By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor
(MIZBB)—It boiled down to Kaspara Jakucionis hitting his basket with 28 seconds left and and Jacob Crews unable to hit his three-pointer to go down for a tie as the clock ran out. Illinois 80. Missouri 77 in the annual game that doesn’t need all the hype it gets to be a great rivalry.
It was a game of surges with Missouri erasing a 10-point Illini late lead but missing key free throws and being unable to stop Illinois when it mattered made the difference. Missouri is 10-2 now with one pre-conference game left. (ZOU HAVE YOURSELF A GOOD HOLIDAY BREAK)
(CHIEFSFB)—What sprained ankle? Patrick Mahomes played a pretty normal game Saturday against the Texans and led the Chiefs to another one-score win, although the ne score would have required a two-point conversion to get a tie. It’s the sixteenth one-score win this year, extending the Chiefs’ own record.
Patrick looked pretty much unfazed about his high ankle sprain,. He ran it in for a touchdown from 15 yards out. He threw for 260 yards. Kansas City was 7/13 on third downs, 3/4 in the red zone and the defense picked off a couple of passes that resulted in scores.
Kansas City is 14-1 and facing a short week before playing the Steelers tomorrow, but a win would lock up a by week in the first round of the playoffs and home field advantage.
(MIZFB)—Look for an intense competition for the quarterback starting position in Spring football at Mizzou. The Tigers have picked up Penn State transfer quarterback Deau Pribula, setting up a three-player fight to be the one replacing Brady Cook, who has gone 25-13 as the starter and has become only the third Tiger quarterback to run and throw for more than 10,00 yards. Only Chase Daniel and Drew Lock have more total offense at quarterback than Cook has.
Missouri signed Penn State transfer Beau Pribula Sunday. He has two years of eligibility left after serving as a backup in Happy Valley for two years. He’s 6-2, 203 pounds and is described as a powerful runner, averaging more than six yards per attempt. He’s accounted for ten touchdowns. His arrival sets up a test for Drew Pyne, who as the backup this year, and Sam Horn, who’s coming back from Tommy John surgery. Horn also plays baseball, which might complicate or compromise his work in the Spring.
As of Sunday, Missouri ad picked up a dozen transfers and they’ve taken a big one away from Iowa, Kansas, and Wisconsin—Langden Kitchen a 6-foot-7, 270-pound defensive end who played for Northwest Missouri State this year. He had 21 tackles, 5.5 acks and 8.5 tackles for loss in eleven games this season.
It’s been a pretty good portal year for Coach Drinkwitz, who also has added Defensive End Nate Johnson form Appalachian State Michigan offensive lineman Dominick Giudice,
standout running back Ahmad Hardy from Louisiana-Monroe, who rushed for 1,346 yards and 13 touchdowns as a true freshman—the best of all freshmen in the country—defensive end Nate Johnson from Appalachian State, Michigan offensive lineman Dominick Giudice, wide reeciver Kevin Coleman from Mississippi State, Nebraska linebacker Mikai Gbayor, Northern Illinois safety Santana Banner, punter Connor Weselman frm Stanford, safety Mose Phillips III from Northern Illinois, and West Virginia linebacker Josiah Trotter.
(CARDINALS)—Paul Goldschmidt has left the stadium. He’s signed a one year deal with the Yankees for $12.5 million. The Yankees declined Anthony Rizzo’s $17 million option. They paid him $6 million in going-away money. He’s 35 and on the free agent market. Rizzo hit .228 in a season highlighted by injuries. Goldschmit is 37 and finished the year with a .245 average after a very slow start.
(ROYALS)—It’s bonus time for three members of the Kansas City Royals. Bobby Witt Jr., got about $3.1 million for making his first All-Star game, winning a Gold Glove, and a Silver Slugger in 2024 and finished second in the MVP voting. He had a 9.4 WAR. Also getting a bonus was pitcher Cole Ragans, who led the team in pitching, was fourth in the Cy Young voting, and had a 4.9 WAR, which resulted in his bonus of more than $1.6 million. Backup catcher Freddy Fermin got almost $233,000 for hitting .271 with six homers and 36 RBIS and posting a 3.0 WAR in 111 games.
(AND TO WRAP UP, THE NEXT FOOTBALL SEASON)—It started March 28 and the St. Louis Battlehawks are starting to assemble the team. Coach Anthony Becht says the signing of a couple of guys is “huge” for the UFL team—Anthony Isabella and Denzel Mims.
Isabella was an All-American receiver at UMASS in 2018 when he averaged 141.5 yards a game. He spent four years with the Arizona Cardinals, then with Baltimore and Buffalo. He was signed to the Steelers practice squad last week but that doesn’t affect the ‘Hawks rights to him.
Mims was All-Big 12 at Baylor in 2020, was drafted by theJets and lao has seen service with the Lions, Steelers, and Jaguars.
Becht has known Mims for several years, having called many of his games for ESPN when he was an All-Big 12 player at Baylor for ESPN. In 2020, Mims was drafted in the second round (59th overall) by the New York Jets and caught 42 passes for 676 yards in 30 games. Mims then moved on to the Detroit Lions, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Jacksonville Jaguars.
Also signing on is outside linebacker Kemoko Turay, who was a freshman All-American at Rutgers, was drafted by the Colts in 2018, and also has spent time with the 49ers, the Falcons and the Panthers.
The team cut ties with quarterback A. J. McCarron in the offseason and has signed three potential replacements: Chevan Cordeiro, Manny Wilkins, and Max Duggan. Wilkins was McCarron’s backup for the last three seasons.
Cordeiro was a first-round pick by St. Louis in the UFL College draft. He was undrafted by the NFL coming out of college and spent a few days with the Seahawks before being cut. He was all All-Mountain West player his last two years at San Jose State, where he assed for more than 12,000 yards, rushed for 1,600 more and scored 113 touchdowns.
Duggan got a look from the Chargers, who took him in the seventh round in 2023. He bounced back and forth from the practices squad. Duggan was a runner-up for the Heisman Trophy in his last year at TCU where he racked u more than 11,400 yards in total offense and scored 101 TDs.
The Battlehawks’ parting with McCarron was an acrimonious one. McCarron has bounced around in the NFL with Cincinnati, Houston, Oakland and Atlanta. He would like to sign with another UFL-XFL division team, he says, so he could beat St. Louis.