It won't look like normal, but Missouri's annual Braggin' Rights rivalry matchup with Illinois will be played in 2020, sources have told PowerMizzou. Missouri confirmed the news Wednesday evening. The matchup will be played Saturday, Dec. 12.
Here's the catch: the game won't be played at its usual venue, the Enterprise Center in St. Louis. Instead, it will be hosted on one of the two campuses. Which one is yet to be determined. The two schools will host a "coin flip show" Thursday at 6 p.m. to determine where the game will be played.
The winner of the flip will host the game this season. According to a release, regardless of which school hosts the contest, no fans will be present at the game "in an effort to maintain some of the neutrality that St. Louis’ Enterprise Center provides." There will not be a return home game for the loser, as after this season, the series will return to St. Louis.
“The annual Braggin’ Rights game is one of St. Louis’ great sporting traditions, and I’m grateful that we have been able to work with Josh Whitman and his staff at Illinois to ensure that this meaningful game continues this season despite the challenges we are all facing due to COVID-19,” Missouri athletics director Jim Sterk said in a release. “St. Louis has been the site of many memorable games in this storied rivalry over the last 40 years, and we look forward to returning to the Enterprise Center for future games. The passion and intensity of this rivalry is what makes college athletics special, and despite playing on campus this season, I am confident those elements will be there for both teams. Given the financial realities facing many schools today, I believe intercollegiate athletics needs more regional rivalries like this to be played in all sports, and we look forward to working with Illinois to play in as many different sports as possible in future years.”
Missouri and Illinois have played 50 times previously and have met once every season since 1983. Illinois leads the all-time series 32-18, but Missouri has won each of the past two meetings.
At No. 8 in the preseason AP Poll, Illinois becomes the highest-ranked opponent not just on Missouri's non-conference slate but its entire schedule. The Illini finished 21-10 last season and return all-Big Ten players Ayo Dosunmu and Kofi Cockburn.
Missouri now has six non-conference games on the schedule for the 2020-21 season. Cuonzo Martin said Wednesday that the team is also in the closing stages of finalizing a multi-team event at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut, in early December. The event would take the place of the Myrtle Beach Invitational, in which Missouri had been set to participate before it got canceled due to COVID-19. Jon Rothstein reported Wednesday that the Tigers would play Boston College at the event. It would stand to reason that the team would try to get another game out of the trip, as well, and Martin suggested that second opponent could be Oregon.
"I think it’s Boston College, right now, and Oregon," Martin said. "It’s just a matter of signing contracts and getting that done."
Assuming that event does get added to the schedule, Missouri would have 26 total regular-season games on its docket. The maximum allowed by the NCAA this season is 27. Martin said Wednesday the school would likely only try to add another non-conference game if one of the previously-announced contests falls through.
"The key is two things," Martin said on adding another non-conference game. "You have to lose some (games), and you feel like you can’t get them back, and then you have to have a window to make that game up. And I think if there was anything made up, it might be a team close in proximity to where we are on this campus as opposed to trying to get on a plane to go play somebody. So I think that would be just trying to get somebody, saying, okay, can we make this work? If that party can make it work, then you might see a game.”
Here is Missouri's 2020-21 schedule as it stands right now:
Nov. 25: Oral Roberts
Date TBD: Mult-team event at Mohegan Sun Arena
Dec. 6: at Wichita State
Dec. 9: Liberty
Dec. 12: Illinois
Dec. 22: Bradley
Dec. 30: Tennessee
Jan. 2: at Arkansas
Jan. 5: at Mississippi State
Jan. 9: LSU
Jan. 12: Vanderbilt
Jan. 16: at Texas A&M
Jan. 19: South Carolina
Jan. 26: at Tennessee
Jan. 29: at Auburn
Feb. 2: Kentucky
Feb. 6: Alabama
Feb. 10: at Ole Miss
Feb. 13: Arkansas
Feb. 16: at Georgia
Feb. 20: at South Carolina
Feb. 23: Ole Miss
Feb. 27: Texas A&M
March 3: at Florida
March 10-14: SEC Tournament
