Backcourt duo leads Kentucky past Tide, into SEC final
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — 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 Bentonville freshman Malik Monk’s recent scoring woes.
Those initiatives by Kentucky’s talented freshmen duo 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
79-74 in the SEC Tournament semifinal on Saturday.
The Wildcats shot 52 percent from the floor and 69 percent from the line after missing numerous chances that left openings for the pesky Crimson Tide to stay close. But Kentucky converted chances when needed, hitting 13 of 17 free throws in the final six minutes with Fox making 5 of 7 in particular and 11 of 15 overall.
Fox also 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.
“I just kept getting the plays and they kept the ball in my hands,” said Fox, who made 8 of
12 shots. “When I know the coach is trusting me and my teammates are trusting me to keep attacking, doing what you’re doing, all I’ve got to do is just make the play.”
After combining for just eight points the previous two games, Monk snapped out of his funk to hit 6 of 14 from the field. Those baskets included a pair of 3-pointers that turned a 17-7 first-half deficit into a 33-32 lead.
Monk later followed a Fox jumper with two free throws with
1:13 left.
“I knew I had to get up and execute for the team,” Monk said of the early practice. “If I get shots before the game, I just have a good game or have a better flow.”
Bam Adebayo had 10 points and nine rebounds to send top-seeded Kentucky (28-5) to today’s championship game against Arkansas. The Wildcats seek their third consecutive SEC championship.
Dazon Ingram had 17 points for No. 5 seed Alabama (19-14), which outrebounded Kentucky 33-28. But the Crimson Tide couldn’t get the basket when needed to overcome the Wildcats, who came through in the clutch for their 10th straight win.
“Give Kentucky credit,” Alabama coach Avery Johnson said. “They made some big shots.”
No. 12 SMU 70 UCF 59
HARTFORD, Conn. — Sterling Brown scored 22 points and No. 12 SMU beat UCF Saturday in the semifinals of the American Athletic Conference Tournament.
Semi Ojeleye added 17 points, and Shake Milton had 14 of his 16 points in the second half for the Mustangs (29-4). They are back in
the championship game after missing last year’s tournament because of NCAA sanctions. The Mustangs won the title in 2015.
SMU has won 15 straight games and 25 of its last 26 after a 4-3 start to their season.
B.J. Taylor had 20 points, and Nick Banyard 16 for the Knights
(21-11). They had won six in a row. Neither team led by more than six before Milton stole the ball from the 7-foot-6 Tacko Fall under the UCF basket and made the Knights pay on the other end with a 3-pointer for a 42-34 lead. An altercation on the other end led to a technical foul on Taylor and Sterling Brown extended the lead to 10 with two free throws.
That was part of a 14-3 run that gave the Mustangs a 50-36 lead and control of the game with just over
9 minutes to play.
Taylor tried to shoot UCF back into the game. He hit consecutive
3-pointers that cut the lead to eight points with 3 minutes left, but that was as close as the Knights would get.
Ojeleye had 10 of the Mustangs’ 26 points first-half points and SMU went into halftime leading by just three. Taylor had eight for UCF and hit the first 3-pointer of the second half to tie the game at 26.
Both teams hit 10 3-point shots, but neither could score inside, each getting just 10 points in the paint. SMU finished with 15 assists on their 21 baskets, five of them from Milton.
No. 24 Wisconsin 76 Northwestern 48
WASHINGTON — Wisconsin revved up the defense against weary Northwestern and got the desired result, a 76-48 victory Saturday that earned the No. 24 Badgers a berth in the Big Ten Tournament championship game for the third time in five years.
Nigel Hayes scored 18 points and Ethan Happ added 16 for the second-seeded Badgers. They never trailed in their third straight victory — second in the tournament — following a run of five losses in six games.
Wisconsin (25-8) will vie for its fourth Big Ten title today against No. 8 seed Michigan, which will be playing its fourth game in four days. It will be the seventh championship game appearance for the Badgers, trailing only the eight by Ohio State.
Northwestern (23-11) was playing for the second time in less than 24 hours and third game in three days, and it showed. Coming off wins over Rutgers and No. 3 seed Maryland, the Wildcats missed 20 of 27 shots in the first half, had only one assist and trailed 38-21.
Their poor shooting could be attributed in part to the Wisconsin defense, which allowed a Big Tenlow 61.5 points per game. It was the 18th time in 33 games the Badgers allowed 60 points or fewer.
Scottie Lindsey scored 16 points for Northwestern, which went 18 for
52 (35 percent) from the floor, was outrebounded 37-27 and didn’t get their second assist until the 8-minute mark of the second half. The Wildcats brought none of the momentum from the Maryland game into this one, missing their first seven shots and falling behind
15-3 with seven minutes elapsed. It was 19-13 before Wisconsin’s Zak Showalter popped a pair of
3-pointers to start a 15-6 spurt that widened the gap to 15 points.
At that point, the Wildcats were shooting 28 percent with four turnovers.
The second half wasn’t much different. After Northwestern closed to 48-33, D’Mitrik Trice and Vitto Brown each nailed a pair of 3-pointers in a 16-4 run that made it 64-37 with 7:44 remaining.