Jay Bilas makes pick in Kentucky-Illinois second-round clash

Jay Bilas is riding with Kentucky to make the Sweet 16.

The 3-seed Wildcats are taking on 6-seed Illinois in the Round of 32 at 5:15 p.m. ET (CBS). Sunday morning on College GameDay, Bilas revealed his pick for the game.

“I think Kentucky is the better offensive team and I think they’re going to bring enough defensively,” Bilas said on the pregame show. “I wouldn’t be surprised to see Lamont Butler on Kylan Boswell and Otega Oweh to take (Kasparas) Jakucionis. I like Kentucky.”

Fans who had been watching GameDay may have been surprised that Bilas felt confident that UK would “bring enough defensively.” The ESPN analyst raised concerns with the Wildcats’ defense earlier in the show.

“Kentucky can score. I’m not worried about that. Can they stop Illinois, that’s the issue,” Bilas said. “Can they dig down and have one of their best defensive performances, and that has not been one of the lead stories for Kentucky, is their defense.”

UK is the higher seed, but currently the betting underdog by 2.5 points. Fans who like the Wildcats to cover the spread or perhaps win outright can use the latest DraftKings Kentucky promo code from SDS to get in on the action.

The winner of Sunday’s showdown in Milwaukee will advance to take on 2-seed Tennessee in Indianapolis.

Andrew Olson

Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.