Next up: Against Illinois, UK basketball must overcome a familiar name and a familiar face
A look ahead to the Kentucky Wildcats’ next game in the men’s NCAA Tournament Midwest Regional round of 32:
The opponent
No. 3 seed Kentucky (23-11) will face No. 6 seed Illinois (22-12) on Sunday, March 23, at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee.
The game will tip off at 5:15 p.m. EDT and be telecast by CBS. The Fighting Illini defeated No. 11 seed Xavier 86-73 Friday night to advance to the round of 32. Will Riley had 22 points, Tomislav Ivisic 20 and Kasparas Jakucionis 16 to pace Illinois.
Series history
Kentucky leads the all-time series with Illinois 11-4. The Wildcats have won the last three meetings and 10 of the past 12 — but the teams have not met since the 1980s.
As UK head man, Mark Pope has never faced Illinois. Fighting Illini coach Brad Underwood has never coached against Kentucky.
Most recent meeting
Kentucky’s Melvin Turpin had a team-high 13 points, Sam Bowie chipped in 11 points and 14 rebounds and Dicky Beal had nine points and six assists as UK edged Illinois 54-51 in the NCAA Tournament Mideast Region finals at Rupp Arena on March 24, 1984.
Power rankings
In the Pomeroy Ratings, Kentucky is No. 16 and Illinois is No. 18. At the end of the regular season, UK stood No. 14 in the NCAA NET rankings and Illinois was No. 17.
Know your foe
1. Tomislav Ivisic, the brother of former Kentucky and current Arkansas big man Zvonimir Ivisic, is the second-leading scorer (12.2 points) and leading rebounder (7.7) for Illinois.
Ivisic is part of a major international presence on the Fighting Illini roster. The leading scorer for Illinois is freshman guard Kasparas Jakucionis (15.0 points, 5.6 rebounds), a 6-6, 205-pound product of Vilnius, Lithuania. The third-leading scorer, freshman forward Will Riley (12.5 points, 4.1 rebounds), is a 6-8, 195-pound product of Kitchener, Ontario, Canada.
2. Former Kentucky assistant Orlando Antigua is in the first year of his second stint as an assistant to Brad Underwood at Illinois. Antigua, of course, also served two stints as an assistant to John Calipari at UK. The former University of Pittsburgh men’s hoops star was a UK aide from 2009-14, before leaving to become the head coach at South Florida. Antigua returned to Kentucky in 2021 and was with the Wildcats until Calipari departed after last season for Arkansas.
Rather than follow Calipari to Fayetteville, Antigua returned to Illinois, where he had previously worked for Underwood from 2017-21.
3. Illinois split four games against Southeastern Conference squads this season. The Illini lost 100-87 to Alabama on a “neutral court” in Birmingham and lost 64-62 at home to Tennessee. Conversely, Illinois won 90-77 over Arkansas and 80-77 against Missouri on neutral courts in Kansas City and St. Louis, respectively. On the season, Illinois has two primary weaknesses. The Fighting Illini shoot only 31.1% on 3-pointers and are minus-2.3 in turnover margin.
