Kentucky fends off Arkansas en route to SEC Tournament title

Mar. 12, 2017

For all the power the SEC wields in college football, they are equally unimpressive as a basketball conference. But with all that in mind we can always count on John Calipari and the Kentucky Wildcats as they defeated the Arkansas Razorbacks 82-65 in a game that saw a couple Hogs lose their cool in the closing minutes. With 1:20 to go and Kentucky up by 11, Dusty Hannahs set a hard screen on Dominique Hawkins and upon further review was issued a flagrant one foul. Just 18 seconds later, De’Aaron Fox drove into the lane and Moses Kingsley stepped forward, bringing his hands down into Fox’s face, dropping the freshman to the floor. Kingsley stood with his arms raised in vertical fashion as if to say he went straight up but he was subsequently gifted a flagrant two foul and a premature exit. I’m sure it’s not what Arkansas coach Mike Anderson had in mind and hopefully these non-basketball plays do not reflect the entire Arkansas basketball program.

Mychal Mulder’s three pointer gave Kentucky a 42-30 halftime lead and the Wildcats extended it to 19 with under eight minutes to go. The Razorbacks clawed back to within 9 on Jaylen Barfords trey with 1:34 remaining but the Hogs would get no closer and unravel down the stretch. Kentucky’s fantastic trio of freshmen (Fox, Malik Monk, and Bam Adebayo) combined for 52 points and Hawkins provided a spark off the bench with a career-high 14 points and 4 steals. Daryl Macon scored a team-high 18 off the bench for Arkansas. The SEC tournament title is Kentucky’s third in a row and 30th overall. John Calipari’s Wildcats will probably be a 2 seed in the NCAA tournament and appear more than capable of advancing all the way to the Final Four.