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ST. LOUIS — Deon Thomas doesn’t hesitate when he rattles off the Missouri stars he played against during his Illinois career.
Braggin’ Rights meant seeing Anthony Peeler and Doug Smith on the opposing bench when he was a freshman. Then guys like Melvin Booker and Jevon Crudup by the time he was a senior.
“The Checkerdome was always packed,” the former Illini said. “Half of it was orange. Half of it was black and gold. Just a good-hearted, yet tough, rivalry. One of the things that I, of course, remember most was Kiwane Garris missing the free throws my senior year. You’ve got to take that one with you, and you can never change it. For him, he was able to come back and they did some things, but for me that was the last one.”
Thomas considers Braggin’ Rights one of the best rivalries in college basketball. Right up there with the Tobacco Road showdowns between Duke and North Carolina.
His hope is it stays that way — and stays as competitive as the games he played in during his time with the Illini when he set the program scoring record of 2,129 points from 1990-94.
“That’s why last year (a 93-71 Illinois loss) hurt me so bad,” said Thomas, who has been the radio analyst for Illinois basketball for several seasons. “There was a time I was sitting here that I had to take my headphones off for a good five minutes I was so upset.”
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Braggin’ Rights has been a December staple in St. Louis for more than four decades. The game has been played every season on the banks of the Mississippi River since 1980 — save for 1982 when it wasn’t played and 2020 when an Andy Katz coin flip sent the game to Columbia, Mo., during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The yearly showdown between Illinois and Missouri will continue to be held at least through 2029 after the two schools and the host venue agreed to a six-year extension to keep the game at the Enterprise Center, both schools announced Friday before the Illini easily won 97-73.
“The St. Louis region has produced outstanding Illini student-athletes for many years, and with thousands of alumni living in the Gateway City, we’re pleased to extend Braggin’ Rights and continue the holiday hoops tradition,” Illinois athletic director Josh Whitman said in a statement. “The competitive rivalry we enjoy with Missouri has grown into one of the top annual games on the college basketball calendar, and we’re pleased to partner with our friends at Enterprise Center and keep this series in St. Louis through 2029.”
Despite the results of the last half decade, Illinois has held a distinct upper hand in the rivalry game since its inception. The Illini boast two Braggin’ Rights winning streaks double the length of Missouri’s best. The Tigers, of course, have narrowed the gap in the Brad Underwood era.
“The Braggin’ Rights Game is a staple on Mizzou’s calendar every season and a historic rivalry that matters to our fans,” Missouri athletic director Desiree Reed-Francois said. “We embrace our opportunities to hold events in St. Louis. That’s why it’s important to extend the series with Illinois at Enterprise Center.”
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What Terrence Shannon Jr. has accomplished offensively this season hasn’t exactly been a surprise except for maybe his drastically better three-point shooting. The 6-foot-6 guard averaged a career-high 17.2 points last season playing a bigger role than he was ever featured in during three seasons at Texas Tech.
Shannon has a similar usage rate this season, and his production has ticked up because he’s been more efficient as a 50/40/80 shooter, which would probably be a 50/40/90 had he not tried to tank his free-throw percentage in early November.
It’s Shannon’s defensive efforts that have turned him into — at least for now — an All-American caliber guard. Shannon was never a bad defender at Texas Tech, but he’s found a way to balance being the No. 1 offensive option and guard the opposing team’s best guard this season. A balance he didn’t always strike last season.
“I feel like it’s something I’ve always done pretty well is play defense,” Shannon said. “That’s been my identity. The offense is a plus for me. I feel like everything starts on the defensive end. It’s consistency for me watching film, knowing my matchup, knowing how other guys move on the other team. What are their go-to moves? How do they get their baskets on the offensive end?
“That plays a role and then just me being connected with my teammates. I feel like we talk a lot on the defensive end and are really connected. I start on the ball so it starts with me, but it’s the other guys like Coleman (Hawkins) and Marcus (Domask) being in help and Ty (Rodgers) going to rebound. My teammates are just as good of defenders as me.”
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Underwood sees Shannon’s improved defense this season compared to a year ago as a combination of tapping into his athleticism and strength and having more comfort in Illinois’ defensive scheme.
“It’s not drastically different from what he did at Tech,” Underwood said. All three of Shannon’s seasons with the Red Raiders saw him as a better defender, statistically, than in his first season at Illinois.
“There’s a maturity that goes with playing defense,” the Illini coach continued. “It’s an effort thing. ... He loves that challenge.”
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Hawkins’ return from a tendinitis issue in his left knee that cost him three games last month has solidified Illinois’ efforts at both ends of the court.
The rangy 6-10 forward’s ability to cover an expansive amount of defensive ground changes what the Illini can do at that end. That he’s settling into his role offensively is just as meaningful.
“He takes what the game is giving him now,” Underwood said. “It was nice to see him not just on his jump shot (against Colgate). There were a few drives. There were a few offensive rebounds. There were a few post-ups. It was kind of a nice mix for Coleman figuring out where those opportunities come and what the matchup is going to be.
“It’s going to be different eery night. I won’t know who’s going to guard him. We’ve seen a lot of cross-matching. We’ve seen a lot of 5-man guarding him. It’s moving him in those places, and we were able to take advantage of that in the Colgate game.”
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December 23, 2023 at 06:00PM
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Notes: Braggin' Rights leaves lasting impression | Content | news-gazette.com - The News-Gazette
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