Kentucky schools Illinois 84-75 in NCAA Tournament second-round smack-around

MILWAUKEE — Is it that time already?

Time to say a whole bunch of goodbyes?

Alas, it seems so. Illinois can say goodbye to its season after the Midwest Region’s No. 6 seed got owned by No. 3 seed Kentucky 84-75 in an NCAA Tournament second-round smack-around at Fiserv Forum.

The final record — 22-13 — is not that bad but certainly not all that great. A completely turned-over Illini roster had some memorable moments during the season, but matching the consistency of last year's Elite Eight squad simply never happened. Let’s rate the whole exercise as a mild success.

But back to the goodbyes, which, this time of year, often involve tears that just won’t stop flowing. And in a significant change for the Illini and coach Brad Underwood, they involve a pair of freshman guards widely expected to go the one-and-done route. Lithuanian Kasparas Jakucionis has been a lottery pick on draft boards for most of the season. Canadian Will Riley has steadily climbed and projects as a first-rounder.

Both sat in the locker room after the game feeling awful about how they’d just played. Point guard Jakucionis missed seven of nine three-point attempts, had only two assists and turned the ball over six times — incredibly, the fourth game in a row he finished with exactly that many.

“I’m sad,” he said. “I’m mad at myself that I let the team down today.”

Illinois got its hooks in the 18-year-old more than he thought it would, especially on the emotional front.

“I didn’t think I would enjoy it [this] much,” he said. “I didn’t think there would be good people that I would love and that it will be my family here.”

But he has to go, doesn’t he? Who turns down a lottery shot?

“I don’t know if it was the last game or not,” he said.

After starring in the first round against Xavier, Riley contributed only five points on 1-for-7 shooting. Nearly half an hour after the game, he was still wiping his eyes.

“It’s terrible, especially knowing I could’ve done better for the team,” he said. “It hurts a lot, but I’m going to move past it.”

What happens now?

“I haven’t been thinking about that,” he said. “Our season just ended.”

The Illini dug themselves into a significant early hole, with Jakucionis having half of the team's eight turnovers by the time it was 25-13 in favor of the Wildcats (24-11). But then the Illini went turnover-free for the last eight-plus minutes of the first half, controlling that segment of the game with a 19-12 charge. See how that works? Value the basketball.

Their second-half start was even more dreadful. Seemingly low on energy — inexplicable in March — the Illini watched Kentucky storm 10-0 pout of the chute, punctuated by 7-footer Amari Williams' steal of a lazy Riley pass and gigantic throw-down at the other end. Two minutes later, Williams blocked Tomislav Ivisic's three-point attempt, again dribbled all the way to the rim and again dunked thunderously for a 53-39 lead. What a sight.

Kentucky's lead reached 16 with 14:49 to go, but the Illini cut it to nine three minutes later on a Jakucionis three. That’s when the Wildcats' 44% three-point shooter, Koby Brea, got going, and that was essentially all she wrote. Brea finished 23 points.

There was a little bit of bad luck, too, for the Illini. Wildcats guard Lamont Butler came in with exactly one three-pointer made since February 1. So what did he do in the early going of the most important game of the season to date? Splash in a pair of threes. Of course.

The Wildcats got what they deserved, though, and that's a trip to Indianapolis to take on SEC rival Tennessee in the Sweet 16.

Three-Dot Dash

• AND WHAT ABOUT IVISIC? The 7-1 Illini sophomore played extremely well in the tournament and — this being 2025 – will have options, too. He’s too skilled not to get an NBA shot eventually, and other schools certainly can wave bags of money at him.

“I still don’t know what’s going to happen next year,” he said. “The only thing I can say is I really like it here, I enjoyed it here and I would like to stay for next year, but I can’t [guarantee] that because I don’t know what’s going to happen.” …

• FLORIDA 77, UCONN 75 WAS the game this tournament was waiting for. All the elements of a tournament classic were there Sunday in Raleigh, N.C. The eighth-seeded Huskies — winners of the last two national titles — went in as underdogs but dictated the feel of the game so much so that the top-seeded Gators had to take on the role of giant killers. And then Gators guard Walter Clayton Jr. delivered a sensational closing effort, hitting multiple daggers down the stretch. Peak excitement. …

• THE SWEET 16 WILL GO ON without the Big East, and that’ll be a strange feeling. UConn’s presence the last two years loomed so large, just as Villanova’s did in recent championship seasons before that. That was supposed to be St. John’s and a triumphant Rick Pitino this time, but Arkansas nipped that in the bud. …

• HOUSTON WAS MY TITLE PICK going in, and the Cougars remain in excellent position, but Florida’s path to the Final Four looks as wide-open as Alligator Alley in the wee hours now that UConn is out and St. John’s crashed and burned. …

• THE FIRST TIME SEAN MILLER left Xavier for a glitzier coaching job, at Arizona in 2009, it was understandable. But after losing to Illinois in the first round, Miller is ditching Xavier again, this time for Texas — the team the Musketeers happened to beat in the First Four — and it’s a crass move. Xavier threw Miller a career lifeline after Arizona fired him amid a bushel of charges of Level I violations in recruiting. Loyalty? Never. On to the next.