Sunday’s NCAA Tournament question: Which Illinois will Kentucky basketball get?
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Game day: Kentucky 76, Troy 57
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Friday night’s men’s basketball game between Kentucky and Troy at the NCAA Tournament in Milwaukee.
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The game in hand, the Kentucky fan behind the Wildcats’ bench Friday night at the Fiserv Forum directed his full-throated message right at Mark Pope.
“Five more, Mark,” he yelled at the UK coach. “Five more.”
Five more victories to a national championship, of course. Each more difficult than the last. Friday, the Midwest Region’s No. 3 seed took its first step toward San Antonio, turning back No. 14 seed Troy 76-57 to give Pope his first NCAA Tournament victory as a head coach.
Now comes a Sunday (5:15 p.m. EDT) second-round showdown with one of the more erratic, but more talented ensembles in the entire 68-team field.
When No. 6 seed Illinois is bad, it is really, really bad. Examples: The Illini lost to Duke 110-67, to Wisconsin 95-74, to Maryland 91-70 in the regular season and 88-65 in the Big Ten Tournament.
When Illinois is good, it is really, really good. Coach Brad Underwood’s club won by 32 points (109-77) at Oregon, by 25 (94-69) at Indiana, by 20 (93-73) at Michigan. And it took care of business Friday night, knocking off No. 11 seed Xavier 86-73.
“Said it all year, I think we’ve got a really, really high ceiling,” Underwood said. “I think (our) guys had an opportunity to show themselves a little bit tonight. We did a lot of really good things.”
Afterward, given that his team has won five of its last six, a media member asked Underwood if his team has played better than this all season?
“Probably not,” said the coach. “I say this because I have so much respect for Sean (Miller, the Xavier coach) and I have so much respect for how well they were playing.”
Indeed, the Muskies had won eight of their last nine games, including an 86-80 First Four victory over Texas on Wednesday night in Dayton. “They were hot,” Underwood said.
Led by its trio of international stars, Illinois was Friday’s hot team. Will Riley, the 6-foot-8 freshman from Canada, scored 22 points, 18 in the second half. Tomislav Ivisic, the 7-1 center from Croatia, scored 20 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and set an NCAA record for 3-pointers by a 7-footer with four. Kasparas Jakucionis, the 6-6 guard from Lithuania, scored 16 points, grabbed nine rebounds and dished 10 assists.
“One rebound short of a triple-double,” Underwood said.
Yes, Ivisic is indeed the brother of Zvonimir “Big Z” Ivisic, who played for UK last season before following John Calipari to Arkansas. Tomislav admitted that Sunday’s matchup comes with extra incentive.
“My brother played there for one year. He told me all the best things about Kentucky,” Tomislav said. “He had a great time there. I’m looking forward to play that game.”
So is Kentucky. How Pope’s club performed in Friday’s 76-57 win over Troy was immaterial to the fact that for just the second time in the past five years UK advanced to the second round.
Not that the Cats played poorly. They were solid. They were credited with 23 assists on 28 made field goals. They were 10-of-26 shooting from 3-point range. They held Troy to 34.9 percent shooting from the floor. And youngsters Collin Chandler (nine points), Trent Noah (3-pointer sparked a first-half run) and Brandon Garrison (13 points, 6 rebounds) made significant contributions.
On the defensive end, the Cats held Troy to 34.9 percent shooting from the floor. The Trojans missed 24 of their 32 attempts from 3-point range. Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year Trayton Conerway missed six of his seven shots from deep.
“I was really proud of our guys being able to just kind of lose themselves in this moment,” Pope said. “I thought our guys did a wonderful job of being fully present and understanding that this is everything we want.”
We know what the fan base wants. Banners, of course. A ninth national championship banner. Short-term, the goal is to reach the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2019.
Illinois isn’t Troy, however. When firing on all cylinders, the Illini is among the best teams in the nation. Kentucky must find a way to keep them from firing on Sunday.
This story was originally published March 22, 2025 at 8:51 AM.
