TOUGH ENOUGH
Wildcats beat physical Hogs, win 3rd straight crown in SEC
NASHVILLE — Kentucky men’s basketball coach John Calipari wanted a physical game for his No. 8 Wildcats before the NCAA tournament, and he got just that from Arkansas in the Southeastern Conference tournament championship game Sunday afternoon.
He also got a few bonuses — celebrating an 11th straight victory overall, winning yet another league title and seeing his players keep their poise under pressure, aside from standout freshman Malik Monk celebrating a couple of shots with throat-slash gestures.
De’Aaron Fox scored 18 points as the Wildcats won the SEC tournament title for the third straight year, beating Arkansas 82-65 at Bridgestone Arena in a game that turned very chippy in the final couple of minutes.
“That ends up being a great teaching point,” Calipari said, “and we did what we had to.”
The Wildcats (29-5) delivered on their No. 1 seed for the SEC bracket again, adding their 30th tournament title all-time to go with their 48 regular-season championships.
The third-seeded Razorbacks (259) couldn’t string together points the way they usually have this season, not with Kentucky answering every big bucket with its own run. The big spurt came as Kentucky scored 13 straight points to end the first half and into the opening minute of the second, turning a three-point lead into a 46-30 edge.
During warmups, Monk said someone with the Razorbacks tried to taunt the native of Lepanto, Ark. Monk said he couldn’t remember what the man said.
“I made a 3, emotions took over, made a little (throat slash gesture) like the game was over,” Monk said. “I mean, I’ve just got to learn from that.”
Calipari said he did not see the gestures during the game but planned to talk to Monk.
“No need for that,” Calipari said. The tension rose late after Arkansas hit six straight shots, the last a 3-pointer by Jaylen Barford, to pull within nine for the only time in the second half.
Dusty Hannahs was given a flagrant foul for knocking Kentucky guard Dominique Hawkins to the court with his forearms, then Moses Kingsley went to the locker room with 1:02 left for his physical foul of Fox in the paint.
“Obviously, when it got really rough, not one of my kids moved,” Calipari said. “They huddled together. Not one of them came back at anybody.”
Kentucky finished by outscoring Arkansas 9-1, the final points a 3 by Fox.
Arkansas fell to 1-6 in SEC title games, having lost to Kentucky for the second time in three years.
“It was unfortunate,” Arkansas coach Mike Anderson said of emotions getting out of hand late. “But at the same time, I don’t think anybody was intent on trying to hurt anybody. But at the end of the day, our guys fought to the bitter end and came up a little short.”
Arkansas guard Daryl Macon said the behavior was out of character for the Razorbacks.
“We kind of lost our composure, and (we’ve) just got to get back to it,” Macon said.
Monk and Bam Adebayo each finished with 17 points, and Hawkins added 14 for Kentucky.
Macon led the Razorbacks with 18 points, while Hannahs had 14 and Barford 13.
Kentucky never trailed by more than two in a fast-paced first half that had four ties and six lead changes. Arkansas last led at 18-17 midway through the half before Monk scored to put Kentucky ahead for good.
When Macon hit a 3-pointer with 3:33 left to pull Arkansas within 33-30, the Wildcats took over. Derek Willis hit Kentucky’s first 3-pointer after the Wildcats missed their first four, Hawkins followed with another and Mychal Mulder beat the buzzer with a 3 for a 42-30 halftime lead.
Adebayo started the second half with two free throws and a layup to push Kentucky’s lead to 16 points. The Wildcats pushed that to as many as 19 before finishing off another title.