Alex Wilkins' 3 With Two Seconds Left Lifts No. 24 Kentucky Past Northern Arizona 78-77

For 39 minutes and 58 seconds, Northern Arizona played like the team that belonged at Rupp Arena. Then Alex Wilkins caught a pass from Mason Williams, rose up from deep and buried the 3 that saved No. 24 Kentucky from one of the more embarrassing losses of the Mark Pope era.

Wilkins' 3 with two seconds left gave the Wildcats a 78-77 win on Friday night and their first lead since the 3:41 mark. Kentucky trailed by four with 23 seconds to play, and the comeback needed help: Northern Arizona, which had made 10 of 10 free throws to that point, missed two in the final 11 seconds.

Kentucky moves to 3-1, bouncing back from Tuesday's loss to Kansas in Chicago. Northern Arizona falls to 0-4 and leaves Lexington with nothing but proof that it can play with anyone for a night. Malachi Moreno, Milan Momcilovic and Wilkins scored 14 apiece for Kentucky. Chris Komin led everyone with 25.

Komin Owned the First Half

The Lumberjacks came out swinging. Lucas Toukam dunked on the first possession, Komin finished a layup and Dylan Anderson hit a 3 for a 7-2 lead. Ousmane N'Diaye answered with two 3s in a span of about two minutes, and the game settled into a trade. It was tied at 11, 16 and 18.

Kentucky finally separated during an 11-2 stretch midway through the half. Moreno scored at the rim, Zoom Diallo knifed in for a layup, N'Diaye added a layup and another 3, and Momcilovic hit a jumper to make it 29-20 with 4:51 left. After a Wilkins layup and dunk and three Cade Bennett free throws, Momcilovic drilled back-to-back 3s for a 39-26 lead with 2:40 left in the half. That 13-point cushion was the biggest of the night.

Komin had other ideas. The guard hit 3s at 2:11, 1:43 and 0:41, scoring 16 points before halftime with four first-half triples. Moreno's jumper with 28 seconds left sent Kentucky to the locker room up 45-37.

The 11-0 Run That Flipped Rupp

The second half opened with Moreno scoring on a layup and two free throws, and Kentucky led 49-40 with 18:40 to go. Then the Wildcats stopped scoring for more than five minutes.

Ryan Abelman hit a 3. Toukam converted an and-one. Tamiel Green dunked off a Komin feed. Bennett buried a 3, and it was 51-49 Northern Arizona with 14:25 left. An 11-0 run had turned a routine home win into a fight.

Wilkins snapped the drought with a 3, but the Lumberjacks kept punching. Abelman hit another 3. Komin hit a jumper. Green scored again. Momcilovic hit a 3 to cut it to 58-57, Toukam answered with a layup, and Anderson's jumper with 7:12 left put Northern Arizona up 62-57, its largest lead of the game.

A Final Four Minutes Worth Watching Twice

Kentucky answered with six straight points, a Mason Williams jumper, a Wilkins jumper and a Moreno layup, to retake the lead at 63-62 with 5:17 left. From there it became a heavyweight exchange between a Big Sky team and an SEC blue blood.

Komin made two free throws. Justin McBride answered with a 3 off a Moreno pass. Komin answered that with a 3. McBride hit a jumper to put Kentucky ahead 68-67 with 3:41 to go. Abelman drilled one more 3 for Northern Arizona, and Kentucky did not lead again until the final two seconds.

Momcilovic missed two looks from deep that could have flipped the game. Moreno blocked a Green layup to keep it close. But Toukam grabbed a Komin miss and dunked it to make it 72-68 with 1:42 left, and when Komin scored on a layup with 53 seconds remaining, Northern Arizona led 74-70.

Momcilovic gave Kentucky life with a jumper and the free throw that followed, a three-point play that made it 74-73 with 47 seconds left. Then Bennett, working off a Komin assist, buried a 3 with 23 seconds left for a 77-73 lead.

Williams hit a jumper with 14 seconds left to make it a two-point game. Braydon Hawthorne fouled Max Majerle with 11 seconds left, and Majerle missed the free throw. Northern Arizona got the offensive rebound, and Hawthorne fouled again, this time sending Komin to the line with eight seconds left. Komin missed. N'Diaye grabbed the rebound, Williams found Wilkins and the 3 dropped with two seconds left. Northern Arizona had no answer.

Kentucky's Offense Was Fine. Its Defense Was Not.

The numbers say Kentucky should have won comfortably. The Wildcats shot 56 percent (31 of 55), made 11 of 26 from 3 for 42 percent, handed out 21 assists and turned it over only four times all night. They won fast break points 21-5, blocked five shots to none and scored 11 points off turnovers to Northern Arizona's eight.

The problem was everything on the other end. Northern Arizona shot 52 percent overall and made 13 of 26 from 3, a 50 percent clip that Kentucky simply could not run off the line. The Lumberjacks outrebounded Kentucky 32-20 and grabbed eight offensive rebounds to Kentucky's one, and that Toukam putback dunk with 1:42 left was the kind of play that nearly decided it.

After James Madison hit 15 3s at Rupp last week and Kansas scored 89 on Tuesday, this looks like a pattern. Kentucky can outscore people. It has not shown it can get stops against teams willing to fire from deep.

Moreno Was the Steadiest Wildcat

Moreno did a little of everything. The center went 6 of 8 from the field, scored 14, grabbed six rebounds, dished out six assists and blocked three shots in 34 minutes. The block on Green with 2:27 left kept Northern Arizona from stretching its lead.

Wilkins made the shot everyone will remember and posted 14 points on 6 of 10 shooting, four assists and no turnovers despite four fouls. Momcilovic scored 14 with a huge late three-point play, but the Iowa State transfer went 3 of 9 from deep and finished without a rebound in 35 minutes.

N'Diaye added 11 points with three 3s and five rebounds. McBride was perfect off the bench, 4 of 4 with two 3s for 10 points in about 12 minutes. Mason Williams scored eight with four assists and no turnovers, including two late jumpers and the final assist. Diallo had seven points, three assists and two steals but picked up four fouls.

Kentucky's bench scored 18. Northern Arizona's scored 15.

Northern Arizona Deserved Better

Komin was the best player on the floor. The Lumberjacks guard scored 25 on 9 of 16 shooting, hit 5 of 8 from 3, grabbed seven rebounds and handed out six assists in 39 minutes.

Toukam was relentless inside, finishing with 18 points on 6 of 10 shooting and a perfect 5 of 5 at the line to go with six rebounds. Abelman played all 40 minutes and hit three 3s for nine points. Bennett came off the bench for nine with two second-half 3s, and Green added six points and three assists.

The cruel part is how it ended. Northern Arizona went 10 of 12 from the line, and both misses came in the final 11 seconds with a two-point lead. Make either one and Kentucky needs more than a single 3.

It was a huge step up for a team that opened with road losses at UNLV (89-77), New Mexico (94-65) and No. 12 Arizona (90-59). The Lumberjacks finally play at home on Tuesday, Nov. 17, against Embry-Riddle, and a team that shoots like this from 3 will not stay winless for long.

What It Means for Kentucky

A win is a win, and Kentucky will happily take a 3-1 record after the loss to Kansas in the Champions Classic. Down four with 23 seconds left, the Wildcats scored twice and got a clean look for a good shooter.

But this was supposed to be a tuneup. Kentucky was a heavy favorite, led by 13 in the first half and still needed two missed free throws and a last-second 3 to escape. The perimeter defense and the glass are now real questions, and Pope has plenty of film before the schedule gets serious again.

Next up is Grambling State at Rupp Arena on Monday, Nov. 16, at 7 p.m. ET, followed by Indiana at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on Friday, Nov. 20. Here's the official box score (opens in a new tab), Kentucky's game recap (opens in a new tab) and our recap of Kentucky's win over James Madison.

Sources: ESPN box score and team stats, CBS Sports play-by-play, UK Athletics. More men's college basketball coverage on Undrafted.

Kentucky escaped. The next team that shoots 50 percent from 3 against this defense might not leave the door open.

Photo: UK Athletics.