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For the fourth consecutive year, the Kentucky Wildcats are SEC Tournament Champions!
The Wildcats won their 12th-straight SEC Tourney game on Sunday. They defeated the Tennessee Volunteers 75-72 in St. Louis, as Scottrade Center played host to a terrific back-and-forth affair. It was cut quite close towards the end, but thanks to terrific free throw shooting (Wait, what? From a Calipari team?) down the stretch, Kentucky closed it out.
The star of the show on Sunday afternoon was Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Shai had been terrific throughout the SEC Tournament, but may have saved his best performance for last. He scored 29 points while shooting 10-of-16 from the field. Shai also was a perfect 7-of-7 from the free throw line and had seven rebounds and three assists in 37 minutes.
Teammate and SEC Co-Freshman of the Year Kevin Knox also had a standout performance. Knox had 18 points in the win with seven rebounds, much like Gilgeous-Alexander. He did so in 34 minutes of action, and while he was inefficient, he still did enough to make magic happen. Wenyen Gabriel and Quade Green joined them in double figures with 12 and 10 points respectively.
Admiral Schofield was a man on a mission but the Vols, unfortunately, fell short of their goal. Schofield scored 22 points, leading the way for UT in this SEC Tournament Final. He was out of action for a little while, but returned to the floor later on. Schofield also had 10 boards in the game to finish with a double-double. Grant Williams, Lamonte Turner and Jordan Bone all joined him in double figures. Williams, Turner and Bone scored 15, 10 and 12 respectively.
This game was relatively inconsequential when it comes to tournament bids. Kentucky and Tennessee were locks to make it with, at worst, an at-large bid. Tennessee will surely get in with an at-large while UK gets the auto-bid here. It could be a big day for the SEC, so now we will wait until the field of 68 is announced.