Men’s basketballKentucky rolls to win SEC title
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The top-ranked Kentucky Wildcats have a 34-game winning streak and yet another Southeastern Conference Tournament championship as they head into the NCAA Tournament.
So they sent student managers to cut down the nets.
“Those aren’t the nets we’re really looking to cut down,” junior forward Willie Cauley-Stein said. “It’s just a milestone. It’s just part of the process for us winning and everything, but we’re looking for something bigger. We’re looking to cut down a couple more nets in the tournament.”
And perfection just may be the side product.
Cauley-Stein scored 15 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, and Kentucky never trailed in beating No. 21 Arkansas 78-63 on Sunday for the program’s 28th SEC Tournament title.
The Wildcats (34-0) are only the fourth team to go into the NCAA Tournament undefeated since Indiana finished off the last perfect season with a title in 1976. The last three teams that went into the NCAA Tournament undefeated all lost with Indiana State and Larry Bird the closest, losing in the 1979 title game.
Not that Kentucky sees being undefeated as a challenge.
“We’re still only guaranteed one game, so it’s really the slate is clean whether we’re 34-0 or have got five losses,” Cauley-Stein said. “It’s still from here on out, you’re 0-0.”
Andrew Harrison also scored 15 points for Kentucky, and his brother Aaron had 11.
The Razorbacks (26-8) were trying to win their second tournament title and first since 2000. Michael Qualls, coming off the bench for only the second time this season, scored 18 points, while Bobby Portis, the coaches’ pick for SEC player of the year, added 13 with a season-low two rebounds.
No. 6 Wisconsin 80, Michigan St. 69, OT
CHICAGO (AP) — Nigel Hayes scored 25 points, Frank Kaminsky added 19 and No. 6 Wisconsin outscored Michigan State 11-0 in overtime Sunday for an 80-69 victory 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 in an attempt to strengthen their bid for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Branden Dawson and Denzel Valentine scored 16 points each for Michigan State (23-11). But the Spartans were outscored 31-10 over the final 11 1/2 minutes of the game and came up short after winning the tournament last year.
In the first overtime in a Big Ten title game, Hayes and Koenig hit 3-pointers in the first 3 minutes to give the Badgers a 75-69 lead. Michigan State missed all six shots and committed two turnovers in the extra period.
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 a career-high 29 points for UConn (20-14), which became the sixth team to miss the NCAAs after winning the title the previous year since the field expanded to 64 in 1985.
