March 15, 2026 at 4:10 p.m.
by Matt Jones
For the first time in 26 years, the Arkansas men’s basketball team is coming home with an SEC Tournament trophy.
The Razorbacks ended the game on a 12-3 run and defeated Vanderbilt 86-75 on Sunday in the championship game of the SEC Tournament at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
Arkansas won the SEC Tournament title for the second time. The Razorbacks won four games in four days to claim the 2000 tournament title at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.
“It was a really good game,” said Arkansas coach John Calipari, who won his record seventh SEC Tournament title. “Two teams played well. We just happened to play a little bit better the last four minutes.”
It was the third tightly contested win in three days for Arkansas (26-8), which defeated Oklahoma 82-79 on Friday in the quarterfinals and Ole Miss 93-90 in overtime Saturday.
“They just went three days and they were wars,” Calipari said. “Oklahoma was playing the best they played all year. Mississippi was playing the best they played all year. Vanderbilt was playing the best they played all year.”
Darius Acuff, the freshman guard who was named SEC Player of the Year, led the Razorbacks with 30 points and 11 assists. He was named most valuable player of the tournament after he averaged 30.3 points per game.
“They trust me with the ball and I’ve just got to go make the plays,” Acuff said. “Downhill was working all weekend and today. I just had to be smart with the ball.”
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Vanderbilt coach Mark Byington called Acuff “terrific” and said the Commodores were the latest team that did not have a game plan that could stop him.
“If you spread on Acuff, he’s going to the rim,” Byington said. “We just didn’t have — nobody has somebody to keep him in front.”
Acuff hit a pair of 3-pointers in the final minute of the first half, then scored 18 points after halftime. He scored or assisted 36 of the Razorbacks’ 45 points in the second half.
“I’ll tell all the boys that are listening, if you pass on this one, you will regret it,” Calipari said, with his comment aimed at NBA teams ahead of the June draft.
Acuff, who battled an ankle injury late in the regular season and missed a game at Missouri last weekend, played 37 minutes in the championship game. He played 117 of the Razorbacks’ 125 minutes at the tournament.
“I’m stunned he was able to play three games, guys,” Calipari said. “I talked about if I have to hold him out this championship game for him, I will, and he looked at me like I was nuts. … And then the kids does the stuff he does.”
Acuff was far from being Arkansas’ only big contributor.
Trevon Brazile made big plays down the stretch, including 3-pointers from the left wing with 3:12 and 2:17 remaining to put the Razorbacks ahead 80-72. Brazile also had a block following the second of those 3s, which led to a Malique Ewin dunk on the other end off an assist from Acuff.
Arkansas’ defense was great after the early moments of the second half. Vanderbilt shot 16 for 37 in the first half, but made 9 of 29 field goal attempts after halftime.
The Commodores (26-8) went 8 minutes, 20 seconds without a field goal until Tyler Nickel’s 3-pointer tied the game 66-66 with 6:40 to play.
Acuff responded with a 3 off a handoff from Nick Pringle on the other end to give Arkansas a 69-66 lead. The Razorbacks never trailed again.
D.J. Wagner made a 3 from the top of the key with 5:35 left to put Arkansas ahead 72-68. The closest the Commodores after that point was 74-72 on Duke Miles’ shot in the lane with 3:40 to play.
The Razorbacks made 15 of 24 shots from 3-point range, which tied a season high for makes from distance. Arkansas also made 15 against James Madison on Dec. 29.
Acuff was 5 for 8 from 3-point range, Brazile was 4 for 5, Wagner was 3 for 3, Billy Richmond was 2 for 4 and Meleek Thomas was 1 for 4.
“They had guys who were all season long poor 3-point shooters, and they made shots tonight, so give them credit,” Byington said. “I think with Brazile and Richmond and Wagner, they were 9 for 12 from the 3-point line, and every one of them is below a 30% guy.”
The 3-point shot helped the Razorbacks rally after Vanderbilt took its biggest lead, 55-49, with a 14-4 run early in the second half. Jalen Washington’s second-chance basket forced a Calipari timeout with 14:50 to play.
Arkansas responded with an 11-0 run that included a pair of 3-pointers by Wagner and a 3 by Acuff. Wagner finished with 11 points off the bench.
“Without him we don’t win this game,” Calipari said. “So you could even go as far as to say D.J. won this game.”
The Razorbacks led 41-39 at halftime after the teams delivered an entertaining stretch of play. Acuff hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key just before the halftime buzzer.
Arkansas led 33-28 before the Commodores went on a 9-2 run spurred by Miles and Nickel. Miles’ steal and layup gave Vanderbilt a 37-35 lead with 1:14 left in the half — its first lead since it was 9-7 at the first media timeout.
There’s no stopping 5⃣ pic.twitter.com/ercGp56G8j
On the ensuing possession, Acuff made a 3-point heave as he fell into the Commodores’ bench to give the Razorbacks a 38-37 lead, then Nickel hit a shot from near the free-throw line on Vanderbilt’s final possession of the half to go ahead 39-38.
“They made the plays they had to make to be able to win the game,” Byington said. “I thought we played really well and a lot of things did not go our way.”
Richmond scored 12 points in the first 12 minutes to give Arkansas a 24-17 lead by the third media timeout of the first half. He finished with 18 points.
Brazile gave Arkansas 16 points, 9 rebounds, 2 blocks and 2 steals, with 8 of those points coming in the final 3:12 of the game.
Nickel and Miles both scored 19 points to lead the Commodores. Tyler Tanner added 15 points.
Arkansas defeated Vanderbilt for the second time this season. The Razorbacks defeated the Commodores 93-68 in Fayetteville on Jan. 20.
Calipari won the tournament six times at Kentucky, most recently in 2018. He tied former Alabama coach Wimp Sanderson for the most times to coach in the tournament championship game (9).
Arkansas played in the SEC Tournament championship game for the eighth time since 1995, and for the first time since 2017. It had lost in the championship game four times since its tournament title in 2000, including twice to Calipari-coached Kentucky teams.
The Razorbacks have won eight conference tournament championships. They won the SWC Tournament six times from 1977-91.
Arkansas earned the SEC’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Razorbacks will play Hawaii (24-8) in the first round of the tournament Thursday in Portland, Oregon. Tipoff is scheduled for approximately 3:25 p.m. Central.
Tournament Championship History
With records of 2-6 in the SEC and 6-3 in the Southwest Conference, Arkansas improved to an all-time record of 8-9 in conference tournament championship games. Here is a look at all of the Razorbacks’ conference championship outcomes.
Year Conference: Opponent, Result (City)
1977 SWC: Houston, W 80-74 (in Houston)
1979 SWC: Texas, W 39-38 (in Houston)
1980 SWC: Texas A&M, L 52-50 (in San Antonio)
1982 SWC: Houston, W 84-69 (in Dallas)
1984 SWC: Houston, L 57-56 (in Houston)
1985 SWC: Texas Tech, L 67-64 (in Dallas)
1989 SWC: Texas, W 100-76 (in Dallas)
1990 SWC: Houston, W 96-84 (in Dallas)
1991 SWC: Texas, W 120-89 (in Dallas)
1995 SEC: Kentucky, L 95-93 (OT) (in Atlanta)
1999 SEC: Kentucky, L 76-63 (in Atlanta)
2000 SEC: Auburn, W 75-67 (in Atlanta)
2007 SEC: Florida, L 77-56 (in Atlanta)
2008 SEC: Georgia, L 66-57 (in Atlanta)
2015 SEC: Kentucky, L 78-63 (in Nashville)
2017 SEC: Kentucky, L 82-65 (in Nashville)
2026 SEC: Vanderbilt, W 86-75 (in Nashville)
Box Score
Arkansas 86, Vanderbilt 75.PDF
Correction
This was John Calipari’s first SEC Tournament title since 2018, not 2019 as was originally written.
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