A win over the Illini certainly would have been nice, but the Tigers are two games better than their overall record in 2016-17. In fact, Mizzou’s improvement on the court also drew praise from SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey.
In an interview with Dave Matter of the St. Louis Post, Sankey was both surprised and pleased to see the Tigers return to relevance in the SEC.
Missouri, 10-3, still has a way to go to prove that the Tigers’ turnaround is more than a flash in the pan. So far, the Tigers have shown they can win against teams they are better than, but against programs like Xavier, Arizona and Illinois, Mizzou has to show it can hang in and beat the better teams.