MILWAUKEE, Wis. (ABC36 NEWS NOW)- Koby Brea scored a team-high 23 points and Kentucky scored 26 points off of 14 turnovers to beat Illinois and move onto the Sweet Sixteen on Sunday. Head Coach Mark Pope is 2-0 in the NCAA Tournament with Kentucky and has coached the Wildcats to their first Sweet Sixteen since 2019. How it Happened Kentucky got out to a 13-5 lead in the first half with three steals in the first five minutes. But, Tomislav Ivisic fired a three to get Illinois within touching distance. UK started to make another run and was up 18-10 with 11:43 remaining in the first half. At that point, Kentucky had scored nine points off of five turnovers, all of them steals. Pope’s squad put together 9-0 and 7-0 runs to repel the Illini advances and gain a ten point cushion as the half went on. The distance between the teams was down to single digits as the first stanza ended though, 37-32. Midway through the second half, UK hit the gas and was up by as many as 16 with Koby Brea leading the team with 23 points. He had nine at the break, but exploded for 14 in the second 20 minutes. Kentucky’s defense held the Illini to 28% shooting from three-point range and the Cats won the bench point battle 20-7. Amari Williams led that Cats in rebounds and assists with 10 and six respectively. Stealing the Show Kentucky’s 12 steals accounted for all of its turnovers taken from Illinois. Lamont Butler, Andrew Carr and Collin Chandler each had three for UK. On average, the Wildcats have just under seven steals per game and their opponents cough up an average of 10 turnovers a game. Both well under the performance in Milwaukee for both stat lines. Butler Back to Normal The Wildcats’ number one was back to his usual self too. Butler had scored 10 points by halftime, was perfect from the field and 2/3 from the charity stripe. In the second half, he slowed down with four tallies and finished with 14 points and five assists. His performance is quite the positive change from scoring zilch and registering his first assist halfway through the second half versus Troy. Round Three in Indy Kentucky will face Tennessee in the NCAA Tournament in Indianapolis, Indiana for a shot at the Elite Eight on Friday, March 28 at Lucas Oil Stadium. The Volunteers have lost to UK twice this season, once in Lexington and another time in Knoxville. Head Coach Rick Barnes’ team is 29-7 after beating UCLA in Lexington in the second round and Wofford in the first round. Categories: Featured, More Sports, Solid Blue, Sports Tags: Illinois, Kentucky, Milwaukee, sweet sixteen, Wildcats ...read more read less