Kentucky is unstoppable once again
NO. 8 KENTUCKY 82 ARKANSAS 65
NASHVILLE — John Calipari wanted a physical game for his No. 8 Kentucky Wildcats before the NCAA tournament.
He got just that Sunday from Arkansas with a couple of added bonuses: Winning yet another Southeastern Conference tournament title with his Wildcats keeping their poise under pressure — aside from Malik Monk celebrating two shots with throat-slash gestures.
De'Aaron Fox scored 18 points, and Kentucky won its third straight SEC tournament championship by beating Arkansas, 82-65, in a game that got very chippy in the final couple of minutes.
“That ends up being a great teaching point, and we did what we had to,” Calipari said.
Kentucky (29-5) added their 30th tournament title all-time to go with its 48 regular-season titles.
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.
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 three, emotions took over, made a little (throat slash gesture) like the game was over,” Monk said. “I mean, I just got to learn from that.”
Calipari said he would talk to Monk after not seeing the gestures during the game. “No need for that,” Calipari said.
It got very chippy late after Arkansas hit six straight shots, the last a three-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’s Dominique Hawkins to the court, then Moses Kingsley went to the locker room with 1:02 left for his physical foul of Fox in the paint. Kentucky finished by outscoring Arkansas, 9-1.
Arkansas (25-9) fell to 1-6 in this championship, 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.”