Kentucky fans turned out in Milwaukee to watch UK beat Illinois Sunday. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Kentucky is alive and dancing.
The third-seeded Wildcats advanced to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time in six years with an 84-75 win over No. 6 Illinois on Sunday. Kentucky advances to the Midwest Regional semifinals and will take on Southeastern Conference foe Tennessee on Friday in Indianapolis.
Winless in his two previous appearances with BYU in the Big Dance, Wildcats coach Mark Pope guided Kentucky to a pair of victories in the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament. Kentucky’s last appearance in the Sweet Sixteen came in 2019 when the Wildcats lost to Auburn in the regional finals in Kansas City.
The Wildcats (24-11) relied on their veteran guards to wear down the Illini. Kentucky forced 14 turnovers and scored 26 points off those miscues. Kentucky forced eight turnovers in the first 12 minutes to set the tone.
“We have a player-led team,” Pope said. “We have unbelievable leadership on our team, and it comes from a wide variety of guys, different slices of it. When you have players that are leading the charge, things get better.
“I have never seen a team that has gone from 112 to 45 (KenPom defensive ranking) in the last six weeks of the season. I’ve never seen it, and that is a credit to our guys. Gives you a sense of our players.”
Although a veteran playing in his fourth NCAA tournament, Butler said the entire roster was like a seasoned team, paying attention to every detail from start to finish to defeat Illinois.
Koby Brea, Butler and Otega Oweh combined for 52 points, with Brea leading the way with 23 points and three clutch 3-pointers. He hit three consecutive baskets during an early spurt in the second half that turned a 37-32 halftime lead to 47-32, putting the Fighting Illini in catchup mode the rest of the night. They pulled within 74-68 late but the Cats finished them off with some late free throws.
Butler, who was scoreless against Troy in the tournament opener, knocked down a pair of clutch 3-pointers, and finished with 14 points and five assists against the Illini. His defensive performance was superb, including a late steal that led to a three-point play from Brandon Garrison to seal the victory.
The game plan called for the Wildcats to take it one possession at a time and they did just that, especially in the first half, setting the tone for the final 20 minutes.
“(That was) an emphasis for us, and we had a game plan going into it,” said Kentucky guard Collin Chandler, who finished with six points, two long 3-pointers. “Everyone was solid and bought into the game plan.”
Kentucky held a slim 37-32 lead at the break but scored 10 straight to open the second half, creating the spacing it needed to overcome a late run by the Illini. Oweh, who played just six minutes in the first half, scored six points during the spurt and tallied 13 points in the second half.
“The game is so taxing and the season is so taxing, everything that all these players, our team, Illinois, everybody goes through, it’s so taxing,” Pope said. “Our guys find strength in each other. There were a couple of well-executed plays, but mostly it was our energy that our guys brought into the beginning of the second half and their intensity that was really important.”
The Wildcats fended off a late run by the Illini and made 8-of-10 free throws in the last minute for the final margin.
Kentucky vs. Tennessee a first in NCAA Tournament
Kentucky and Tennessee have played 241 times in 115 years but never in the NCAA Tournament.
The Vols and Wildcats are meeting for the first time in the tournament when No. 2 seed Tennessee and No. 3 seed Kentucky play in the Sweet 16 on Friday at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. The other Midwest game matches Purdue and top-seeded Houston.
Kentucky won both regular-season matchups this season, winning 78-73 in Knoxville and 75-63 in Rupp Arena.
Kentucky-Illinois MBB
Photos by Vicky Graff
4 Responses
Nice pictures! I always save a couple and put them as screen savers! Man o man no matter through all the ups and downs I’m proud of this team and proud to be a Kentucky fan. You can tell this is a senior led team and Chandler played like I knew he could play. When the lights come on the kid can play ball. He has consistently gotten better and better and I would love to see him stay at Kentucky for 4 years with Noah and Perry. Noah has been a nice surprise and his defense is actually getting alot better.
Chandler will hopefully stay and continue to be "Cool Hand Colin" but does need to take more than 4 shots in a game.
I agree, especially when Carr, Almonor, Noah, and Perry are shying away from doing so. Oweh and Butler seem to be getting better from the arc. For us to advance any further, we will have to take at least 30 threes a game, keep turnovers to single digits, and hit our damn free throws!
We would be unbelievable if we could get all hands on deck for a full or at least most of a game in all aspects of it. We really haven’t seen anything like that all year. We plug one leak and another exposes. The Bigs don’t seem to have that desire to finish. They would rather pass out or fumble.