For a moment, it looked as though Kentucky was about to suffer one of the most embarrassing defeats of Mark Pope’s tenure. Northern Arizona had the Wildcats on the ropes, Rupp Arena was growing increasingly hostile, and the home team appeared to have no answers. It took a late three-pointer from Alex Wilkins to spare Kentucky from an upset that would have sent shockwaves through college basketball.

However, for the fans in the Rupp Arena stands, this was anything but a narrow, hard-fought victory worth celebrating. To them, such a sloppy performance from the formerly No. 1 Kentucky team against 299th-ranked Northern Arizona was nothing short of embarrassing. And they made sure to express their grievances even after the final buzzer.

As seen in a clip shared by The Field of 68 on X, fans did not hold back, raining down boos on the Wildcats even after Alex Wilkins’ last-second three-pointer had saved them from an embarrassing upset.

The Wildcats did take a lead into halftime, heading into the break with a relatively comfortable 45-37 advantage. While the margin was not particularly commanding, Kentucky still appeared to have control of the contest. However, coming into the second half, they allowed the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks to erase the deficit and cut the margin to 49-48. The Wildcats were forced to call a timeout to recalibrate, leading to the whole arena booming with boos.

The booing had already grown considerably louder at this point, but things got even worse with two minutes remaining when the Lumberjacks actually took a 70-68 lead. In fact, if not for Northern Arizona missing two crucial front-end free throws down the stretch, the door might never have opened for Kentucky sophomore guard Alex Wilkins to drain the go-ahead three-pointer in the closing seconds and seal the 78-77 escape.

Speaking at the postgame press conference, however, Mark Pope appeared not to have received the memo about the hostile reception his team had endured, describing the game as exciting.

“I hope everybody at Rupp had fun. It was a pretty exciting game,” Pope said. “It’s pretty entertaining, if not well executed. I think it’s going to be a fun team to follow. This team is, they’re with one exception, they’re finding ways to win games and we will continue down that path as we try and kind of settle the ship and execute better.”

The boos despite the Wildcats’ victory were, of course, understandable, considering the calibre of opponent the No. 24-ranked team struggled against. Beyond their national ranking, Northern Arizona had also lost each of the three games it played before arriving at Rupp Arena. And looking at Kentucky’s defensive and rebounding numbers, it is difficult to argue that the Wildcats put together an encouraging performance.

Despite holding a clear size and talent advantage, Kentucky was beaten 32–20 on the boards, including an 8-1 deficit on the offensive glass. The Wildcats also lacked the physicality to get to the foul line, attempting just six free throws throughout the game. Defensively, they repeatedly broke down on the perimeter, allowing the Lumberjacks to knock down 13 three-pointers at a 50 percent clip.

This is now the second consecutive game in which Mark Pope and the Kentucky Wildcats have struggled, following their defeat to Kansas. After enjoying a perfect three-game run to start the season, the Wildcats suffered an 89-69 loss to No. 15 Kansas in the Champions Classic on November 10. Perhaps the frustrations from that defeat also boiled over into Thursday night’s encounter, with supporters seemingly having little patience left for another disappointing performance.

Overall, it is safe to say the season is still young, with only four games played so far. However, as the atmosphere at Rupp Arena suggests, Mark Pope certainly cannot afford another loss in Kentucky’s next game against Grambling State, which Wildcat fans will undoubtedly expect to be a comfortable victory.