Arkansas battled all game but ran into a pair of big scoreless spells as they fell to Kentucky 82-65 Sunday afternoon in the SEC Tournament Championship Game in front of 19,953 at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
The first big Wildcat run was a 13-0 spurt to give UK a 16-point lead, 46-30, over a span of 5 minutes and 36 seconds, including the final 3:34 of the first half. The second stretch came midway through the second half as the SEC champions went on a 9-0 run from the 13:20 mark until 6:29 was left in the game, a span of 6 minutes and 51 seconds, to take a 19-point lead, 63-44. The drought from the field lasted an incredible 8 minutes and 41 seconds for the Razorbacks.
Arkansas (25-9, 12-6 SEC) ended the first drought of 5 minutes and 36 seconds when Moses Kingsley scored his first points of the game on a baseline jumper with 17:58 left in the game. Then each team traded blows for a spell down to the second media timeout with 11:36 left. Kentucky (29-5, 16-2 SEC) led by 14 points, 58-44, at that time.
Arkansas came back with a 6-0 burst to cut the lead back down to 13, 68-55, at the final media timeout of the game with 3:49 remaining. The Hogs got it down to 9 points, 73-64, with 1:32 to play. From the time it was 68-49 with 5:42 left, Arkansas outscored the Wildcats 15-5.
The game got really messy at the end with Dusty Hannahs being hit with a flagrant foul and Kingsley being hit with a flagrant 2 and ejected. Kingsley was hit with a technical earlier in the game, as well. UK went 9-1 the final 1:25 for the 17-point win, 82-65.
De'Arron Fox led the Wildcats with 18 points on 6 of 10 shooting and also had 3 rebounds. Edrice "Bam" Adebayo had 17 points to go with 9 rebounds. UK was 27 of 56 from the floor (48.2 percent) and only shot 35.7 percent in the second half. They were 6 of 16 from 3-point range and 22 of 25 from the free throw line (88.0 percent), including 17 of 19 in the second half.
Daryl Macon led Arkansas with 18 points on 7 of 11 shooting to go with 4 rebounds. Arkansas was 23 of 55 shooting (41.8 percent), 4 of 18 from downtown (22.2 percent) and 15 of 20 from the free throw line (75 percent). The Hogs were out-rebounded 40-26, and UK led for 35 minutes and 3 seconds compared to just 1 minute and 53 seconds for the UA...CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING
