Mark Pope flexed in-game coaching brilliance late in first-half vs. Illinois

Especially in the NCAA Tournament, every single possession matters. Mark Pope understands that as well as any high-level basketball coach should.

Pope gave us a small taste of his in-game coaching brilliance during Kentucky’s second-round win over Illinois on Sunday in Milwaukee. Late in the first half, Fighting Illini guard Kasparas Jakucionis (a future lottery pick) hit a massive three-pointer to put his team down just three points with 36 seconds left until the intermission. Illinois was successfully chipping away at a Kentucky lead that was as many as a dozen with 8:34 to go in the half. A three-point deficit was Illinois’ smallest in roughly 12 minutes.

With 36 seconds on the clock after Jakucionis’ make, Illinois had an opportunity for a two-for-one, setting up the possibility of being down one or even tying the game going into the break.

But in a moment of quick-thinking, Pope yelled for Amari Williams to hold the ball while out of bounds — just to waste a few more seconds on the clock. With the clock still running, Williams rolled the ball out to Lamont Butler, who let it continue to roll before grabbing it with about 27 seconds left, leaving one possession before the half.

Rolling the ball to make sure you don’t leave added time for an Illinois possession. Takes the shot clock out of play. pic.twitter.com/zhGtSZCf9U

— Shawn Smith (@_CoachSSmith) March 23, 2025

Great move at the end of the half by Coach Pope.

He was yelling to Amari Williams to hold the ball out of bounds until the clock hit 30 seconds so that Kentucky would be guaranteed to get the last shot.

Coach Painter popularized that move at Purdue a couple years ago. Brilliant

— Brandon Ramsey (@BRamseyKSR) March 23, 2025

Kentucky now had the final shot of the half instead of potentially giving Illinois another shot the other way down with 5-6 seconds (or more) to make a play. Trent Noah went on to get fouled on a three-pointer with just a second on the game clock. He connected on two out of three to make it a 37-32 lead for UK. Illinois did not get off a shot before the buzzer finally went off.

Again, every possession matters in the postseason. Illinois nearly controlled all of the momentum going into halftime. Had Kentucky jumped right into action after Jakucionis made his shot, the Illini could have just as easily earned a defensive stop and scored again before the break. But Pope, Williams, and Butler were able to prevent that from happening with some great awareness. The Wildcats ended up being the team with halftime momentum.

Kentucky then opened the second half on a 10-0 run and never looked back en route to locking up a spot in the Sweet 16. It’s the little things that matter in March.