Fox leads Kentucky to SEC final

De’Aaron Fox took charge and made plays during a critical stretch on the way to a career performance. An early-morning shootaround helped remedy Malik Monk’s recent scoring woes.

Those initiatives by Kentucky’s talented freshmen positioned the No. 8 Wildcats to claim another Southeastern Conference tournament championship.

Fox scored a career-high 28 points, including nine straight down the stretch, and Monk added 20 to lift Kentucky past Alabama 7974 in the semifinals on Saturday in Nashville, Tenn.

The Wildcats (28-5) hit 13 of 17 free throws in the final six minutes.

Fox converted a pair of 3-point plays — the biggest of which gave Kentucky a 67-62 lead with 3:07 remaining — en route to 19 points after halftime.

Bam Adebayo had 10 points and nine rebounds to send top-seeded Kentucky to Sunday’s championship game against No. 3 seed Arkansas (25-8), which beat Vanderbilt 76-62 in the other semifinal. The Wildcats will face the Razorbacks for the second time in three seasons in pursuit of their third consecutive title.

Dazon Ingram had 17 points for No. 5 seed Alabama (19-14). Big Ten: Wisconsin revved up the defense against weary Northwestern and notched a 76-48 victory that earned the No. 24 Badgers (25-8) a berth in the championship game for the third time in five years. … Derrick Walton Jr. had 29 points to carry eighth-seeded Michigan (23-11) to a 84-77 victory over No. 4 seed Minnesota. American: Sterling Brown scored 22 points and No. 12 SMU (29-4) beat UCF 70-59 in the semifinals. Semi Ojeleye added 17 points for the Mustangs (29-4), who are back in the championship game after missing last year’s tournament because of NCAA sanctions. Also: X-rays on UCLA star Lonzo Ball’s left thumb came back negative, the school said. Ball injured the thumb Friday night during UCLA’s 86-75 loss to Arizona in the Pac-12 semifinals. ... Illinois fired coach John Groce after an 18-14 season. The Illini made just one NCAA appearance in his five seasons.