No. 3 Kentucky knows a physical challenge awaits with No. 6 Illinois

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MILWAUKEE — No. 3 seed Kentucky is a slight underdog to No. 6 Illinois as they get ready to meet in the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament. Tipoff on Sunday is 4:15 p.m. CT in Fiserv Arena.

“We’ve been doubted all year with all the adversity,” Kentucky guard Lamont Butler said. “We were able to prove a lot of people wrong and we’re going to continue to try and prove people wrong.

Illinois has a huge fan presence Friday night for its 86-73 win over Xavier in the Round of 64. Illinois is expected to have another big crowd Sunday.

“We’ve got to stick to us, we need to bring our own energy,” Butler said. “No one else in the crowd can win the game for us. We’ve got to play hard, do what we do defensively and offensively.”

Kentucky is 11-4 all-time against Illinois in the series’ history, including 4-0 in the NCAA Tournament.

Illinois is 22-12 overall and went 12-8 in the Big Ten. It is led in scoring by Kasparas Jakucionis who averages 15 points per game. The Illini have five players logging double-digit points. Tomislav Ivisic, former UK player Zvonimir Ivisic’s twin brother, leads the way on the boards at 7.7 per game. He’s also chipping in with 12.8 points per game and shooting nearly 50% from the field, while draining 50 3-pointers.

The Illini rank among the top 15 offenses in the country per efficiency, and are in the top 20 of offensive rebound percentage. Illinois averages 83.9 points per game and 42.6 rebounds per outing.

“Really physical team, really aggressive, shooting a lot of threes, their offensive rebounding is off the charts as well,” Kentucky guard Koby Brea said. “We’ve got to be willing to make them take hard shots, shot rebound as much as possible, make sure we box out, get everybody on the glass.”

A quick turnaround, one day between the Round of 64 and Round of 32, requires some strong focus for Kentucky getting prepared for Illinois.

“It’s a one day scout, will be a mental battle learning their tendencies,” Butler…

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Publish date : 2025-03-23 09:20:00

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