Illinois Fighting Illini vs Missouri Tigers Match Player Stats On Dec 22, 2021

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