COLUMBUS, Ohio — The NCAA tournament's top seed got sent back to its ol' Kentucky (search) home.

Mo Finley made a 17-foot jumper with 12.2 seconds left and ninth-seeded Alabama-Birmingham (search) hung on to stun the heavily favored Wildcats 76-75 Sunday in the second round of the St. Louis Regional (search).

Kentucky's Gerald Fitch missed a 3-pointer with 2.2 seconds left and Chuck Hayes' tip rolled off the rim just before the final horn.

The Blazers (22-9) advanced to the round of 16 for the first time since 1982 with their second big upset of Kentucky in the NCAA tournament.

UAB's win came almost exactly 23 years to the day that the Blazers beat Kentucky in the second round of the 1981 tournament -- a victory the school had claimed as the turning point in its basketball program, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this season.

This one might just top it.

Using a "40 minutes of Hell" attack that their coach Mike Anderson (search) learned under Nolan Richardson (search) at Arkansas, the Blazers took it to the Wildcats from the outset.

Richardson got to see every second of it, too, cheering and waving his arms in the stands for the Blazers like he was on the sideline coaching the Razorbacks.

"Forty minutes of Hell Part Two," Richardson screamed in the middle of UAB's cheering section that had turned into a mosh pit. "I knew they had a chance."

For the second straight year, Kentucky came up short in its quest for an eighth NCAA title as the tourney's favorite. The Wildcats were the second No. 1 seed to be dispatched this weekend, following Stanford which got beat by Alabama on Saturday.

So in the span of 24 hours, Alabama, a state best known for its football, has rocked college hoops with two heart-stopping upsets.

Kentucky rallied all the way back from a 10-point deficit in the second half and took a 75-74 lead with 29.3 seconds left when Azubuike dunked in a miss.

UAB called its last timeout before Finley made the shot that will go down in Blazers' history.

Dribbling on the right side, the 6-foot-3 senior used a pump fake to get Hayes in the air, and then stepped inside the 3-point arc to drain his jumper.

Kentucky called time to set up a play that ended with Fitch getting a clean look from the left wing. It went off the mark as did Hayes' attempt and the Blazers bounced off their bench in celebration.