After narrowly avoiding a major upset on Friday, Kentucky will return to the court on Monday as the No. 24 Wildcats host Grambling in Lexington, Ky.
The Wildcats (3-1) needed Alex Wilkins’ 3-pointer with 2.1 seconds remaining to stave off Northern Arizona 78-77. Kentucky trailed by four points with 22 seconds left and needed Northern Arizona to miss the front end of two 1-and-1s to beat a team that lost 22 games last season.
Friday’s win did little to alleviate the criticism coach Mark Pope has faced at his alma mater. After pulling out the victory, he said the Wildcats are “trying to find themselves” and playing “entertaining, if not well-executed” basketball.
“I think it’s going to be a fun team to follow,” he added. “Like I said, this team is, with one exception, finding ways to win games and will continue down that path as we try to land and settle the ship and execute better.”
Kentucky has shot the ball well. It ranks 34th in the nation at 51.5%. However, the Wildcats have had trouble getting second chances off their misses. Their average of 8.5 offensive rebounds per game ties them with six other teams, including Grambling, at 333rd.
Pope’s team grabbed just one in Friday’s win. According to College-Basketball-Reference.com, the only other time Kentucky grabbed one offensive rebound came during the 2018 Southeastern Conference Tournament in an 86-63 win over Alabama when the Wildcats shot 64.3% from the field.
Wilkins’ game-winner on Friday is the second time in less than three weeks that he hit a clutch shot. In an exhibition game against Central Florida on Oct. 28, his floater in the lane with less than a second left forced overtime as the Wildcats won 90-76.
“I wouldn’t want the ball in anybody else’s hands, to be honest,” Wildcats center Malachi Moreno said.
At 12.3 points per game, Wilkins is one of four players averaging in double figures. Zoom Diallo leads the team with a 14.8 average, while Milan Momcilovic is scoring 12.5 a game.
Moreno also averages 12.3 points per game and leads the team with 8.3 rebounds per game.
The Tigers (1-1) are playing their second SEC team in a week. They lost 93-62 at Texas last Monday.
Coach Patrick Crarey’s team started just 2-for-14 from the field as the Longhorns used a 24-2 run to take a 30-5 lead midway through the first half.
Isaiah Miranda, a 7-foot-2 forward, leads the team with an 18.5 scoring average. He posted a career-high 29 in Grambling’s 89-87 season-opening win over Northern Illinois on Nov. 2.
Grambling’s major weakness is on the perimeter. The Tigers’ 28.2% 3-point shooting ranks 301st, while opponents are shooting 42.6%, 10th-highest nationally. Kentucky shoots treys at a 34.9 percent clip, which is 140th nationally.
Crarey is in his second season with the Tigers and has two players from last season’s 14-19 team. Mekhi Fitts, who played in 24 games last season, averages 12.5 points per game this season.
“Our big thing this year is really stay process oriented, make sure that we’re good to go at the most important time for us, and everybody on this level, which is March,” Crarey said.
-Field Level Media
