Terrence Shannon Jr. scored 30 points and grabbed 11 rebounds as No. 13 Illinois routed Missouri 97-73 in the annual Braggin’ Rights rivalry game Friday night in St. Louis.
Quincy Guerrier had 28 points and eight rebounds for the Fighting Illini (9-2). Coleman Hawkins had 15 points and seven rebounds and Marcus Domask had 10 points, seven rebounds and seven assists.
Sean East II scored 18 points, Trent Pierce scored 12 and Tamar Bates added 10 for the Tigers (7-5), who lost their third straight game.
Missouri led only once, when Noah Carter scored the first basket of the game. After that, the Illini seized control of the game kept it.
Shannon got the Illini rolling to a 20-9 start by completing two 3-point plays off of fast breaks and setting up Guerrier’s corner 3-pointer with another transition play.
A deep 3-pointer by Hawkins and a Shannon free throw pushed the Illinois lead to 31-15.
Curt Lewis stabilized Missouri with a three-point play on a drive to the basket, but the Illini kept coming. Guerrier converted a four-point play — on a corner 3-pointer and a free throw after getting fouled — as Illinois pushed its lead to 44-20.
Missouri missed 16 of 17 shots from 3-point range in the first half. The Tigers got to the free-throw line just five times in the first 20 minutes and converted just three of them.
Meanwhile, Illinois went 15-for-30 from the field, 7-for-19 from 3-point range and 12-for-18 from the free-throw line while building a 49-24 halftime lead.
Pierce scored five unanswered points early in the second half. Missouri cut its deficit to 22 points, but couldn’t get the margin under 20 points until Jesus Carralero Martin hit a 3-pointer with 11:19 left cut it to 17.
But Shannon scored on consecutive fast breaks as the Illini expanded their lead back to 75-52 with 8:00 left to play — and they cruised to the finish from there.
–Field Level Media
