illinois is one of 14 programs nationally to rank in the top 35 in both defensive efficiency (13th, 95.1) and offensive efficiency (31st, 117.2)
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According to KenPom, the Illini rank seventh nationally, and third among Power Conference programs, with a 3-point attempt rate (3-point attempts/total field goal attempts) of 51.6%. The Illini boast the best overall offensive efficiency rating (117.2) among the top 25 programs in 3-point attempt percentage.
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The Illini's scoring average of 84.0 ppg is the team's highest since the 1993-94 Illini also averaged 84.0 ppg.
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Illinois' scoring margin of +19.4 points per game is on pace for the No. 2 mark in program history. The 1942-43 Illini outscored opponents by 20.6 points per game. The team's top mark since 1960 is +15.9 set in 2004-05.
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Illinois ranks second nationally in rebounding at 45.6 boards per game, on pace for the program's best average in 53 seasons, since posting 48.0 rebounds per contest in 1971-72. The Orange and Blue have outrebounded their opponents in nine of 10 games this season.
