Kentucky defeats Tennessee to win fourth straight SEC tournament title

The Kentucky Wildcats won the 2018 SEC Basketball Tournament defeating Tennessee 77-72 on Sunday afternoon from Scottrade Center in St. Louis. This marks the fourth straight season the conference tournament title has been won by Kentucky. This one was close throughout — Wildcats led 36-31 at halftime, but aside from a 52-43 lead Kentucky got with 12:43 left in the second half, this game was back-and-forth throughout.

It came down to the wire, too. Tennessee’s Jordan Bone nailed a beautiful corner three pointer to pull within one to make it 68-67 with 1:26 left. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander countered with a jump shot to make it just a three-point lead for the Wildcats with one minute left. Kentucky made free throws at the other end to take a 72-67 lead, but Admiral Schofield made a tip shot to pull within three at 72-69. Tennessee had to foul though, which gave Kentucky some breathing room at the end.

Kentucky freshman guard Gilgeous-Alexander was the star for the Wildcats, getting 27 points, seven rebounds, and three assists. Freshman Kevin Knox added another 18 on the day. For the Vols, Schofield came up big, with 22 points and nine rebounds on the day. Schofield had to leave in the second half after sustaining a nose injury, but he was able to come back in a few minutes later.

The Wildcats will get a bid for the NCAA Tournament, but the question is where and what seed they’ll get. Our latest bracketology projects the Wildcats getting a five-seed in the West. A 24-10 record isn’t quite where John Calipari’s teams have been in the past heading into March Madness, but he’s obviously got the experience to coach well in the tourney.

Tennessee was looking to beat Kentucky three times in one year — the last team to do that was Florida in 2014, and the Wildcats went onto the national championship that year. Tennessee finished second with the regular season SEC title behind Auburn, but this Vols team is incredibly talented, finishing 25-8 on the year, even though Tennessee was predicted to finish second to last in the conference. Tennessee could potentially be playing with a chip on its shoulder heading into the tourney with such low expectations at the start of the year.

Teams will be seeded No. 1 through No. 14 in the SEC Basketball Tournament bracket based upon the final regular season conference standings. Teams that finished No. 1 through No. 4 in the final regular season standings shall receive first and second-round byes and teams that finish No. 5 through No. 10 will receive first-round byes.

Here is the full tournament bracket and day-by-day schedule.

Game 1: No. 12 Georgia 78, No. 13 Vanderbilt 62

Game 2: No. 11 South Carolina 85, No. 14 Ole Miss, 84

Game 3: No. 9 Alabama 71, No. 8 Texas A&M 70

Game 4: No. 12 Georgia 62, No. 5 Missouri 60

Game 5: No. 7 Mississippi State 80, No. 10 LSU 77

Game 6: No. 6 Arkansas 69, No. 11 South Carolina 64

Game 7: No. 9 Alabama 81, No. 1 Auburn 63

Game 8: No. 4 Kentucky 62, No. 12 Georgia 49

Game 9: No. 2 Tennessee 62, No. 7 Mississippi State 59

Game 10: No. 6 Arkansas 80, No. 3 Florida 72

Game 11: No. 4 Kentucky 86, No. 9 Alabama 63

Game 12: No. 2 Tennessee 84, No. 6 Arkansas 66

No. 4 Kentucky 77, No. 2 Tennessee 72