National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Illinois 88, Missouri 63
When: 9:00 PM ET, Wednesday, December 22, 2021
Where: Enterprise Center, St. Louis, Missouri
Officials: # Owen Shortt, # Brian Dorsey, # Courtney Green
Attendance: 14953

Kofi Cockburn scored 25 points and grabbed 14 rebounds in just 29 minutes Wednesday night as Illinois routed Missouri 88-63 in the yearly Braggin' Rights game in St. Louis.

Alfonso Plummer added 22 points, hitting three of the Fighting Illini's 12 3-pointers. Trent Frazier scored 15 and Jacob Grandison dished out six assists. Illinois (9-3) had 20 assists on 33 made buckets and canned 56.9 percent from the field.

Jarron Coleman came off the bench to score 16 points for the Tigers (6-6). Kobe Brown added 13 points but made only 5 of 16 shots from the field. Missouri connected on just 36.5 percent of its field goals, including a miserable 6 of 23 on 3-pointers.

Leading by 14 at halftime, the Illini didn't mess around to start the second half. Frazier kicked off a 12-0 run by canning consecutive jumpers and Plummer sank a 3-pointer. Cockburn added a pair of dunks, the second one resulting in a three-point play, for a 52-26 lead with 16:58 remaining.

Illinois kept pouring it on, expanding the margin to 37 on RJ Melendez's layup with 7:16 left, as it got revenge for last season's upset loss when this game was played in Columbia, Mo. as the result of a coin flip.

The Tigers led once for 16 seconds after Javon Pickett drilled a transition 3-pointer at the 17:46 mark of the first half to make it 8-6. Their next bucket didn't come until about four minutes later, after the Illini rattled off 10 straight points.

Missouri couldn't figure out a way to guard Illinois. Either the Illini punched inside to Cockburn and scored, or they spaced the floor and found one of a number of capable 3-point shooters to light it up from the arc.

The Tigers did score 11 straight points in a three-minute stretch of the first half, which briefly put them in contention. But Cockburn's jumper initiated an 11-3 run that ended the half and gave Illinois a 40-26 cushion.

--Field Level Media

Top Game Performances
 
Illinois   Missouri
Kofi Cockburn 25 Scoring Jarron Coleman 16
Jacob Grandison 6 Assists Anton Brookshire 1
Kofi Cockburn 14 Rebounds Kobe Brown 7
Kofi Cockburn 7 Free Throws Made Trevon Brazile 4
Kofi Cockburn 2 Steals Kobe Brown 2
N/A Blocks Trevon Brazile 6
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Illinois 88 56.9 12-25 10-15 20 36 0 6 15
Missouri 63 36.5 6-23 11-13 6 27 6 8 12