December 24—ST. LOUIS — Kasparas Jakucionis scored 21 points, including the go-ahead basket with 28 seconds left, and Illinois beat Missouri 80-77 Sunday in the annual Braggin’ Rights game between the non-conference rivals.
Illinois held the lead for nearly 30 minutes of play, but a late rally by Missouri brought the game to the wire. An 11-0 run, capped by Trent Pierce’s layup, gave the Tigers a 68-67 lead with about 4 minutes remaining.
“After the last two years of pretty ugly basketball for the fans, I think we put on a great show today,” Illinois coach Brad Underwood said. “This is a team that has been growing for 11 games and it’s a tough and demanding schedule. There have been some incredible learning opportunities during this stretch. You’re up 10 and they go on a series of 11-0 and that’s what I call chaos and no one does that better than Missouri.”
Jakucionis hit a straight-up 3-pointer for a 75-72 Illinois lead with 2 minutes left, but Missouri’s Tamar Bates hit a wide-open 3 in transition to tie it at 75 with 1:14 left.
After the teams exchanged free throws, Jakucionis, a freshman who has six straight 20-point games, drove down the right side of the line, stopped, spun and hit a turnaround jumper for giving Illinois a 79-77 lead with 28 seconds left.
After a Missouri miss, Kylan Boswell made one of two free throws for a three-point lead. Jacob Crews missed a 3-point shot that could have tied the game for Missouri.
Boswell made 11 of 12 free throws and Jakucionis made 8 of 8 for Illinois, which was 22 of 23 from the line. Missouri made 28 free throws but shot just 76 percent from the line. There are 43 fouls in total in the match.
“I think we calmed down a little bit. We lost a little bit of ourselves, but we talked and got back to our game,” Jakucionis said. “I don’t feel any pressure, I just try to make plays for the team and make the right decisions. Kylen is the leader. He helps by communicating. In the last 10 minutes he was leading the drives and scoring easy points. I think he is the best leader on the team.
“I thought Kylen was great down the stretch and Kaspar shows why he plays better than anyone in the country,” Underwood said. “I thought Montez Johnson and Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn were great in helping us in important moments of the game. I’m proud of this group and it was great to get a win against a team that will be competing in March. It’s now an exciting game for us because we can move forward and improve over the Christmas break.”
Boswell had 16 points, nine rebounds and five assists for Illinois (8-3). Tre White scored 13 points and Tomislav Ivisic had 11 points and 10 rebounds.
For Boswell, it was a personal milestone in his first Braggin’ Rights match.
“It’s an incredible experience, especially since I’m from Champaign and I’m an Illinois fan,” Boswell said. “Finally getting into this arena and this atmosphere is amazing and for us to be able to fight hard as a group and listen to coach. I thought our execution was very good today.”
A major lesson the Illini learned was overcoming early foul trouble.
“We have a 4-minute drill and maybe they thought we were fouling,” Underwood said. “But our fight at the rim was fantastic and we did a good job of making them see bodies in the paint and that made it difficult for them to score close baskets.
“There are some nights where you have to make do. I knew there were times when Morez and Tommy (Ivisic) would play together. (Missouri’s Mark) Mitchell is a load and we thought we would struggle. I thought Morez was great. He had four offensive rebounds in the first half and his energy was impactful. I thought Draven came in and provided a burst, so you get different lineups and sequences like playing with. Dra in all four.
Mark Mitchell and Tony Perkins scored 18 points each and Bates had 17 for Missouri (10-2), which saw its 10-game winning streak end.
After the heartbreaking loss to Tennessee, Underwood was pleased with how the Illini fought back in a big way.
“I think we all like to win them, but I understand we can’t,” Underwood said. “What I’m happy about is that we didn’t fall off the cliff. This team has the incredible ability to move forward to learn and I’ve been around this team watching a lot of film and spending time together and that gives us a chance to grow at a rapid pace.”
Illinois hosts Chicago State on Sunday and Missouri hosts Alabama State on Monday.
