Missouri couldn't have done a better job defending in the final seconds of the anual Braggin Rights game against Illinois, but Illini senior Rayvonte Rice needed only a sliver of space to fire the game-winner.
Rice found himself with the ball near the top of the arc with time winding down.. He fired a step-back 3-pointer that found the nylon as time expired giving Illinois a 62-59 victory over the struggling Tigers in St. Louis. It was only the eighth time in the history of the series that both teams came into the game unranked.
It was a nice moment of Rice, who grew up in Champagne but first attended Drake before transferring back to his hometown school two years ago.
Rice and his teammates had lost three of their previous five outings, including setbacks against the only two ranked opponents Illinois has faced this season. But thanks to Rice's clutch shot, the Illini have won two straight to improve to 9-3 with only one nonconference game remaining before the start of Big Ten play. Rice led all scorers with 19 points.
Meanwhile, the Tigers now have a losing record at 5-6 with 10 days off for Christmas. Missouri has lost three of its past four and it has dropped all four games against teams from power five conferences.
- - - - - - -
[Kyle Ringo is the assistant editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at kyle.ringo@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KyleRingo
from Yahoo Sports http://ift.tt/1v6yhK8
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire