Kentucky locks up No. 3 seed in SEC Tournament with 88-79 win at Arkansas

No Cason Wallace, no problem.

Even though Kentucky’s starting point guard was watching from the sidelines in his warmups, the Wildcats put together a gutsy performance on the road to take down the Arkansas Razorbacks 88-79 in Fayetteville. The win locks up the No. 3 seed in next week’s SEC Tournament for the Wildcats, which finished the season with a 21-10 overall record and a 12-6 mark in conference play.

Despite Oscar Tshiebwe fouling out late in the second half, Antonio Reeves powered the ‘Cats to victory with a career-high setting 37 points on 12-17 shooting, including a perfect 11-11 mark from the charity stripe. Tshiebwe still finished with 12 points and 13 rebounds before the disqualification. Jacob Toppin was terrific for Kentucky — particularly in the second half — chipping in 21 points, four rebounds, and three assists.

It was certainly a physical affair too, with both sides combining for 52 fouls, including three technical fouls and a flagrant. Kentucky shot 54 percent from the field overall and 26-33 from the free throw line while Arkansas made just 36 percent of its shots, shooting a poor 2-20 on layup attempts.

Kentucky started off this game about as well as the Big Blue Nation could have hoped for. Nick Smith Jr. got the scoring going with a made triple for the Razorbacks, but UK fought right back as the race was officially on. Tshiebwe was doing anything and everything to keep his ‘Cats alive, but nearly got himself ejected in the opening segment after delivering an elbow to the head of an Arkansas player. Luckily, he was only hit with a technical foul — a deep sigh of relief for Kentucky fans.

After Toppin converted on an and-one, Kentucky led 17-10 with a little over 13 minutes left until the intermission. UK would soon take its largest lead of the opening half, 28-20, after Reeves drilled a three-pointer. Arkansas was never too far behind though and didn’t allow the ‘Cats to break the game wide open.

Arkansas eventually trimmed the UK lead down to just two points, but Reeves continued to push Kentucky forward while Tshiebwe, who was tagged with a flagrant near the end of the half after throwing another elbow at an Razorback player, rested on the bench. A second-chance layup from Daimion Collins gave the ‘Cats a 40-36 lead at the break.

Reeves and Tshiebwe combined for 27 of Kentucky’s first-half points as the ‘Cats shot 52 percent from the floor as a team. Arkansas was living at the rim, converting on all six dunk attempts, but struggled shooting the ball elsewhere. UK was also a perfect 9-9 from the free-throw line after the first 20 minutes of action.

Unlike the first matchup between these two, when Arkansas came out firing out of the locker room, it was Kentucky’s turn to make a second-half statement. More specifically, it was Reeves’ turn to make a statement. Following a double-technical on Devonte Davis that ejected him from the game, Reeves nailed four free throws and made three baskets to score all 11 points for UK not even four minutes into the half. Just like that, Kentucky was ahead by double-digits.

But Arkansas didn’t fade away. A handful of missed free throws from Kentucky allowed the Hogs to cut into the lead, making it 55-50 with a little over 10 minutes left in regulation following a 7-0 run. Reeves wasn’t done scoring, though. He eventually broke his career-high, reaching 35 points at the final media timeout with UK leading 71-61 and on the verge of stealing one on the road.

Kentucky refused to let up the rest of the way, even after Tshiebwe fouled out. The ‘Cats hit enough free throws down the stretch to provide a sizable cushion. When the final buzzer sounded, Kentucky came out with the nine-point victory, locking up the No. 3 seed in next week’s SEC Tournament. UK led for over 35 minutes of the game.