Ahh, 1999. My dad was working in DC, my mom hadn't quite wrapped up loose ends in OKC and moved up with him, he temporarily lived in an itty bitty studio apartment with no cable, and the day after Braggin' Rights, I went to his office to look up who won the game on the internet. Mizzou did. Good times.
From the Trib Archive...
No Brag, Just Fact
Last night in the annual Braggin’ Rights Game, Illinois found out just how devastating the duo can be as Missouri upset the 15th-ranked Fighting Illini 78-72 in front of 22,484 fans at the Kiel Center.
"We played above our level tonight and that made it fun for us," MUcoach Quin Snyder said. "Keyon had said we had embarrassed ourselves the last time we were in St. Louis and he said that wasn’t going to happen again."
It didn’t. Thanks to Dooling and Gilbert, MU (7-3) won its third straight in the series.
The Florida duo were virtually unstoppable from the 3-point line. Dooling knocked down 6 of 9 3-pointers to ring up a game-high 25 points — which also matched his career high. Gilbert hit 5 of 7 of his shots from beyond the 3-point line as he totaled a career-high 24 points and pulled down a team-high nine rebounds.
They also got help from Brian Grawer who scored 15 points as connected on 2 of 3 from the 3-point line.
"We were feeling it tonight," Dooling said. "It was real tough to get anything inside because of their size and talent down low. So the outside shot kept us in it tonight. It’s shot us out of a lot of games, but tonight it kept us in it."
Gilbert the Great
Though somewhat of a blur, the frenzied span, which snapped a 52-52 tie, went like this:
· 9:53 — Gilbert slashes through the right side of the lane for a layup. MU takes 54-52 lead, an advantage it would not relinquish.
· 9:22 — Gilbert spots up from left corner, drains a 3-point field goal. MU leads 57-52.
· 8:20 — Gilbert switches corners, same result. Almost appropriately, Frank Williams fouls Gilbert after he launches the shot to give the MU swingman a bonus opportunity. He converts ensuing free throw to propel the Tigers to a 61-52 lead.
· 7:32 — Gilbert, by now known as "Gilbert The Great" to half of the 22,484 in attendance, switches back to the left corner, and — presto — MU has a 64-54 advantage.
Gilbert, who scored a career-high 24 points, felt so confident that the rest of his team could have leaned back in their courtside seat and savored the victory.
"When I hit that three and got fouled, I told myself they’re done," said Gilbert, referring to the Fighting Illini. "I felt like when Michael Jordan says the basket seems like an ocean: You can throw anything in there."
Tigers' guns are blazing from floor
Most impressive about MU’s shooting was the second-half exhibition. The Tigers were 70.6 percent (12 of 17) from the floor, and 80 percent (8 of 10) from the 3-point line in the second half.
MU’s Clarence Gilbert, who scored a career-high 24 points on 8 of 11 shooting and 5 of 7 from 3-point range to go along with Keyon Dooling’s 25 points, knows how good that is.
"It’s unbelievable," Gilbert said. "When someone shots 70 percent in the second half it’s impossible to beat them."
Truth be told.
Funny enough, that was Missouri's third win in a row against Illinois...and it felt like a major streak!