Kentucky earns fourth consecutive SEC title
John Calipari kept telling anyone who would listen that this group of Kentucky freshmen just needed a little more time than most to figure things out.
That faith was shaken when the Wildcats lost four straight last month. But they delivered on their coach’s optimism Sunday.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 29 points, and Kentucky beat No. 13 Tennessee 77-72 for its fourth straight Southeastern Conference Tournament championship.
It’s the 31st title in tournament history for the Wildcats, whose No. 4 seed in the event was the lowest in Calipari’s nine seasons at the school. The Wildcats (24-10) were one defeat away last month from what would have been the longest losing streak in the Calipari era, but they have won seven of eight since — including their first in three tries this season against the No. 2 seed Volunteers.
“A month ago, I wasn’t sure we’d be in the tournament,” Calipari said. “And then I had to ask ... ‘Does everybody get to go to the SEC tournament?’ I wasn’t even sure we’d get here. But I come back to this: We needed to lose those games. We needed to lose four in a row.”
No. 8 Cincinnati 56, No. 21 Houston 55: The Bearcats (30-4) clinched the American Athletic Conference title when the Cougars (267) turned the ball over with one second remaining. Houston hit seven 3-pointers in the first half, then missed all 10 of its second-half tries.
Gary Clark, the AAC player of the year, scored 20 points and had 12 rebounds for Cincinnati.
Davidson 58, No. 25 Rhode Island 57: Freshman Kellan Grady’s go-ahead baseline floater with 74 seconds left ended a nearly 13-minute drought without a field goal for Davidson (2111) in the Atlantic 10 final.
Rhode Island (25-7) fell just short of a second straight tournament championship and has lost four of its last eight.
Davidson hasn’t won an NCAA Tournament game since 2008 when Stephen Curry, the two NBA MVP, carried the team to the Elite Eight. Davidson needed this victory for an NCAA bid, given that it entered the A-10 tourney with an RPI of 74, a 108th ranking in strength of schedule and a 3-6 record against Quadrant 1 teams.
Georgia State 74, Texas-Arlington 61: D’Marcus Symonds scored 27 points to lead the Panthers (24-10) to the Sun Belt Conference title and their fourth NCAA Tournament bid. UT-Arlington (21-13) missed 21 of 25 three-point shots.
Penn 68, Harvard 65: Darnell Foreman scored 19 points, AJ Brodeur had 16 points and 10 rebounds and Penn earned its first NCAA Tournament berth since 2007 by winning the Ivy League title game.
Ryan Betley added 17 points for the Quakers (24-8), who will be making their 24th appearance in the NCAAs. Chris Lewis led Harvard (1813) with 16 points.
Harvard and Penn proved to be the top two teams in the Ivies this year after sharing the regular-season title with 12-2 conference records.