LEXINGTON — Look up the phrase “Pyrrhic victory” in the dictionary. A picture of Kentucky basketball‘s 78-77 escape versus Northern Arizona on Nov. 13 isn’t there.
But it should be.
The Wildcats, by the skin of their teeth, narrowly avoided what would have been the most embarrassing loss in the history of college basketball’s winningest program. They have Alex Wilkins to thank for nailing the go-ahead 3 in the final seconds. They also have to send a gift basket to the Lumberjacks. After making their first 10 free throws, the visitors missed their final two attempts — both front ends of one-and-ones — to put Wilkins in position to save the day.
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It’s still hard to reckon with the fact the Cats found themselves trailing at all.
Kentucky was favored by more than 30 points against an NAU squad that was 0-3 on the season. The Lumberjacks had losses of 29 points (to New Mexico) and 31 (to Arizona) in the week preceding their appeareance at Rupp Arena. Northern Arizona was flirting with No. 300 in the KenPom.com rankings.
In short: There are no circumstances in which a Kentucky victory should have been in doubt with just seconds to play. A win should have been put to bed by halftime, leaving the final 20 minutes to allow reserves some well-earned playing time.
Even a UK backer wearing the bluest-tinted shades known to man couldn’t positively spin the team’s one-point win over a school picked to finish last in the 11-team Big Sky Conference.
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Mark Pope tried to do just that, though.
“I hope everybody in Rupp had fun,” Pope, in his third season as the Cats’ head coach, said during his postgame news conference. “It was a pretty exciting game. … It came down to the last second, and it’s pretty entertaining.”
It was an odd tone to strike in the immediacy of a near-defeat that would have been so damaging to the team’s resume, it would have been difficult to quantify. Much less what it would have meant for his future guiding the program. But Pope kept up his quasi-comedy routine during his postgame radio show, when he joked the only thing worse than Kentucky’s one offensive rebound would have been if it had zero.
Mind you: UK has the tallest team in the country by average height at 80.2 inches (6-foot-8). And per college basketball analyst Matthew Winick, that figure ranks as the tallest ever in KenPom’s annals, which date to 2006.
Combined with its pitiful showing in a 20-point loss to Kansas in the Champions Classic on Nov. 10, one has to wonder: What is Kentucky’s ceiling this season? Which leads to another, more sobering question: What is its basement?
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With a nonconference schedule that still includes Louisville, Indiana, North Carolina and Wichita State, Kentucky has to sort out its issues quickly. And don’t forget the SEC slate — a league that might be the best in the country this season.
If future efforts resemble its near-loss to the Lumberjacks? Pope’s program will struggle to make the NCAA Tournament — even with its expansion to 76 teams.
Missing March Madness shouldn’t be in the cards for the Cats. Ever. But they need to improve by leaps and bounds going forward. Otherwise, a Big Dance without Kentucky could become a reality.
That should be no laughing matter for Pope.
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Reach Kentucky men’s basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at rblack@gannett.com and follow him on X at @RyanABlack.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: After Pyrrhic win over NAU, what is UK basketball’s ceiling, basement?
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