LIVE BLOG: [3] Kentucky vs. [6] Illinois, NCAA Tournament Second Round
Kentucky made it out of the first round of the NCAA Tournament. It’s time to see if they can punch their ticket to the Sweet 16. KSR’s LIVE BLOG will bring you all the sights and sounds from Fiserv Forum as the No. 3 seed Kentucky Wildcats face the No. 6 seed Illinois Fighting Illini (5:15 p.m. ET, CBS).
It didn’t come without some nervous moments, but the Cats took care of business vs. Troy. Lamont Butler’s (shoulder) and Amari Williams’ (back) health could play a big factor vs. Illinois, a team with two projected first-round draft picks, Kasparas Jakucionis and Will Riley. The Fighting Illini hit 12 threes in their first-round win vs. Xavier. Kentucky will need to clamp down on the perimeter and create its own firepower to have a shot of making it to Indianapolis to face No. 2 seed Tennessee.
It is time to exorcise some more March demons? Refresh the feed below for updates and our takes on the game from Fiserv Forum. You can also join the conversation on the KSBoard Game Thread or by texting your observations to 859-587-3828 (standard messaging rates apply).
First, a message from today’s live blog sponsor, Friends of Coal.
Friends of Coal is dedicated to informing and educating Kentucky citizens about the coal industry and its vital role in the state’s future. We provide a united voice for an industry that has been and remains a critical economic contributor to Kentucky. By working together, we can provide good jobs and benefits for future generations. Coal is RESILIENT, RELIABLE, and AFFORDABLE.
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Lee Anne Pope embraces her husband on the court
03/23/2025 06:55:40 PMThe Cats lingered on the court to take in the celebration, including Lee Anne Pope, who made her way through the pack to embrace her husband, much to the crowd’s delight.
FINAL: Kentucky 84, Illinois 75
03/23/2025 06:46:59 PMKENTUCKY IS GOING BACK TO THE SWEET 16 FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE 2019! The Cats will face No. 2 seed Tennessee in Indianapolis on Friday.
What a gutsy, impressive performance by this team, especially Lamont Butler and Koby Brea. Celebrate, my friends.
CATS chant breaks out
03/23/2025 06:40:19 PMI hope you guys can hear that CATS chant through the TV. It’s glorious. Ansley Almonor just hit a pair of free throws to put Kentucky up 11 with 38 seconds to go. Lamont Butler and Koby Brea just hugged Lamont Butler.
“Go Big Blue” chants!
03/23/2025 06:35:57 PMOfficials just reviewed and reversed an out-of-bounds call to give Kentucky the ball, leading to a fresh round of “Go Big Blue” chants at the Fiserv Forum. Lamont Butler was fouled and hit both free throws to put Kentucky up by ten with 1:01 to go.
AND ONE BY ANDREW CARR!
03/23/2025 06:30:40 PMAndrew Carr is saving the best for last. Carr just hit his second bucket of the night and was fouled in the process. He missed the free throw, but the Cats are back up by eight with 1:13 to go.
1:13 2H – Kentucky 76, Illinois 68
Now down to six…
03/23/2025 06:30:12 PMIllinois Kylan Boswell just cut the lead to six with 1:23 to go. Cats need a bucket…
Ivisic cuts the lead to eight
03/23/2025 06:29:04 PMLet’s hope that foul by Brandon Garrison doesn’t come back to hurt Kentucky. Garrison fouled Ivisic, who made the shot but missed the free throw.
Score Update: 3:21 2H – Kentucky 74, Illinois 64
03/23/2025 06:23:18 PMAt the under-four timeout, Kentucky leads by ten. Lamont Butler has been great tonight, and may have just made the play of the game, stealing the ball and dishing it to Brandon Garrison for an and-one. Garrison missed the free throw, but it’s great to see Butler playing like his old self.
Illinois cuts it to 10
03/23/2025 06:20:29 PMIllinois isn’t going down without a fight. The Fighting Illini have cut the lead to ten with five minutes to go. Thankfully, Koby Brea just checked back in.
Score Update: 7:44 2H – Kentucky 70, Illinois 56
03/23/2025 06:12:05 PMKoby Brea scored again since my last update. He’s up to 23 points, tying a career high. Cats lead by 14 with just under eight minutes to go…
Koby Brea is EN FUEGO!
03/23/2025 06:04:51 PMKoby Brea is on fire, folks. Brea scored eight straight points to push Kentucky’s lead back to 15 with just over ten minutes to go. He has 21 points on 9-13 shooting so far.
Still plenty of time left, but Kentucky looks awesome.
10:03 2H – Kentucky 68, Illinois 53
Score Update: 11:46 2H – Kentucky 60, Illinois 51
03/23/2025 05:59:42 PMCollin Chandler is not afraid my friends. After back-to-back threes by Illinois cut the lead to nine, Chandler fired a three from the March Madness logo to push it back to double digits. It’s back to nine after another three by Jakucionis.
Something to watch: Otega Oweh came up slow after missing that layup. He motioned to the UK bench to come out, hence the timeout.
Text Machine is happy
03/23/2025 05:57:01 PMText your observations to 859-587-3828 (standard messaging rates apply).
AMARI WILLIAMS STEAL AND SLAM!!!
03/23/2025 05:49:55 PMKnow how you were yelling for Amari Williams to dunk the ball? He just did it, pushing Kentucky’s lead to 15. He just dunked again to make it 53-39 Kentucky at the 14:58 mark. The Cats are rolling!
Kentucky starts the half on an 8-0 run
03/23/2025 05:46:52 PMAndrew Carr and Otega Oweh combined for just two points in the first half. They both got Kentucky off to a hot start in the second half. The Cats are on an 8-0 run to push the lead to 13 and prompt Illinois to call a timeout. Oweh has half of those. Kentucky fans are on their feet and doing the Oweh chant.
17:32 2H – Kentucky 45, Illinois 32
Halftime Text Machine Takes
03/23/2025 05:30:32 PMText your observations to 859-587-3828 (standard messaging rates apply).
HALF: Kentucky 37, Illinois 32
03/23/2025 05:20:38 PMKentucky leads by five at half after Trent Noah drew a foul on a three-point attempt with 1.5 seconds remaining. The Cats are shooting 45% from the floor and 38% (5-13) from three. Illinois is shooting 43% from the field and only 3-14 (21%) from three. The Illini had 12 threes in Friday’s win over Xavier. Lamont Butler and Kylan Boswell lead all scorers with 10 points each.
Good first half for the Cats, who will get Otega Oweh back in the second half. Oweh played only six minutes in the first half due to foul trouble. The fact that Kentucky leads by five at half with just two points from Oweh and Andrew Carr feels significant.
Ansley Almonor with a HUGE three
03/23/2025 05:18:55 PMIllinois fans were on their feet after the Fighting Illinois cut Kentucky’s lead to three. Ansley Almonor shushed them with a massive three from the corner. Almonor had only scored four points over the last four games. Unfortunately, Jakucionis responded with a three-pointer of his own.
Lamont Butler is up to 10 points
03/23/2025 05:15:47 PMIllinois’ Tre White cut Kentucky’s lead to four, but Lamont Butler hit his second three of the night to push it back to seven. That’s the first time since Jan. 18 that Butler has hit more than one three in a game. After a pair of free throws, he is up to ten points.
2:13 1H- Kentucky 32, Illinois 25
Score Update: 3:47 1H – Kentucky 27, Illinois 21
03/23/2025 05:09:40 PMKentucky’s lead is still six at the under-four timeout. Ivisic just picked up his second foul (although the announcer here at Fiserv called it on Grant Darbyshire). Kentucky has only made one of its last seven field goals.
6-0 run by Illinois
03/23/2025 05:05:46 PMThe Fighting Illini won that segment. Back-to-back buckets by Kylan Boswell capped off a 6-0 Illinois run to cut Kentucky’s lead to six and prompt Mark Pope to call a timeout.
5:45 1H – Kentucky 25, Illinois 19
Dez Bryant is a Kentucky fan?
03/23/2025 05:02:01 PMThis isn’t the first time he’s cheered for Kentucky. Jack Pilgrim unearthed a post from last March in which the former Dallas Cowboy and NFL Pro Bowler was rooting for Kentucky.
Brandon Garrison picks up two quick fouls
03/23/2025 04:57:09 PMThe fouls are starting to pile up here in Milwaukee. Brandon Garrison picked up two in 24 seconds and Chandler just picked up one to take Kentucky’s team total to seven so far this half. Two free throws by Ivisic ended a 7-0 Kentucky run, which included a layup by Trent Noah. Kentucky still leads by ten. Illinois hasn’t scored a field goal in 2:31 and already has eight turnovers.
8:00 1H – Kentucky 25, Illinois 15
Another promising sign
03/23/2025 04:54:50 PMLamont Butler was already on the board with a three, but he’s now up to five points after driving the lane and laying it in. He’s giving it his all. He just picked up his first foul and will get a breather. Kentucky’s up by ten thanks to a three by Koby Brea.
9:28 1H – Kentucky 23, Illinois 13
Score Update: 11:43 1H – Kentucky 18, Illinois 10
03/23/2025 04:49:10 PMTwo good developments there. One, Lamont Butler just hit a three-pointer, his first since the LSU game on March 4. Amari Williams has a chance for an old-fashioned three-point play of his own. He was fouled on a basket and will head to the free-throw line after this timeout. Cats up by 8.
11:43 1H – Kentucky 18, Illinois 10
2nd foul on Oweh
03/23/2025 04:47:42 PMOtega Oweh just checked back in but he’s about to check back out. Oweh picked up his second foul with 7:29 to go in the game. Illinois is within three after a three-pointer by Tomi Ivisic, Big Z’s brother.
Text Machine likes the start
03/23/2025 04:45:21 PMText your observations to 859-587-3828 (standard messaging rates apply).
7-0 run for Kentucky
03/23/2025 04:41:18 PMKentucky’s start just got even better. Amari Williams put back an Otega Oweh miss and Koby Brea just hit a jumper to put Kentucky up 13-5, capping off a 7-0 run and promoting Illinois to call a timeout.
14:32 1H – Kentucky 13, Illinois 5
Score Update: 15:30 1H – Kentucky 9, Illinois 5
03/23/2025 04:37:10 PMCollin Chandler, ladies and gentlemen. The freshman just knocked down a three to put Kentucky up 9-5. Otega Oweh had a chance to push it to 11-5, but missed a layup. Layups are still an issue for Kentucky tonight, but as long as they’re hitting threes, maybe it won’t matter. Regardless, good start for the Cats.
Koby Brea gets the Cats on the board
03/23/2025 04:32:49 PMAfter some missed shots by both teams, Koby Brea gets the Cats on the board first. Lamont Butler stole the ball, drove the lane, and found Brea for the finish. 2-0 Cats.
Kentucky takes the court to boos
03/23/2025 04:23:49 PMI’m not used to Kentucky being booed in this setting. The Cats just took the court after Illinois and were loudly booed by the Fighting Illini fans in the crowd. The Kentucky contingent is being as loud as they can, but this will definitely be a road game.
In other news, this Kentucky Basketball altar that one of Steven’s friends shared is awesome:
Illinois will definitely have the crowd advantage
03/23/2025 04:05:13 PMAs expected, Illinois fans dominate the crowd. By our estimate, Illinois fans make up about 70% of the crowd here. There are more Kentucky fans than there were on Friday, but this will be a road game for sure.
Today’s officials…
03/23/2025 04:01:11 PM…Brian Dorsey, Bert Smith, Jeb Hartness. Todd Austin is on standby. Kentucky is 1-1 in games officiated by Dorsey this season (Western Kentucky, Ohio State) and 5-0 in games by Hartness (Louisville, at Mississippi State, South Carolina, Vanderbilt, at Missouri). Smith has not officiated a Kentucky game this season.
Tipoff officially set for 5:30 PM ET
03/23/2025 03:51:25 PMThe NCAA March Madness account just tweeted that Kentucky vs. Illinois will tip off at 4:30 p.m. CT/5:30 p.m. ET, 15 minutes behind schedule. The clocks in the arena are counting down until 4:25 p.m. CT, which is when all the fanfare will probably begin.
Andrew Carr introduced himself to the CBS broadcast crew
03/23/2025 03:49:07 PMSome cool Andrew Carr moments here courtside. Carr just came up and introduced himself to the CBS broadcast crew of Kevin Harlan, Dan Bonner, and Stan Van Gundy. Carr also led the talk in the pregame huddle.
The Cats look loose
03/23/2025 03:38:08 PMKentucky was infamously tight before its NCAA Tournament games the last three seasons. For what it’s worth, they look very loose today in warmups. Andrew Carr and Koby Brea are shooting particularly well from the outside. Hopefully, a good sign.
There’s some media beef!
03/23/2025 03:27:28 PMI didn’t know Derek Piper before today, but apparently, he is big mad that some Kentucky media members are wearing UK gear. What a noble Big J journalist.
Of course we’re having fun with it.
Tipoff pushed to 4:25 p.m. CT
03/23/2025 03:24:46 PMBoth Kentucky and Illinois are warming up and there are 60 minutes on the clock, meaning our game will tip 10 minutes later than scheduled, at 4:25 p.m. CT. Duke leads Baylor 47-30 in the game before Kentucky’s on CBS.
- Date, Time: 5:25 ET
- Television: CBS (Kevin Harlan, Dan Bonner, Stan Van Gundy, Lauren Shehadi)
- Home Radio: UK Sports Network – 630 WLAP, iHeart Radio (Tom Leach, Goose Givens)
- Online Radio: The Varsity App
- Satellite Radio: Sirius 210 or 203
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