Kentucky basketball keeps rolling, blows out Illinois State in final tuneup for SEC play

The longest layoff of the season didn’t do much to slow down the Kentucky Wildcats.

UK returned from its holiday break with a 96-70 victory over Illinois State in Rupp Arena on Friday night, leading by as many as 28 points and maintaining a double-digit advantage for the final 25 minutes of the contest with the overmatched Redbirds.

It was the Wildcats’ first game since beating rival Louisville 95-76 on Dec. 21 in their first true road game of the 2023-24 season, though there was plenty of blue in the KFC Yum Center crowd for that one. It’ll be another eight days until UK’s next game: The SEC opener at Florida on Jan. 6 in a sold-out O’Connell Center in what should be the Cats’ toughest environment so far.

They didn’t face much adversity against Illinois State.

Antonio Reeves led the way for Kentucky with 27 points against his old team. Reeves, who was 10-for-15 from the floor, played his first three seasons of college basketball at Illinois State before transferring to UK last year. Reeves now has 57 points in his last two games after scoring a season-low nine points in Kentucky’s win over North Carolina on Dec. 16.

Reed Sheppard stuffed the stat sheet again off the bench, tallying 11 points, five rebounds, five assists, two blocks and two steals. Fellow reserve Rob Dillingham had 16 points, seven assists and three steals, and D.J. Wagner joined them in double figures with 14 points.

Fifth-year player Tre Mitchell didn’t score and took just one shot in the first half, but he was a steady presence yet again for the Wildcats, finishing with eight points, 11 rebounds, four assists and a plus-30 rating in 29 minutes.

Kentucky made its first four shots from the field but still trailed 13-9 at the first TV timeout. The Redbirds’ advantage was short-lived, and the Wildcats took control pretty much as soon as the super sub duo of Dillingham and Sheppard checked into the game coming out of that first timeout.

From there, UK went on a 9-0 run over the next 4:10, taking an 18-13 lead on a Reeves layup. An and-one from Reeves six minutes later gave the Cats their first double-digit advantage of the night, and Kentucky’s lead ballooned to 45-30 by halftime.

Sheppard played a little less than 10 minutes in his first shift on the court, and Kentucky outscored Illinois State 26-10 over that stretch, with the state’s reigning Mr. Basketball going for eight points, two rebounds, one assist, one block and one steal before returning to the bench to a nice ovation from the sold-out Rupp Arena crowd.

Kentucky made 19 of 32 from the field in the first half, with 13 assists and just one turnover for the first 20 minutes of the game. UK ended the night shooting 36-for-63 (57.1%) with 23 assists and six turnovers.

The Wildcats (10-2) were 20-point favorites over Illinois State, which dropped to 8-5 on the season and came into the game at No. 194 nationally in the KenPom ratings.

Adou Thiero out

The Wildcats were playing shorthanded Friday night. Sophomore guard Adou Thiero was sidelined due to what UK termed as “general soreness” in a pregame announcement. John Calipari said before the game that Thiero has been experiencing back pain. Thiero is considered day-to-day, according to UK.

There was also one fewer player on the Wildcats’ bench, with freshman center Zvonimir Ivisic yet to return to the team after going home to Europe for the holiday break following Kentucky’s win over Louisville last week. UK said in an announcement earlier Friday that Ivisic is expected to rejoin the team next week.

Kentucky’s next game

Next up for the Wildcats: league play. Kentucky will have another week off before heading to Gainesville for a matchup against Florida on Jan. 6, the Southeastern Conference opener for the 2023-24 season. The game is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. on ESPN.

The Gators (9-3) came into the day at No. 33 nationally in the KenPom ratings, good enough for seventh in the hyper-competitive SEC. (UK started the day at 19th nationally and fourth in the SEC in those rankings.)

Florida has neutral-court losses to Baylor and Virginia, and its other defeat came on the road to Wake Forest in the ACC/SEC Challenge last month. UF’s best wins so far have come against Pittsburgh, Michigan, Florida State and Richmond — all top 100 KenPom teams heading into Friday’s games.

Kentucky has won four consecutive games and nine of the last 10 in this series, and the Wildcats have been victorious in their last five trips to Gainesville, not losing there since the 2017-18 season.

Florida has a home matchup against Quinnipiac on Saturday, its final game before playing Kentucky next weekend.

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