The first half was a defensive clinic. The second half was an offensive celebration. The result? A trip to the Sweet 16 for the Kentucky Wildcats, who will keep on dancing into the second week of the NCAA Tournament for the first time in six years.
Kentucky beat Illinois 84-75 on Sunday night. The Wildcats did it inside of a Fiserv Forum that featured more orange than UK blue. The fans in Milwaukee — not far from Chicago, a major base for Illini fans — were louder for Illinois’ big plays than they were for Kentucky’s. That’s not common this time of year. But, then again, it wasn’t really common Sunday night either. Lamont Butler made sure of that. And Koby Brea. And Otega Oweh. And Andrew Carr. And Amari Williams. And a few other Wildcats, too. Every time those fans in orange started to get a little rowdy, one Cat or another would do something to quiet them down. And, by the end, chants of “Go Big Blue!” provided the soundtrack as the final seconds ticked off the clock.
Mark Pope, the first-year coach with the weight of a Big Blue Nation on his shoulders, was hugging everyone in sight. His players, all of them playing elsewhere this time last year — all of them in their first season as Kentucky Wildcats — were celebrating, too. A season-long series of struggles, doubts and adversity will go on for at least a few days longer. Kentucky will play Tennessee on Friday night in Indianapolis. What got the Wildcats to this moment? “It’s just the love we have for each other,” Williams said. “I feel like everybody just wanted to be on the court fighting for one another, and it showed tonight. We don’t worry about anything else — just the people we have in our circle. And that’s the way it’s been the whole season, and that’s what got us to this point.”
On this night, a team known for its offense all season long set the tone on the other side of the ball. The contest was still scoreless when Butler landed, quite literally, the first punch. Kentucky’s pest of a perimeter defender punched the ball right out of the hands of Illinois point guard Kasparas Jakucionis and ran the other way with it. Butler found Brea under the basket for a layup, and the next few minutes brought more of the same. Jakucionis already had three turnovers a little more than five minutes into the game. He ended up with six for the night. Only two of those were officially steals by Butler, but UK’s all-world defender hounded him — and everyone else in his vicinity — all night long
“I just felt bad for the freshman guard — I forgot his name — but when you see a guy like Lamont in front of you, you’re kind of on your heels a little bit,” Williams said. “You got to protect the ball even more. And I feel like that’s just the kind of intensity he brings to the game.” Illinois committed eight turnovers in the first 11 minutes and change. “We have Lamont Butler as the head of defense,” Brea said. “So I feel like, for any team, when you see him pick you up, it has to put something in your stomach — some nerves or something.” This wasn’t just any team. Illinois boasts one of the best offenses in college basketball. Kentucky, until recently, was viewed as a not great — to put it kindly — defensive team. But the Cats have made undeniable gains in recent weeks, and their D was relentless on this night.