Missouri plays its final game before the holiday break Thursday, squaring off with rival Illinois in the McBride Homes Braggin’ Rights game. Tipoff in St. Louis is set for 8 p.m. on SEC Network.
ABOUT THE TIGERS
• Missouri is 10-1 through the first 11 games of the 2022-23 campaign.
• Five Tigers are currently scoring in double figures with graduate student D’Moi Hodge leading the way with 16.4 points per game.
• Seniors Kobe Brown and Noah Carter are right behind with 12.9 and 11.6 points, while also leading Mizzou with 5.7 and 5.0 boards.
• Graduate student Nick Honor adds 11.1 points to go with a team-best 3.4 assists.
• Mizzou ranks fourth nationally with 88.4 points per game, while allowing 75.0 on defense.
ABOUT THE FIGHTING ILLINI
• Illinois owns an 8-3 record and is ranked No. 16 in both the AP and Coaches polls.
• The Illini are coming off a 68-47 win against Alabama A&M on Saturday.
• Terrence Shannon Jr. is the only Illinois player averaging in double figures with 17.8 points, while seven players average eight-plus points.
• Coleman Hawkins leads the Illini with 6.1 boards and 4.2 assists per game.
• Illinois is averaging 78.1 points per game and allowing 62.1.
SERIES HISTORY
• The two rivals have met annually since 1983 with all but the 2020 meeting during the COVID season in St. Louis.
• Overall, the Illini own a 33-19 all-time edge in the series, including a 25-15 advantage in St. Louis.
• Illinois earned an 88-63 win last season, ending a three-game winning streak for Mizzou.
VERSUS RANKED ILLINOIS
• The Tigers have faced a ranked Illinois team on 21 previous occasions, including 20 times since the Braggin’ Rights series began.
• While Mizzou is 8-13 all-time against a ranked Illini team, the Tigers have won their last four meetings over a top-25 Illinois squad (2010, 2011, 2012 and 2020).
• MU’s last win in the series was an 81-78 victory against No. 6 Illinois during the 2020-21 season with the game played in Columbia – the highest-ever ranked Illini team Mizzou has defeated.
TIGERS VERSUS BIG TEN
• Missouri has played Big Ten schools 158 times during its history with nearly a third of the meetings (52-of-158) against Illinois.
• Overall, the Tigers are 63-95 all-time versus the conference.
• MU’s last seven contests versus the Big Ten have been with Illinois with the school last playing a different school in 2015 versus Northwestern.
10-1 START
• The Tigers are currently enjoying one of their best starts in years.
• Mizzou has won 10 of its first 11 games, tied for its best start since beginning the 2011-12 season with an 11-0 record (also started 10-1 in 2012-13 and 2013-14).
• With a win Thursday, the Tigers will begin a year with an 11-1 record for just the sixth time in the last 40 seasons.
GHOLSTON GAME WINNER
• The Tigers improved to 10-1 thanks to a buzzer-beating winner from senior DeAndre Gholston Saturday versus UCF.
• The graduate student sunk a near 40-footer as time expired to lead Mizzou to the 68-66 win.
• It is the second game-winner for Gholston during his college career with, ironically, the first coming against Coach Gates and Cleveland State – a layup with 3.2 seconds left in a 81-80 win (Jan. 23, 2021).
• Gholston also made a game-tying triple versus Wright State on March 2, 2021 in a game Milwaukee won in overtime.
NO. 4 IN SCORING OFFENSE
• The Tigers own one of the nation’s top attacks this season.
• Mizzou enters the game ranked fourth nationally with a scoring offense of 88.4.
SHOOTING 50 PERCENT
• The Tigers have excelled shooting the ball this season.
• MU leads the SEC and is fifth in the country in effective field goal percentage (58.3) and 10th in overall field goal percentage (50.6).
• In fact, Mizzou has made at least 50 percent of its field goals in 6-of-11 games this season, going a perfect 6-0 in those matchups.
• Despite being just 11 contests into the year, it is tied the most times MU made at least half of its baskets since doing so nine times in 2017-18.
DEPTH IN NUMBERS
• Behind Mizzou’s productive offense is a number of weapons.
• Through 11 games, eight different Tigers have scored in double figures already this year with six different players leading the team in scoring.
• Additionally, MU has had six players eclipse 20 points in a game this year, while seven different players have recorded at least five assists.
• Mizzou is one of just 15 schools in the nation to feature five players averaging at least 10.0 points per game – a first for the team since 2012-13.
