The annual border rivalry game between the Missouri Tigers and Illinois Fighting Illini will be played on December 22nd at the newly-renamed Enterprise Center in downtown St. Louis. Game time and television information have not yet been announced. Missouri, under second-year coach Cuonzo Martin, will be aiming to break a five-game losing streak in the series, referred to as “Braggin’ Rights”, with Illinois winning last year 70-64, increasing the Illini advantage to 25-12 in the all-time series.
Interest in both the Missouri program and the game with Illinois skyrocketed in 2017, after the arrival of Coach Martin and a highly-ranked recruiting class at MU, led by brothers Michael Porter Jr. and Jontay Porter. After a “downtown” series-low 12,409 showed up for the 2016 game, 21,289 spectators were at the then-named Scottrade Center in 2017.
Both programs have both battled on the floor and in the recruiting game in recent months, with Martin flipping now-sophomore Jeremiah Tilmon from Illlinois to Missouri late in the recruiting process, and Mark Smith, in the spring, announcing a transfer from Illinois, eventually ending up at Missouri. Smith will not be able to play in the 2018 edition of the game due to transfer rules, after scoring 11 points in 25 minutes in last year’s Illinois victory.
