Bragging rights are on the line Sunday in St. Louis

The 44th edition of the McBride Homes Braggin’ Rights between Illinois and Missouri takes place Sunday afternoon at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis (12 p.m. CT/ESPN).

The Illini are seeking back-to-back Braggin’ Rights victories for the first time since five straight wins over Mizzou from 2013-17.

Illinois has returned just two of 97 points scored and four of 200 minutes played since last year’s Braggin’ Rights win.

Sunday’s game against Missouri is Illinois’ first game in eight days after the team lost 66-64 to No. 1 Tennessee on Dec. 14, and is the only game in a 14-day period before the last one Game of the team of the 2024 calendar at the sold-out State Farm Center vs. Chicago State on December 29th.

Illinois is ranked No. 15 in the NCAA NET rankings after games played on December 17th. The Illini are ranked third in the Big Ten.

The Fighting Illini are 1-2 away from State Farm Center, including a 1-1 mark in neutral venues and a 100-87 loss to then-No. 8 Alabama on Nov. 20 in Birmingham and a 90-77 Thanksgiving Day win over then-No. 8 Alabama. 19 Arkansas at Kansas City.

Following the Illini’s 66-64 setback against No. 1 Tennessee in their last game, the Orange and Blue are now 1-2 against SEC opponents this year. Missouri — which is receiving votes in the AP Top 25 this week after a 10-game winning streak — is the fourth SEC team Illinois will play outside of the conference. The Illini faced another SEC opponent before the regular season, traveling to Ole Miss for a charity exhibition game on October 27.

Illinois is the Big Ten’s winningest team since 2019-20, posting a 70-32 (.686) record in league play. And if you include the conference tournament, the Illini have a league-best 76 wins during that span. The Illini won the 2024 Big Ten Tournament championship as a No. 2 seed, won the 2022 regular season championship and led the conference in wins while claiming a B1G tournament crown in 2021.

Head coach Brad Underwood has also led Illinois to the Big Ten’s best road record since the start of the 2019-20 season. Over that span, the Illini are 29-22 (.569) in conference away games and have finished .500 or better in four of the last five seasons.

Illinois’ victory over No. 20 Wisconsin on December 10 was the 150th victory of Brad Underwoodis Illini’s tenure. In his eighth season in Champaign, Underwood now sits fifth on Illinois’ all-time coaching wins list and is one win away from a tie for fourth place.

Underwood has led the Fighting Illini program to the AP Top 25 rankings in six consecutive seasons. The Illini are receiving votes in the latest AP and coaches polls released Monday.

After appearing in the Elite Eight in 2024 and winning the Big Ten Tournament Championship, Illinois has a completely different roster this season. The program returns just one rotation player — last year’s ninth-leading scorer Dra Gibbs Lawhorn – and returns a total of just 2.9% of his minutes, 2.2% of his points and 2.0% of his rebounds

Freshmen on the Illini roster have accounted for 93.2% of the team’s points so far (783 of 840 total points), with UI freshmen accounting for 43.7% of those points (342).

Illinois’ top three scorers and rebounders are all in their first year of college basketball. Freshman G Kasparas Jakucionis ranks first in scoring (16.1 ppg) and third in rebounding (6.1 rpg). Second semester C Tomislav Ivisic He almost achieved a double-double with 14.2 points and 9.7 rebounds per game. Freshman F Will Riley is the Illini’s third-best scorer with 13.5 points per game. And freshman F Morez Johnson Jr. ranks second on the team with 6.2 rebounds per game.

Illinois has nine freshmen in its 10-man rotation. Illinois’ roster features seven underclassmen: three freshmen and four sophomores.

Kasparas Jakucionis scored more than 20 points in five consecutive games, the first Illini freshman to do so in program history. During that span, he averaged 22.0 points, 6.2 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game while knocking down 17 3-pointers at a rate of 50.0%.

Jakucionis is the fifth newcomer to the Brad Underwood Era has scored at least five games totaling 20 points 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 on (5 in 2019-20).

Illinois leads the Big Ten and is 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 game (46th, 13.4), field goal defense percentage (8th; .369) and 3-point defense percentage (8th; .264). The Illini also rank second in the Big Ten in rebounding margin (8th in the NCAA; +11.3), 3 points made per game (21st; 10.6) and free throw attempts per game (23.; 25.3).

KenPom.com ranks the Illini 16th in Adjusted Efficiency Rating (+22.06). Illinois is one of 14 programs nationwide in both Defensive Efficiency (13th, 95.1) and Offensive Efficiency (31st). ., 117.2) ranked among the top 35.

According to KenPom, the Illini rank seventh nationally and third among power conference programs with a 3-point attempt percentage (3-point attempts/total field goal attempts) of 51.6%. The Illini have the best overall offensive efficiency rating (117.2) among the top 25 programs in 3-point attempt percentage.

The Illini’s scoring average of 84.0 ppg is the team’s highest since 1993-94. Illini also averaged 84.0 ppg.

With a scoring margin of +19.4 points per game, Illinois is on pace for the No. 2 mark in program history. The 1942-43 Illini outscored their opponents by 20.6 points per game. The team’s best mark since 1960 is +15.9 from the 2004/2005 season.

Illinois ranks second nationally in rebounding with 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 outscored their opponents in nine out of ten games this season.