Kentucky spent most of Tuesday night trying to keep a bad situation from getting worse, and Alex Wilkins finally delivered the escape hatch.
Wilkins buried a go-ahead 3-pointer with 2.1 seconds left, lifting the Wildcats to a 78-77 win over winless Northern Arizona in Rupp Arena. The finish rescued Kentucky after a second-half wobble that drew boos from the home crowd and had Mark Pope’s team staring at a damaging loss just days after the blowout setback against Kansas.
“He bailed us out in a huge way,” UK coach Mark Pope said on his postgame radio show. “Sometimes when everything, everything goes wrong, you need some guys to step up and make some plays, and kudos to him for making the game-winner. It kind of saved us.”
Kentucky had control early, building a 13-point cushion in the first half and taking a 10-point lead into the break. That edge disappeared fast once the second half began. Northern Arizona ripped off 11 straight points to go ahead 51-49, and Pope had to call timeout with 15:02 left as boos rolled through the building.
The Lumberjacks kept punching back. They pushed the lead to five with 7:13 remaining before Kentucky answered with six in a row to move back in front. But the game kept slipping away from the Wildcats in small, painful bursts.
Chris Komin knocked down two free throws. Justin McBride answered with a 3 from the top of the key.
Komin came right back with a deep 3 of his own. McBride then put Kentucky back ahead with a floater in the lane, only for Ryan Abelman to drill another deep 3 over McBride’s outstretched arm and give Northern Arizona a 70-68 lead with 2:54 left.
Milan Momcilovic, last season’s best 3-point shooter nationally at Iowa State, missed two open looks from deep in the final three minutes. Then Loucas Toukam slammed home a missed 3-pointer with 1:43 remaining to stretch the Northern Arizona lead to five, and the boos returned when Pope called another timeout with 1:37 left.
Kentucky still had one more push in it. Down 74-70 with 51 seconds to go, the Wildcats moved quickly after the inbound. Wilkins launched a three-quarters court pass to Momcilovic, who sprinted toward the rim, absorbed contact and finished a floater before converting the three-point play at the line.
For a moment, it looked like Kentucky might get the ball back with a chance to take the lead. Instead, Cade Bennett was left wide open and made a 3-pointer with 22 seconds left to push Northern Arizona back up by four.
Even then, the Lumberjacks couldn’t close it out. They had made their first 10 free throws, but they missed the front end of a one-and-one twice in the final 12 seconds. Malachi Moreno lost the ball out of bounds while trying to rebound the first miss, but Kentucky got another crack after Komin, who finished with 25 points, seven rebounds and six assists, missed with eight seconds left.
Ousmane N’Diaye secured the rebound, and that gave Wilkins the opening he needed. He knocked down the game-winner with 2.1 seconds remaining to flip a near-disaster into a much-needed escape.
Wilkins finished with a team-high 14 points, along with four assists and no turnovers. Five Kentucky players scored in double figures, though the Wildcats spent most of the night without a clear standout until the final shot.
Northern Arizona entered the game ranked 299th nationally by KenPom.com and had already lost at UNLV and New Mexico. On Tuesday, No.
12 Arizona beat the Lumberjacks by 31 points, 90-59. Kentucky, meanwhile, has not lost at Rupp Arena to a low-major opponent since Dec. 2, 2023, against UNC Wilmington.
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