Mizzou 82, Illini 73: Notebook

"Things get emotional at times in this kind of atmosphere. Our players aren't going to back down to anybody," Illinois' Brandon Paul said. "I just made sure I got in there and made sure it didn't escalate, and I think the refs did a good job. It happens in these types of rivalry games."

After the game, there didn't appear to be bad feelings on either side. McLaurin and Bowers hugged and shared encouraging words when the teams shook hands after the game.

"It just got a little chippy; it was in the heat of the moment, guy fell on me, it was just chippy, it wasn't really much to it," Bowers said. "I thought we showed maturity coming together after that. It just got us fired up and Illinois."

Marcus Jackson