Highlights from a Kentucky NCAA Tournament Win over Illinois

by:Nick Roush•03/23/25•

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Kentucky G Trent Noah vs Illinois in the NCAA Tournament, Mont Dawson, KSR

Man, it feels good to say this: Kentucky is back in the Sweet 16. In Mark Pope’s first season as the Wildcats head coach, he has two NCAA Tournament wins, as the Cats knocked off Illinois 84-75 to advance to play Tennessee.

It wasn’t always easy. The Cats only made three of their final 18 shots. They still didn’t have to sweat too much, thanks to an electric start to the second half.

Kentucky made 10 of its first 11 shots out of the halftime locker room. After sitting on the sideline for 12 minutes in the first half with foul trouble, Otega Oweh brought his best stuff, scoring 13 of his 15 points after intermission.

Oweh was great, but Koby Brea was unstoppable. At one point, the Dayton sharpshooter knocked down four straight shots, including a pair of threes. Brea led all scorers with 23 points on 10-16 shooting, 3-8 from three.

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Lamont Butler shook off the rust and played like it was LaMarch. After a scoreless outing against Troy, he knocked down a couple of threes and tallied 14 to go with five assists.

Kentucky was an underdog, yet played in control throughout, earning another shot at Tennessee in Indianapolis. Before turning the page to those good for nothing Vols, relive all of the outstanding moments from Mark Pope’s second NCAA Tournament win at Kentucky.

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