3. #9 Missouri 75, #21 Illinois 64 (December 22, 2010)
Yet again, both Illinois and Missouri found themselves with solid starts to the season. Missouri entered at 10-1, with solid wins at Oregon and against Vanderbilt while Illinois sat at 10-2, wins over Gonzaga, North Carolina, and Maryland already on their resume. Marcus Denmon was scoring in bunches for the Tigers while a balanced Illini attack included Demetri McCamey, DJ Richardson and Mike Tisdale. Both teams headed to St. Louis as top 25 teams but Illinois would not leave the same way.
The game was a back and forth affair, tied at 27 at the half. The game was close all the way to the end, with a D. J. Richardson three pulled the Illini within one in the final minute. However, a poorly timed technical by Mike Tisdale allowed Missouri to really pull away in the end, ballooning the Tigers lead from 1 to 7 and making the final score not indicative of the close game that this was.
Denmon again led a balanced scoring attack for Missouri, putting up 15 points. Laurence Bowers added 13 points with 9 rebounds and the Tigers shot a decent 44% from the field. For the Illini, shooting just 5-12 from the free throw line really hurt and Mike Davis’ 17 point outburst wasn’t enough to lead the team. Tisdale collected a game-high 13 rebounds, but his technical foul doomed Illinois.
These teams both had NCAA Tournament seasons, though they were just .500 teams in conference play. 11-seed Missouri fell in their first game to Cincinnati, a somewhat disappointing end after a 14-1 start to the year, albeit in non-conference play. Illinois ended the year just 1-7 against Top 25 teams, falling in the second round of the NCAA Tournament to 1-seed Kansas and former coach Bill Self. After the season, Mike Anderson left the Tigers for Arkansas, and we’ve already seen how Frank Haith elevated the program in his first season.