The Missouri men’s basketball team returns to St. Louis to play rival Illinois in the McBride Homes Braggin’ Rights matchup. First tip at Enterprise Center is set for 8 p.m. on FS1.
ABOUT THE TIGERS
• Missouri enters Braggin’ Rights with a 7-4 record.
• The Tigers have lost their last two games, falling at No. 2 Kansas and to Seton Hall in Kansas City.
• Graduate guard Sean East II leads the Tigers with 17.1 points and 3.9 assists per game.
• Overall, three Tigers score in double figures with Nick Honor tallying 12.5 points and Noah Carter chipping in 11.7 points.
• Carter also leads Mizzou with 6.5 rebounds.
• Missouri is scoring 75.5 points per game, while allowing 70.1 points on defense.
ABOUT THE FIGHTING ILLINI
• Illinois is ranked No. 13 in the AP poll and No. 11 in the coaches poll, entering with an 8-2 record.
• The Illini are coming off a 74-57 win over Colgate on Sunday.
• Terrence Shannon Jr. leads the Illini with 20.9 points per game.
• Marcus Domask is second on the team with 11.8 points, while Quincy Guerrier is third with 8.7 points and first with 6.7 rebounds.
• The Illini own a scoring offense of 79.4 points with a scoring defense of 64.2.
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 33-20 all-time edge in the series, including a 25-16 advantage in St. Louis.
• The Tigers have won four of the last five meetings with the Illini, including a 93-71 win last season.
2022 BRAGGIN’ RIGHTS RECAP
• The Tigers posted their largest win in Braggin’ Rights history last season, dominating No. 16 Illinois, 93-71.
• An early 20-2 run helped Mizzou take a 51-27 lead into halftime and the Tigers led by as many as 35 points before earning the 22-point victory.
• Kobe Brown led MU with 31 points – the most ever by a Tiger in a Braggin’ Rights game – to go with eight assists, five boards and four steals.
TIGERS VERSUS BIG TEN
• Missouri has played Big Ten schools 143 times during its history with 53 of the 143 games against Illinois.
• Overall, the Tigers own a 58-85 all-time record versus the conference
• Mizzou already owns one win over the league this season, defeating Minnesota on the road, 70-68, on Nov. 16.
• The last time the Tigers posted two wins over Big Ten foes in the same season was 2003-04 with victories over Indiana and Iowa.
VERSUS RANKED ILLINOIS
• Friday’s matchup is another opportunity for the Tigers to take down a ranked Illini team.
• While Missouri is 9-13 all-time against Illinois when ranked, the Tigers have actually won their last five meetings against a ranked Illini team (2010, 2011, 2012, 2020 and 2022).
20-POINT THREAT IN SEAN EAST II
• Sean East II has saved his best for last in 2023-24.
• East leads MU with 17.1 points this season – more than double his career average entering the year.
• The graduate guard has also tallied at least 20 points in 6-of-11 games this season after doing so just twice in 90 games prior to the season.
• In fact, it marks the first time that a Tiger has eclipsed 20 points in six of the season’s first 11 games since Jordan Clarkson in 2013-14.
• Overall, East is fifth in the SEC and 118th in the country with his 17.1 points per game.
MULTI-TALENTED
• Sean East II is more than just a scorer.
• Over the last six games, East is averaging 19.7 points and 5.5 assists to lead Mizzou.
• East has recorded at least six assists in the last three games – the first Tiger to do so since Dru Smith during the 2020-221 campaign.
• Other notable stats for East include becoming the first Tiger with 20 points and six assists in back-to-back games (Dec. 3 and Dec. 9) since 1994 and the first with 20 points and nine assists in a single game (Dec. 3) since 2013.
• Overall, East leads MU with 3.9 assists per game.
CAREER-BEST DAY FOR BATES
• Junior Tamar Bates stole the spotlight from Sean East II in Mizzou’s last game.
• Bates led MU in scoring for the first time in his career, matching a career-high with 22 points.
• Bates was especially strong from beyond the arc, hitting all four of his tries. He is the first Tiger to make at least four triples without a miss since Xavier Pinson versus Ole Miss on Feb. 18, 2020.
• Bates is now averaging 8.5 points – shooting 48.4 percent and 52.0 percent from 3-point range.
THREE-POINT ATTACK
• Missouri has increased its offensive pressure from beyond the arc this season.
• Mizzou ranks third in the SEC and 31st nationally with 9.6 triples per game.
• That is currently the highest mark in MU history as the current standard is 9.4 set in 1999-00.
• Missouri is also 76th nationally by making 36.2 percent of its attempts from 3-point range.
