Today at 2:38 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.
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.
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.
But 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 brilliant in the second half when Vanderbilt made 9 of 29 field goal attempts. 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 Darius 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.
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 John 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 and made 3 of 3 shots from beyond the arc.
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.
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.
Billy 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.
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.
Calipari, the second-year Arkansas coach, won his record seventh SEC Tournament title. Calipari won the tournament six times at Kentucky, most recently in 2019. 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. They had lost in the championship game four times since their tournament title in 2000.
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 learn their first-round opponent and location Sunday at 5 p.m.
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