There was a sequence midway through the first half that summed all of this up. Sean East took a beautiful pass from the top of the key from freshman Anthony Robinson II. Underneath the basket, East didn’t have a clean look, so making the right decision, he dished the ball out to Curt Lewis who was positioned in the corner. Lewis with a wide-open opportunity fired away the 3-ball it clanked, Missouri’s 18th miss to that point.
This led to a transition bucket for Illinois’ Coleman Hawkins bucket on the other end increasing the Fighting Illini’s lead to 35-18 with still about seven minutes to play in the first half.