Kentucky 82, Arkansas 65:
Jared Terrell finished with 20 points and E.C. Matthews scored 19, including a decisive runner with 55 seconds to go as Rhode Island earned a spot in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1999 with a 70-63 victory over Virginia Commonwealth in the Atlantic-10 title game on Sunday.
The third-seeded Rams (24-9) never trailed and withstood a serious late push by second-seeded VCU (26-8) to capture their first conference tournament title since Lamar Odom led them to the A-10 crown 18 years ago.
It’s the ninth time in Rhode Island history the program is going to the NCAAs.
“We needed a win like this,” Rhode Island coach Danny Hurley said. “We needed a bid to kind of set our fan base on fire to take things to the next level.”
JeQuan Lewis led VCU with 15 points and Justin Tillman had 10 points and 17 rebounds. However, VCU struggled to get anything going. VCU shot just 31 percent (21 of 67) from the field and forced just six turnovers.
De’Aaron Fox scored 18 points, and No. 8 Kentucky won its third straight SEC Tournament championship by beating Arkansas.
The Wildcats (29-5) added their 30th tournament title all-time to their 48 regular-season championships in convincing fashion.
The Razorbacks couldn’t string together points the way they usually do, 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 that turned a three-point lead to a 46-30 edge. Arkansas (25-9) fell to 1-6 in this championship, having lost to Kentucky for the second time in three years.
Michigan 71, Wisconsin 56:
Michigan completed a magical run to its first Big Ten Tournament title, using a swarming defense and accurate shooting to beat No. 24 Wisconsin for its fourth victory in four days.
The eighth-seeded Wolverines (24-11) began their journey with a scary skid off the airport runway in Michigan and ended it by overwhelming the second-seeded Badgers, who had won three straight — including the regular season finale against Minnesota — by a total of 55 points.
Between the aborted flight and their final unexpected victory, the Wolverines beat Illinois, eliminated top-seed Purdue and sent home No. 4 seed Minnesota.
And so, the first Big Ten Tournament in the nation’s capital ended with a surprise champion cutting down the nets at Verizon Center.
Michigan won the title in 1998 but had it vacated due to NCAA sanctions.
Derrick Walton Jr. scored 22 points, D.J. Wilson added 17 and Zak Irvin had 15 for Michigan, which had lost 17 of its previous 20 games against Wisconsin.
The Wolverines shot 56 percent and were 10 for 23 on 3-pointers.
Bronson Koenig scored 15 points, and Nigel Hayes and Ethan Happ had 14 apiece for Wisconsin (25-9), which shot 39 percent from the field and scored only 24 points after halftime.
SMU 71, Cincinnati 56:
Sterling Brown scored 18 points to help send No. 12 SMU streaking into the NCAA Tournament with a victory over No. 15 Cincinnati in the American Athletic Conference championship game.
Tournament MVP Simi Ojeleye added 14 points, Jarrey Foster had 13 and Ben Moore scored 12 for Mustangs (30-4), who won their 16th straight game and second AAC title in three years.
The Mustangs took the championship in 2015, but missed last year’s postseason under NCAA sanctions.
Jarron Cumberland had 14 points to lead Cincinnati (29-5), which has not won a conference title since capturing the Conference USA crown in 2004.
SMU started the year 4-3, but has reeled off 26 wins in 27 games. The Mustangs went 17-1 to win the league’s regular-season title, with the only loss coming by two points at Cincinnati in January.