Arkansas, No. 8 Kentucky square off in SEC title game (Mar 12, 2017)
NASHVILLE -- Kentucky goes after its 30th SEC Tournament championship on Sunday when the top-seeded Wildcats face No. 3 seed Arkansas at Bridgestone Arena.
The eighth-ranked Wildcats advanced Saturday with a 79-74 win over fifth-seeded Alabama. Arkansas got past seventh-seeded Vanderbilt 76-62.
In one previous meeting this season, Kentucky defeated Arkansas 97-71 on Jan. 7 in Lexington
"We got a lot of confidence and we're not too much worried about what Kentucky is doing," Arkansas' Jaylen Barford said. "We're worrying about what we're doing."
"They're a good team, but so are we," Dusty Hannahs added. "We're playing really good basketball right now, and we're ready to face anybody in the country. So it should be a great challenge tomorrow."
Kentucky is riding a 10-game winning streak.
"The team is starting to come together and understand numbers don't matter on a team like this," Kentucky coach John Calipari said. "It may be your game, may be another guy's game. That was good for us to see and how they played."
Arkansas has won eight of its last nine games.
"We're looking forward to it," Arkansas coach Mike Anderson said. "I think our guys will come in and play."
The Razorbacks will have to contend with Kentucky point guard De'Aaron Fox. On Saturday, the freshman led the win over Alabama with 28 points, scoring 14 in the final seven minutes.
In two tournament games, Fox has scored 20 and 28 points, respectively. He also torched Arkansas for 27 points during the regular season game in January.
"He's a very good basketball player, really quick, shifty," Anderson said. "We got to deal with numbers. We can't do it one-on-one with the guy. We got to build a wall and make him find somebody else."
In Arkansas' 76-62 win over Vanderbilt, Moses Kingsley had a double-double of 12 points and 13 rebounds as one of five players in double figures. The Razorbacks blitzed Vandy 28-6 to open the second half.
"We fed off the energy," Anderson said. "I thought our energy -- really we got dialed in. We made them push the offense way out on the floor and we got a chance to get some easy opportunities."
Kentucky has fallen behind by double-digits in four of the last five games, but has still managed to win them all.
"We have a great will to win," Calipari said. "But what you don't want as a coach is for players to think you can turn it on and you'll be OK. Because you're going to play somebody that comes in and smacks you and you get down and they're too good to come back on, and then you know what, your season ends. All because of a start, because you weren't ready to get in there and fight.
"Now, the other side of that we were down 19, 16, 15, 17, whatever, and came back and won. The mentality I like, which is that we always have a chance."
The Kentucky-Arkansas rivalry is well-documented, particularly in SEC Tournament play in the 1990s. This season added to that with a dust up between Barford and Fox resulting in double technical fouls. On the play, Isaiah Briscoe drew a charge against Barford. As Barford returned to the court, he stepped on the leg of Briscoe, who was still laying on the floor. Fox immediately intervened and officials had to separate players.
"Let me say this, my team won't be bullied. It's not that kind of team," Calipari said. "You're not going to bully us into a loss. Think about who's on this team. They're going to fight back."
