For weeks, the Illinois Fighting Illini looked like a team still searching for its edge, especially after their recent loss to the Nebraska Cornhuskers. But on Monday night in St. Louis, it finally looked like the head coach Brad Underwood’s team had found it. However, in his post-game interview, he wasn’t just interested in talking about the scoreboard alone, but in rediscovering who Illinois is supposed to be.

“Tonight we made shots, we played good. And I’ve said it many times, and I don’t want it to sound like an excuse. We needed practice. And nine days we were not very good in our last game, and just nine days of getting back to our daily vitamins, our essence of who we are on the defensive end. We held a really good team tonight to under 50 points,” he said.

The coach further added, “I thought that we were handsy. I thought we were in gaps. I thought our most important piece was our communication defensively. created a lot of energy, and then we did one of the big keys to beating them is not allowing them second chance points, and I think 29 to five we won in that category. So it was something I was very impressed with watching this group defensively, and I think it’s a start of what can become a very good and dialed-in defensive team, and I hope they feel that tonight.”

In the annual Braggin’ Rights showdown at Enterprise Center, Illinois didn’t just beat Missouri. They erased them, cruising to a 91–48 win that felt less like a rivalry game and more like a statement of intent.

The Fighting Illini held a solid SEC opponent to just 48 points on 28.6% shooting, the lowest field-goal percentage Illinois has allowed against a power-conference team since 2022. Missouri managed just five second-chance points, while Illinois punished the Tigers with 29 of its own. And the rebounding battle also went to Brad Underwood’s team as they secured a 43 to 24 of their opponents.

While most of the teams and even fans believe in winning games by scoring the most points, the No. 20-ranked team played the game by Sun Tzu’s philosophy, “best defense is a good offense.”

Illinois blocked eight shots, clogged driving lanes, communicated early in possessions, and turned every Missouri offensive set into a chore. In a game that was supposed to be a highly contested matchup, the Tigers went nearly six minutes without a field goal during one second-half stretch, marking Illinois’ most complete game of the season.

While through the past 11 games, Illinois had shown some flashes, spurts here and there, they were never able to control everything at once.

However, even when it came to offense, Illinois knocked down 15 three-pointers, assisted on 20 of its 30 made baskets, all while dominating on both ends of the court. In the second half of the game, they went on to outscore Missouri 50–23. Additionally, Illinois’ 43-point win marked the biggest win over a power-conference opponent since 2004.

And it was Keaton Wagler who led this team to an impressive win with 22 points, five three-pointers, and finished with a +42 in his minutes. He controlled tempo, created angles, and let the offense flow naturally instead of forcing shots. Illinois’ spacing, ball movement, and rhythm all looked sharper when the freshman guard was on the floor.

If Illinois defends like this, rebounds like this, and communicates like this, the conversation will quickly shift from “what could be” to “how far can they go.” And if this is the path they are planning on staying, then they’ve finally found the road that could make them a dangerous contender in the 2025-26 NCAA season as they move forward.

What’s next for Brad Underwood’s team?

With this win under their belt, the Fighting Illini now sit at 9–3, with their only losses coming against No. 11 Alabama, No. 5 UConn, and Nebraska. And while Illinois hasn’t been perfect against ranked competition, they haven’t come up empty either, as they have also picked up a statement win over the No. 11 Texas Tech Red Raiders earlier this season.

But the performance that the Fighting Illini men put on today will be the talk of the town for weeks, and the players also know that if they want to leave their mark on this season, it’s something they should keep building on.

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In the interview, guard Andrej Stojakovic added, “We’ve shown glimpses defensively of what we can be and had stretches, and tonight I feel like we made a huge step forward in our defensive game, and we’re just going to keep improving. I’m not going to put a ceiling on it, but I think if we continue to play with that type of intensity and focus on the game plan, our defense is going to get better, and hopefully we keep on seeing better defensive numbers as we go on.”

The Illini will now have a 7-day rest before they play against the Southern Jaguars on December 29, their last non-conference game of the season. After that, the stakes rise quickly as they will lock horns with:

• • The Penn State Nittany Lions on January 3.
  • The Rutgers Scarlet Knights on January 8.
  • The No. 25 Iowa Hawkeyes on January 10, in the Big Ten Conference.

And if they can carry the same physical edge into conference play, they won’t just be competitive. They’ll be deadly.