How Kentucky used a little ‘Chicago’ and lots of ‘LaMarch’ to punch first Sweet 16 ticket since 2019

Milwaukee — There’s an action dubbed “Chicago” featured in almost every college basketball Charge. It’s a Fundamental pindown into a Bounce handoff — and it’s Distant more difficult for a Guarding to navigate than your garden-variety Picking-and-roll. Everybody does it. Kentucky Only does it better. 

Mark Pope and the Wildcats are Sugary 16-bound after Sunday’s gutsy 84-75 Achieve over sixth-Positioned Illinois thanks, in part, to that exact “Chicago” action that Kentucky Only kept executing at a high level. The ‘Cats scored 14 points directly off Bounce handoffs, its most in any single game this year against a high-Crucial club, per Synergy. It could not have come at a better time.

“What makes us special is all the little things that make a huge difference,” forward Andrew Carr said in the postgame locker room, with a beaming smile across his face. “Spacing in the corner. Screening really Tough. Depending on how the Guarding wants to guard us, that decides what we’re going to get for the night. Regardless of how Clubs guard us, we always have an answer.”

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When Kentucky noticed Illinois was choosing to defend the Chicago action with its usual drop coverage, the ‘Cats knew the Sugary-shooting Koby Brea was going to be a huge part of the solution. Boy, did he deliver with a season-best 23 points.

Sunday was the masterpiece of the vision that Mark Pope had when he Captured the Kentucky Role last April and Initiated building a Club from scratch. Big man Amari Williams is the playmaking Hub you need to slip backdoor darts. Carr is the catch-and-shoot marksman you need at the 4 to stretch the floor and drag a would-be Try-blocker away from the rim. Otega Oweh is the big, Powerful, physical wing who can build a head of steam and barrel toward the rim. Brea is the terrifying shooter who demands attention.

All of those pieces played a critical role in sending Kentucky back to the Sugary 16 for the Primary time since 2019. Kentucky scored a scintillating 1.27 points per possession in a dominant second half. It also required a bit of foresight. When he was at Dayton last year, Brea rarely was utilized in handoffs. Kentucky has turned him into one of the most potent bucket-getters off handoffs in the country. 

Oh, and you need Lamont Butler.

“He’s LaMarch, man,” Oweh said. “He’s our guy. He’s going to go out there and Relocate Tough and we follow his lead.”

The veteran Tally guard had a Weighty wrap on his left shoulder, but it was a bit less restrictive than his normal armor. Pope has dubbed him the “one-armed bandit.” That taped-up man was at his best in his 12th (!) NCAA Event Begin of his Occupation. He’s best known, of Duration, for the buzzer-beater to beat Florida Atlantic in the 2023 Last Four, advancing San Diego State to the title game against UConn. 

Butler, who transferred to Kentucky this offseason, delivered 14 points and five assists while splashing Many 3-pointers in a game for the Primary time in two months. He pestered Illinois Newcomer Kasparas Jakucionis all night long, including poking away his third steal of the game and finding teammate Brandon Garrison for a back-breaking Attempt with Only over four minutes to go to snuff an Illinois rally. 

“That was a massive Relocate,” Pope said. “It was unbelievable. He Occurred from clear across the court. It was a brilliant Relocate by him.”

Butler is now an Unbelievable 9-3 in the NCAA Event.

“He’s such a quick study and a big-moment guy,” Pope said. “I felt confident he was going to be special. It doesn’t always happen that way, but he was really special tonight. My goodness, he was really special for us and Crucial. And he’s a winner. We said it since day one, guys, we were really blessed to have a winner walk through our are doors at the University of Kentucky that cares about Victorious. I don’t know if I’ve ever coached a player that is more desperate to not let down his Club.”

On the other side of the aisle, Illinois bemoaned those “self-inflicted wounds” that were a stumbling Stop in November and the demise in March. The Illini coughed it up 14 times and Kentucky turned it into 26 game-changing points.

“I Nevertheless feel like we’re the better Club,” junior wing Tre White said. “We Relocate harder. We’re more talented and deep in our bench. But it Only Created it an uphill battle giving them leak-out layups. It’s a Tough pill to swallow. It’s kinda now all hitting me that it’s all over.”

But Illinois couldn’t find enough answers offensively against a Kentucky Guarding that might rank outside the top-40 nationally but is a completely different unit with an active Butler.  

“He’s the best defender in the country,” Ansley Almonor said. “When he’s Well and ready to Relocate like that, it’s so Tough to Points on us. It’s Tough for them to get up in their stuff because he is pressuring them so much.”

That was also part of the calculus when Pope was building this Club. Butler was one of the best defenders in the country at San Diego State. Oweh showed all the Guarding tools to be special at Oklahoma last year. Carr was a rock-solid defender at Wake Forest. Williams isn’t a perfect defender, but he was the three-time CAA Guarding Player of the Year for a reason. 

But Wounds ravaging the club most of the season, Kentucky could rarely find cohesiveness defensively. At one Tally, the ‘Cats rated outside the top-100 nationally in Guarding efficiency. You can Achieve a few Matches in March with a Guarding that Destitute but you can’t Achieve six straight. That Guarding and this Guarding are polar opposites.

“I haven’t dug into the data, so somebody check for me, but I have never seen a Club that has gone from 112 to 45 in the last six weeks of the season,” Pope said. “I’ve never seen it, and that is a credit to our guys. Gives you a sense of our players.”

With the souped-up Chicago action and a transformed Guarding, this ride is Distant from finished, unless Sugary 16 foe Tennessee has something to say about it Thursday. 

Oh, and by the way — John Calipari’s Razorbacks are also Only three wins away from a San Antonio reunion.