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Braggin' Rights

American college basketball rivalry

Field	Value
wide	yes
name	Braggin' Rights
team1	Illinois Fighting Illini
team1logo	Illinois Fighting Illini logo.svg
team2	Missouri Tigers
team2logo	Mizzou Athletics wordmark.svg
sport	Basketball
firstmeeting	December 21, 1932
Illinois 36, Missouri 24
mostrecent	December 22, 2025
Illinois 91, Missouri 48
nextmeeting	December 2026
total	56
series	Illinois leads, 36–20
largestvictory	Illinois, 43 points (2025)
longeststreak	Illinois, 9 (2000–2008)
currentstreak	Illinois, 3 (2023–present)
stadiums	Enterprise Center

Braggin' Rights (known for sponsorship reasons as McBride Homes Braggin' Rights, previously Busch Braggin' Rights) is the annual men's college basketball contest between the University of Illinois Fighting Illini of the Big Ten Conference and University of Missouri Tigers of the SEC.

History

Before 1976, the Tigers and the Illini met sporadically. The official first meeting between the two schools occurred on December 21, 1932, where the Tigers hosted the Illini at Brewer Fieldhouse. Illini head coach Craig Ruby, a former star and coach at Mizzou, led his team to victory, 36-24. The following year, the Illini hosted the Tigers at Huff Hall, winning again by 36-24. Over the next half-century, the two teams met ten more times, culminating with a back-and-forth series called the Show-Me Classic. This event began in December 1976 in Columbia, Missouri, at the Hearnes Center, where Missouri defeated Illinois, 76-75. Over the next three years (1977–79) the two teams reciprocated home courts.

This series was replaced by the Braggin' Rights series on a neutral court sponsored by Anheuser-Busch for the 1980-81 season, with the game moving to St. Louis, Missouri, during the month of December. From 1980 to 1993 (excluding 1982), it was played at the St. Louis Arena (originally known as the Checkerdome when the series started), and since 1994, it has been played at Enterprise Center. St. Louis is within convenient driving distance of the two schools' home cities of Columbia, Missouri (2 hours), and Champaign, Illinois (3 hours); many students at both schools come from the area; both schools have a large alumni base in greater St. Louis; and the Enterprise Center has a larger capacity than either school's home arena (State Farm Center for Illinois and Mizzou Arena for Missouri). It is traditionally held over the students' holiday break near the end of December and is nationally televised. One of the most closely contested games in the series was the final game held at the St. Louis Arena on December 22, 1993. Missouri defeated Illinois 108-107 in a game that lasted three overtimes.

Before 2000, the series was fairly evenly matched, with Illinois leading the series 11-8 before the game held in 2000. However, the Illini went on a decade-long winning streak under Bill Self and Bruce Weber, while at the same time Missouri basketball floundered with Quin Snyder as coach. Tiger fan frustration with not being able to win one of their marquee games boiled over so much that in Snyder's final game, an 82-50 drubbing in 2005, one fan threw a full tub of popcorn on him while he was exiting the arena. Since hiring Mike Anderson in 2006, though, Missouri's fortunes took an upward turn, culminating in an emphatic win in 2009 with the Enterprise Center playing Prince's "1999" following the victory, as a sly reference to the last time Missouri had won in St. Louis.

Due to the Coronavirus Pandemic, it was decided that the 2020 Braggin' Rights game would not be held at the Enterprise Center, but rather at one of the teams' home stadiums. A coin flip, performed by Andy Katz, took place on November 12, 2020 that determined Missouri would host the December 12, 2020 game. The game returned to the Enterprise Center the following year. Prior to the 2023 edition, it was announced the series would continue at the Enterprise Center through 2029.

The name of the victorious team is engraved on a large trophy that, unlike other college rivalry trophies, does not travel home with the winning team. The trophy is displayed in a glass case in the Enterprise Center lobby, where it occupies either an orange-and-blue or black-and-gold space in the cabinet, depending on who won. The other side has a plastic square reading "THE TROPHY BELONGS HERE NEXT YEAR" in the position where the trophy would go.

Other Mizzou and Illini teams now play Braggin' Rights games, most notably football.

Accomplishments by the two rivals

The following summarizes the accomplishments of the two programs.

Team	Illinois	Missouri
title=Illinois Fighting Illini Men's Basketball School History	url=https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/illinois/men/	website=Sports-Reference.com	access-date=February 23, 2023}}	Illinois Fighting Illini}}	118	Missouri Tigers}}"	117
Championship appearances	Illinois Fighting Illini}}	1	Missouri Tigers}}"	0
Final Four appearances	Illinois Fighting Illini}}	5	Missouri Tigers}}"	0
NCAA Tournament appearances	Illinois Fighting Illini}}	33	Missouri Tigers}}"	29
NCAA Tournament record	Illinois Fighting Illini}}	42-34	Missouri Tigers}}"	23-29
Consensus First Team All-Americans	Illinois Fighting Illini}}	16	Missouri Tigers}}"	5
Naismith Players of the Year	Illinois Fighting Illini}}	0	Missouri Tigers}}"	0
All-time program record	Illinois Fighting Illini}}	1876-1054	Missouri Tigers}}"	1708-1223
All-time winning percentage	Illinois Fighting Illini}}"		Missouri Tigers}}"

Through March 18, 2023

Game results

Games with both teams ranked

(Rankings are from AP Poll)

Winning team is shown. Ranking of the team at the time of the game by the AP poll is shown under the team name.

Date	Illinois Fighting Illini}}"	Illinois
rank	Missouri Tigers}}	Missouri
rank	Winner	Score
December 19, 1988	6	10	Illinois Fighting Illini}}	Illinois	87–84
December 20, 1989	5	4	Illinois Fighting Illini}}	Illinois	101–93
December 20, 1995	14	15	Illinois Fighting Illini}}	Illinois	96–85OT
December 22, 2001	9	8	Illinois Fighting Illini}}	Illinois	72–61
December 21, 2002	12	11	Illinois Fighting Illini}}	Illinois	85–70
December 23, 2003	21	11	Illinois Fighting Illini}}	Illinois	71–70
December 22, 2010	21	9	Missouri Tigers}}	Missouri	75–64
December 22, 2011	25	9	Missouri Tigers}}	Missouri	78–74
December 22, 2012	10	12	Missouri Tigers}}	Missouri	82–73

Series results

Winning team is shown. Ranking of the team at the time of the game by the AP poll is shown by the team name. Rankings are from the AP Poll (1936–present)

Series statistics

Series Record: Illinois leads 36 to 20
Current Streak: Illinois, 3 wins
Illinois when ranked: 14-7
Missouri when ranked: 5-10
When both teams are ranked: Illinois leads 6-3
Illinois when unranked: 22-13
Missouri when unranked: 15-26
When both teams are unranked: Illinois leads 18-11
In overtime games: Tied 2-2
At Brewer Fieldhouse: Illinois led 2-1
At Huff Hall: Illinois led 3-0
At Municipal Center: Missouri led 1-0
At Hearnes Center: Tied 1-1
At Assembly Hall: Tied 1-1
At St. Louis Arena: Illinois led 9-4
At Enterprise Center: Illinois leads 20-11
At Mizzou Arena: Missouri leads 1-0
Illinois' longest winning streak: 9 (2000–08)
Missouri's longest winning streak: 4 (1991–94, 2009–12)
Illinois' largest winning margin: 43 points (2025)
Missouri's largest winning margin: 22 points (2022)
Closest margin: 1 point, four times in regulation (1992, 2003, 2007, 2013) and once in triple overtime (1993)

References

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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