How to watch Missouri vs. Illinois basketball game
Who’s Playing
Illinois Fighting Illini @ Missouri Tigers
Current Records: Illinois 7-3, Missouri 10-1
How To Watch
When: Sunday, December 22, 2024 at 1 p.m. ETWhere: Enterprise Center — St. Louis, MissouriTV: ESPNFollow: CBS Sports AppOnline Streaming: Catch select College Basketball matches on Fubo (Try for free. Regional restrictions may apply.)
What to Know
Missouri has enjoyed a ten-game homestand but will soon have to dust off their road jerseys. They will take on the Illinois Fighting Illini in a holiday battle at 1:00 p.m. ET on Sunday at at Enterprise Center. The Tigers are strutting in with some offensive muscle as they’ve averaged 88.7 points per game this season.
Missouri’s season wasn’t pretty last year but it’s starting to look like struggles are in the rearview. They walked away with an 83-72 victory over Jax. State on Tuesday.
Among those leading the charge was Mark Mitchell, who had 18 points plus six assists and six rebounds. He has been hot recently, having also posted three or more blocks the last three times he’s played. Another player making a difference was Jacob Crews, who went 6 for 9 from beyond the arc en route to 19 points.
Meanwhile, Illinois entered their game against Tennessee on Saturday without any home losses, but there’s a first time for everything. Illinois lost 66-64 to Tennessee on a last-minute layup From Jordan Gainey. The matchup marked the Fighting Illini’s lowest-scoring match so far this season.
Illinois struggled to work together and finished the game with only six assists. That’s the fewest assists they’ve managed all season.
Missouri’s win was their tenth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 10-1. As for Illinois, their loss ended a six-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 7-3.
Some high-performance offense is likely on the agenda as both are some of the highest scoring teams in the league. Missouri hasn’t had any problem running up the score this season, having averaged 88.7 points per game (they’re ranked fourth in scoring overall). However, it’s not like Illinois struggles in that department as they’ve been averaging 84. With both teams so easily able to put up points, the only question left is who can run the score up higher.
Missouri suffered a grim 97-73 defeat to Illinois when the teams last played back in December of 2023. That contest was pretty much over by halftime, at which point Missouri was down 49-24.
Series History
Illinois has won 5 out of their last 9 games against Missouri.
Dec 22, 2023 – Illinois 97 vs. Missouri 73Dec 22, 2022 – Missouri 93 vs. Illinois 71Dec 22, 2021 – Illinois 88 vs. Missouri 63Dec 12, 2020 – Missouri 81 vs. Illinois 78Dec 21, 2019 – Missouri 63 vs. Illinois 56Dec 22, 2018 – Missouri 79 vs. Illinois 63Dec 23, 2017 – Illinois 70 vs. Missouri 64Dec 21, 2016 – Illinois 75 vs. Missouri 66Dec 23, 2015 – Illinois 68 vs. Missouri 63