How Illinois Basketball can stifle the Kentucky Wildcats

Illinois basketball will play the Kentucky Wildcats in a Round of 32 showdown on Sunday afternoon. This will be one of the more exciting matchups of the day as the Illini and Kentucky play a similar brand of perimeter-oriented basketball with a high volume of three-point shots. Based on the metrics, both teams are practically the same. Per KenPom, Illinois basketball is 14th in offensive efficiency and 41st in defensive efficiency. Meanwhile, Kentucky is 10th overall in offensive efficiency and 53rd in defensive efficiency.

Clean Offense, Don’t Try to outshoot them

The starters for the Illini shot a combined 12 of 26 from the three which is just a hair under 50 percent. On top of that, the Illini got to the foul line 18 times and knocked down all 18 of their attempts. They have to continue to emphasize paint touches and catch-and-shoot threes. Particularly, a majority of the Illini’s three-point attempts were all within rhythm and were shots that the player had their feet set.

If Illinois basketball wants to beat Kentucky, they have to continue to focus on paint touches and defensive efficiency. They may be able to outshoot Kentucky, however, it is extremely risk to get into a shootout with this type of team.

Cut off the head of the Snake

Illinois did a fabulous job of locking down the two best players on Xavier. Ryan Conwell and Zach Freemantle combined for 17 total points on 5 of 19 from the field. Against the Wildcats, the focus will be on junior guard, Otega Oweh and Center, Amari Williams. Oweh averages 16.4 points per game for the Wildcats and is the emotional leader on both sides of the floor. He gets downhill at a high level, and Kylan Boswell will need to have another defensive masterclass.

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