Kentucky escapes with win over Northern Arizona, but Mark Pope still gets roasted on social media
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Kentucky needed a last-second 3-pointer by Alex Wilkins to escape with a 78-77 victory over a team from the Big Sky on a tension-filled, anger-filled Friday night at Rupp Arena.
The 24th-ranked Wildcats got the ridiculously close victory over Northern Arizona to improve to 3-1 on the season, and that’s about the only good things that most Kentucky fans could think to say about the game or about already embattled head coach Mark Pope.
Pope has been a whipping boy of passionate Big Blue Nation for a while now, so he’s getting an early start this season by being a right-wing 3-point shot from Wilkins away from losing at home to the Lumberjacks, who were 0-3 this season coming into Lexington.
But with 2.1 seconds left, Wilkins provided the ultimate bail out for Kentucky, as it took an 8-point halftime lead and had to hang on for dear life when Wilkins made his 24-foot 3-point shot that rescued the Cats from a 77-75 deficit. When Northern Arizona called timeout with 9 seconds left, it had an 89.9% chance to win the game.
While Wilkins erased those long odds with 1 big shot, it hardly deterred Kentucky fans from lashing out at Pope.
Yes, even in victory, even in dramatic victory, Pope still lost in the court of public opinion while his team won on the court at Rupp Arena.
Here is a sampling of the social media reaction to Kentucky and Pope’s not-so-great escape:
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
