No. 1 here, No. 1 there
Hogs resist runaway, but top ’Cats prevail
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Arkansas’ second shot at Kentucky was closer than the first, but like every other opponent trying to take down the No. 1 Wildcats, it missed the mark.
Kentucky beat the No. 21 Razorbacks 78-63 Sunday in the SEC Tournament championship game at Bridgestone Arena before an announced crowd of 20,312, of which all but about a thousand were wearing Kentucky blue.
The Wildcats (34-0) continued their drive to be the first team to finish the season undefeated since Indiana’s 1976 national championship team won and went 32-0.
“We kind of did our thing,” Kentucky Coach John Calipari said.
Kentucky junior 7-0 center Willie Cauley-Stein, the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, led the Wildcats with 15 points, 10 rebounds and 2 blocked shots. Wildcats guard Andrew Harrison scored 15 points and his twin brother, Aaron Harrison, had 11 points, 6 assists and 2 rebounds.
“All our guys came out and fought and scratched and clawed,” Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson said. “But at the end, I thought Kentucky’s depth and their size were hard to overcome.”
Sunday’s final margin was two points different than Kentucky’s 84-67 victory at Rupp Arena two weeks ago, the rematch was far more competitive. The Razorbacks — who trailed by 31 points at Kentucky with seven minutes left — four times drew within nine points in the second half Sunday on baskets by junior guard Michael Qualls, the last time with 9:47 left.
Qualls didn’t start Sunday for an apparent disciplinary reason — Anderson called it a “coach’s decision” and “a little housekeeping” — but led the Razorbacks (26-8) with 18 points in 24 minutes off the bench.
“We fought today,” Qualls said. “You talk about a couple more plays going in our favor, this could have been our game.
“The pressure could have set in on Kentucky. But give it to them, they played good.”
One play that didn’t go Arkansas’ way was a technical foul called with 8:23 left on Moses Kingsley for hanging on the after his dunk cut Kentucky’s lead to 58-47.
Kentucky outscored Arkansas 9-1 to push its lead to 67-48 at the 6:22 mark and put the game away.
“I saw some other stuff that took place that wasn’t called, but for that one there, I thought it was a little quick,” Anderson said of the technical. “I thought it was a great play to get the dunk.
“But that’s just me. I’m a little biased because he’s my player.”
The technical foul appeared to shift the momentum back to Kentucky.
“That’s just how it goes,” Qualls said. “We can’t control the officiating crew. It just happens that way sometimes.”
Arkansas sophomore Bobby Portis, the SEC Player of the Year, said playing a more competitively against Kentucky the second time around didn’t take any sting out of the loss.
“At the end of the day, our team still lost,” said Portis, who had 13 points. “The margin doesn’t really matter.”
Kentucky won its 28th SEC Tournament championship, but the Wildcats didn’t bother to cut down the nets.
“Those aren’t the nets we want to cut down,” said Cauley-Stein, referring to winning the national title. “It’s part of the process for us winning, but we’re looking for something bigger.”
Arkansas reached the SEC Tournament championship game for the first time since 2008, when the Razorbacks lost to Georgia. The Razorbacks’ only SEC Tournament title in six appearances was in 2000.
“Second in the conference tournament isn’t too bad,” Qualls said. “Of course, it’s not what we wanted, but we can’t dwell on it.
“It hurts for a little while, but then we’ve got to get ready for the NCAA Tournament and just try to run with it.”
ATLANTIC 10
VCU 71, DAYTON 65
NEW YORK — Treveon Graham scored 20 points and Doug Brooks made a huge steal in the final minute to help VCU beat Dayton (25-8) and win its first Atlantic 10 tournament championship.
Fifth-seeded VCU (26-9) had lost the last two A-10 finals — in their first two seasons in the conference — but strung together four victories in as many days to earn an automatic bid.
AMERICAN ATHLETIC
NO. 20 SMU 62, UCONN 54
HARTFORD, Conn. — Markus Kennedy scored 15 points, and No. 20 SMU held off UConn to win the American Athletic Conference Tournament title.
The defending national champion Huskies fell a game short of winning four times in four days and earning a trip back to the NCAA Tournament.
Yanick Moreira and Nic Moore added 11 points each for the Mustangs (27-6), who also won the league’s regular-season title.
Rodney Purvis scored 29 points for UConn (20-14).
BIG TEN NO. 6 WISCONSIN 80, MICHIGAN ST. 69, OT
CHICAGO — Nigel Hayes scored 25 points, Frank Kaminsky added 19 and No. 6 Wisconsin outscored Michigan State 11-0 in overtime in the Big Ten Tournament championship game.
Bronson Koenig scored 18 points, and the Badgers (31-3) rallied from 11 points down in the second half as they secured their bid.
Branden Dawson and Denzel Valentine scored 16 points each for Michigan State (23-11).
SUN BELT GEORGIA STATE 38, GEORGIA SOUTHERN 36
NEW ORLEANS — R.J. Hunter, the coach’s son, made two free throws with 21.6 seconds left and Georgia State survived two last-second, three-point attempts to beat Georgia Southern in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament championship game.
Georgia State (24-9), in its second season in the Sun Belt, will make it third appearance in the NCAA Tournament and first since 2001.