ST. LOUIS – Well, we can't blame the TWA Dome.

The rims at the Kiel Center proved to be just as evasive.

Lon Kruger's Illini shot a meager 33 percent in losing 57-51 to the St. Louis Billikens in the Dome Dec. 6 and had to finish strong to reach 32.9 percent in a 75-69 defeat Tuesday night at the hands of rejuvenated Missouri at Kiel.

"I want to give Missouri's defense credit," Kruger said. "They came at us and didn't let us do the things we wanted to do. At the same time, we didn't get the movement we wanted. We weren't able to shoot with the kind of rhythm that we had against Clemson and Texas."

That may be true. But the fact is, the three best Illini shooters – double-digit scorers Matt Heldman, Jerry Hester and Kevin Turner – had a lot of open looks and couldn't get the ball to drop.

And the more the game progressed, the more frustrated they became.

Heldman and Hester combined to go 1 for 10 in the first half, at which point Turner was 2 for 6. When Missouri moved out 50-38, the first of two 12-point leads, the three UI veterans were 5 for 28, a pathetic 17.9 percent.

Hester seemed to rush his jumper, not settling at the top. Turner made some rash decisions. And Heldman was blanked until the last eight minutes when the score was 52-40, at which point the Illini were flailing away at a 25 percent rate that wouldn't have been acceptable in the 1940s.

And once again, the inside game wasn't available because Jarrod Gee spent so much time on the bench. In foul trouble again, he sat out the last 6:38 of the first half with two personals and was on the bench with three during the long stretch when Missouri built its big cushion.

Shooting woes

So, the Illini took it on the chin again because the accuracy was unacceptable. And that's a story too frequently related. After 12 games, the team is 10th among 11 Big Ten teams with a 42.8 percentage.

This is a carryover from 42.9 in Lou Henson's final season and 44.2 in Kruger's first season. After a series of 50 percent-shooting teams in the late 1980s and three clubs that were right at 48 percent in the early 1990s, the Illini have trailed off to become one of the poorest-shooting teams in the conference.

Still, for all their troubles last night, the gritty Illini battled right back into the thick of the Kiel spectacle. Down 52-40, they caught a spark from Heldman's first two baskets and cut the Missouri lead to 58-56 on Brian Johnson's steal and to 60-58 on Heldman's jumper.

Freshman reserve Johnny Parker broke the momentum with a huge trey and a short jumper, and the Illini found themselves in a must-foul mode in the last two minutes.

During the UI rally, two critical officiating calls involving Heldman caused Kruger to frown.

First, an official noticed Missouri's Albert White was down (with a cramp) on the opposite end just as Heldman was preparing to launch an unchallenged trey. Kruger went so far as to call that "a whistle he'd like to have back. We were attacking, and typically they let you finish. If we had been backing the ball out, it would have been different."

Soon thereafter, Heldman was called for a block in the lane when he appeared to have good defensive position, and the Tigers capitalized with two free throws.

Fouls galore

But, as always, this game was a ref's nightmare. Both teams played with feverish intensity, and Norm Stewart rode the zebras just as he always does.

The fouls evened out. When Heldman brought the Illini within 63-60 with 2:06 showing, the fouls were 16 apiece and the free throw attempts were 17 apiece. As you might expect, the Tigers hit 14 and the Illini 12.

By game's end, all that changed as Missouri used UI fouls to salt the game away. They shot 12 free throws in the last two minutes, the Illini one.

So we must accept a point we already knew: When Hester, Heldman and Turner shoot effectively, the Illini can make it tough on anybody on their schedule. When they don't, it's another story.

Let's just not play any more games in St. Louis this season. Either the balls are too big there, or the rims are too small.

Loren Tate writes for The News-Gazette.