Yeah the headline might be slightly misleading I suppose, as its hard to consider a team that has lost to you nine straight times a true rival, but it is the season to be charitable after all. The smugness that I may exhibit here is just a front of course, because at this point in the season, I can't even take the perennial free win of Mizzou for granted anymore. With the Illini losing to a team that lost to Wofford (WOFFORD SRSLY!?!?) we must once again be reminded that the Illini can be classified as "mercurial" "moody" and "roller-coaster-ish" and many other over used sports terms. Or you could just call it inconsistent,  skinny, and easily-pushed-around. The Illini have the tools to beat just about anyone, but apparently can be pushed out of their game all too easily, and I mean that quite literally.

So what to do now? Its not like the Illini can gain 20lbs of muscle in the matter of a week. The Tigers are going to run the same full court press that Clemson successfully ran against the Illini for a full half earlier this season, and we don't necessarily know if the Illini have shored up all of the problems they've had before. We probably wont rebound very well, and we might have more troubles defending in the paint. At this point in the season, its kind of an MO for the Illini, as far as weaknesses go. This team may be on its way to becoming Michigan, in that it is going to live and die completely by its jump shot, and even more than that the 3 ball. Take a look at the three Illini losses this year, the 3 point shooting percentages have been well below their season average of 38% in all three games, with 33% in the loss to Georgia, 22% in the loss to Bradley and an astounding 11% in the loss to Utah. After watching the ultimate 3-happy team, Michigan, miss shot after open against #1 Kansas, I can only get more worried about having my own team tied to that type of game.

But maybe we should focus on some happier things, like how Missouri is a pretty good match-up against the Illini, and are allowing quite a few points a game, and if there was ever a time where Bruce can motivate the Illini it will be for this game, you don't want to be the team that loses to Mizzou after nearly a decade of dominance. I mean hell, Shaun Pruitt never lost to them, what would be their excuse?

I will be there in St. Louis tomorrow night, for the first time this season actually cheering for my team as a fan and not having to keep the pretense of being an "unbiased member of the press" so I am definitely looking forward to it. Follow my live tweets of the game, and stop by here to see if any of the urchins that follow this blog show up to talk in the open thread.

Tip is 8:30 on ESPN2 (hooray, no moar internets!)