NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Darius Acuff Jr. scored 30 points and handed out 11 assists, leading No. 17 Arkansas to its first Southeastern Conference Tournament championship and first automatic NCAA Tournament berth since 2000, beating 22nd-ranked Vanderbilt 86-75 Sunday.
With the win, John Calipari became the first coach in SEC history to win tournament titles at two different programs.
He won six with Kentucky with the last in 2018, including the 2017 title over Arkansas. Calipari now has 16 combined conference tournament titles in his career.
This title game featured a duel of All-SEC guards in Vanderbilt’s Tyler Tanner defending Acuff, the SEC player and freshman of the year. Acuff put on a show finding teammates with passes, dropping fadeaway jumpers and 3s or layups.
The Razorbacks (26-8) sealed the win with a 12-0 spurt in the final minutes to snap a skid of four straight losses in this game with the program’s second SEC Tournament title.
Billy Richmond III added 18 points for Arkansas. Trevon Brazile had 16 and D.J. Wagner 11.
Vanderbilt (26-8) was looking for its first title in this tournament since 2012 when the Commodores beat Calipari and Kentucky. They now are 2-1 when reaching this championship game.
Duke Miles and Tyler Nickel each had 19 for Vanderbilt, and Tanner finished with 15.
The Razorbacks routed Vanderbilt by 25 on Jan. 20 at Bud Walton Arena. This time, the Commodores were coming off their first win over an AP top-five team since 2012 with their largest margin of victory over such a foe in program history after routing No. 4 Florida in the semifinals.
With the title on the line, Arkansas led 41-39 at halftime.
AK Okereke’s 3 with 17:57 to go put the Commodores ahead 46-45, and they strung together a 9-4 spurt for their biggest lead yet at 55-49. Then they went cold missing 12 of 13 shots. Nickel’s 3 for Vanderbilt with 6:40 left tied it at 66.
Then the Razorbacks took control.
Up next
Vanderbilt will be playing in the NCAA Tournament for a second straight year with coach Mark Byington.
Arkansas takes a five-game winning streak into the NCAA Tournament.
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