Just before Christmas I made my annual pilgrimage to the Enterprise Center to take in the latest edition of Braggin’ Rights series. A week prior Mizzou had suffered a loss to Seton Hall on the west side of the Show-Me State. Two weeks prior, a competitive loss came in Lawrence. Approximately a month earlier, Mizzou dropped a shocker in the friendly confines to a winless Jackson State outfit. Needless to say, a season-changing result was on every Tigers’ Christmas list.
As I sat two rows off the court I witnessed a bludgeoning unfold instead. A game Illini outfit laid waste to the Tiger squad in every way possible.