St. Louis ? Illinois handled Missouri’s pressure just well enough to win its seventh straight “Braggin’ Rights” game.

Shaun Pruitt had a career-high 19 points and nine rebounds as Illinois hung on for a 73-70 victory Tuesday night. The Illini overcame 42 percent shooting by committing only 14 turnovers, a season-low against Missouri’s full-court pressing team.

“They came at us tough, but we were able to handle the pressure,” senior guard Rich McBride said after completing a clean sweep over Missouri. “It feels good to go unbeaten against a program like that in big games like this.”

Coach Bruce Weber said Pruitt responded after he treated him the same way he did some of his players from the 2004-05 team that went to the NCAA championship game.

“I told him the other day, ‘I yelled at Deron (Williams), I yelled at Dee (Brown), I yelled at Luther (Head), I can yell at you and you’ve got to take coaching.

“You’ve got to raise your game up.”

Jamar Smith added 15 points and Brian Randle had 10 points and seven rebounds for Illinois.

Kansas St. 79, Md.-Eastern Shore 58

Illinois' Shaun Pruitt slams the ball against Missouri. The Illini defeated the Tigers for the Xth straight year Tuesday in St. Louis.

Manhattan – Cartier Martin scored 23 points, and Kansas State used one big run to slog its way to a sloppy victory over the overmatched Hawks. It was Kansas State’s final home game in the Las Vegas Holiday Classic before taking on Southern Cal on Friday in Las Vegas.

Freshman Bill Walker added 11 points and on several occasions brought a sparse crowd to its feet with sharp passes and thunderous dunks.

But he also drew a grim-faced stare from Huggins early in the second half when he was called for a technical foul after complaining to a referee over fouls.

No. 3 Ohio St. 75, Iowa St. 56

Columbus, Ohio – With all the talk about a showdown with defending national champion Florida on Saturday, No. 3 Ohio State seemed to forget it had another game to play.

Daequan Cook scored 21 points, and Mike Conley Jr. led the way defensively to help the Buckeyes pull away down the stretch.

“Iowa State did a tremendous job and came to play,” Buckeyes coach Thad Matta said. “As I told our guys, we were not mentally as ready as we needed to start this basketball game. I don’t know how or why, but it’s a good lesson for a young basketball team.”