Mark Pope touts ‘fun’ Kentucky after 1-point win over Northern Arizona appeared first on ClutchPoints. Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Kentucky escaped Northern Arizona by the skin of its teeth, 78-77, on Friday at Rupp Arena, with Alex Wilkins drilling in the game-winning three-pointer with 2.1 seconds left.
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The No. 24 Wildcats, who improved to 3-1, were caught flat-footed by the unranked Lumberjacks, who remained winless in four games. Fortunately, Wilkins saved the day. Northern Arizona also shot itself in the foot with crucial misses from the free-throw line.
Kentucky nearly blew a 13-point lead before escaping with the nail-biting victory.
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In the postgame conference, coach Mark Pope was a picture of relief, while also touting the Wildcats, who remained undefeated at home.
“I hope everybody at Rupp had fun. It was a pretty exciting game. You saw a Northern Arizona team that was playing great basketball and a Kentucky team that was trying to find themselves, and it came down to the last second,” said Pope in the video posted by KY Insider’s Tristan Pharis.
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“It’s pretty entertaining, if not well-executed. I think this would be a fun team to follow. This team is, with one exception, finding ways to win games, and we’ll continue down that path as we try to kind of settle the ship and execute better.”
Malachi Moreno led Kentucky with 14 points, six rebounds, six assists, and three blocks. Wilkins and Milan Momcilovic also scored 14 points apiece.
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The Wildcats shot 56% from the field, including 11-of-26 from long distance. They leaned on their transition attack, scoring 21 fast-break points.
Chris Komin had 25 points, seven rebounds, and six assists for Northern Arizona.
Kentucky will face Grambling on Monday.
Related: Jamal Mashburn thrashes Kentucky after narrow victory over Northern Arizona
Related: Arizona hands Auburn 1st non-conference loss since 2016
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
