Kentucky's defense continues to improve after putting on a clinic in win over Illinois

Kentucky’s defensive improvement throughout the season feels unprecedented.

This is a group that once ranked as low as 110th nationally in KenPom’s adjusted defensive efficiency ranking. But something changed after the Wildcats gave up 98 points to Ole Miss on Feb. 4 — a low point of the season in a 14-point loss that was never truly competitive. In the 13 games since that season-altering outcome, Mark Pope has coached one of the country’s best statistical defenses.

Kentucky is now up to 45th in KenPom’s adjusted defensive efficiency following Sunday’s Round of 32 win over Illinois — a 65-spot jump across a roughly seven-week span. But the numbers are even more impressive than that. If we trim the criteria down to focus solely on what’s happened since Feb. 4, Kentucky holds the country’s 11th-best defense, according to BartTorvik.

Let me say that one more time… Kentucky has the 11th-best defense in the country over its last 13 games played. That was with Lamont Butler still rotating in and out of the lineup while he dealt with his nagging shoulder injury.

The Wildcats have steadily improved on that end of the floor. Some tweaks were made to help push the envelope; giving up fewer three-pointers and forcing more turnovers stand out as clear improvements. All of that was on full display against the Fighting Illini. One could argue — as I will right now — that it was Kentucky’s best defensive outing of the entire season.

Just two days after holding Troy to 57 points, Illinois’ top 15 offense finished with just 75 points in its season-ending loss. The Illini shot 43.5 percent from the field and 9-32 (28.1 percent) from deep. Star freshmen Will Riley and Kasparas Jakucionis were a combined 6-20 shooting the ball. Illinois’ other talented freshman, 7-foot-1 Tomislav Ivisic, finished 6-15 from the floor.

Kentucky recorded a season-high tying 14 steals, which were flipped into 26 points the other way. Seven different Wildcats picked up a steal with a trio of them (Butler, Andrew Carr, and Collin Chandler) all snagging three steals apiece. Brandon Garrison finished with two. Especially in the first half, Illinois’ offense looked completely lost. Amari Williams posted three blocks for good measure.

Carr said postgame that playing the passing lanes and getting out in transition was heavily baked into the plan; they knew they could take advantage of Illinois defensively.

“Our gameplan for them was very good,” Chandler said postgame. “We were 911 emergency switching on the big men who was popping and sometimes he was rolling, but I thought we did a great job at tricking up the pass that they were trying to make to him, getting a lot of deflections. Plus, it’s nice having Lamont up there. I don’t think their guards felt very comfortable with Lamont out there guarding them.”

Butler made life hell for Jakucionis, a projected lottery pick, most of the night. Illinois as a team was 3-14 from deep in the first half. Kentucky appeared more than willing to let Kylan Boswell (who did finish with 23 points on 9-14 shooting) try and beat them. As long as it wasn’t the star freshman going to work, UK was going to live with someone less talented attempting to take over. Butler, along with Chandler, Otega Oweh, and Koby Brea, all did an excellent job of making that happen.

“Probably not. Probably not, man,” Carr said when asked if anyone makes more winning plays than Butler. “He does everything for us, even just his presence on the ball, it’s really cool to see him at halfcourt just doing whatever he wants to do, trying to disrupt their guards and it really makes a big impact on what we want to do defensively.”

Butler had maybe the play of the game as well, which of course happened as a result of his defense. With the ‘Cats up 10 and under five minutes to go, Illinois was looking to make a final push. But Butler picked Jakucionis’ pocket in the backcourt and immediately found Garrison for an and-one finish. We didn’t know it at the time, but that play sealed the victory.

HUGE steal and dime from Lamont Butler leads to the Garrison and-one 🔥@KentuckyMBB looking to close it out 👀#MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/pUVRoyxIZf

— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 23, 2025

Who would have thought that Kentucky, known for a potent offense all season long, would actually be more efficient on defense come the postseason?