Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — John Calipari told his 17th-ranked Arkansas Razorbacks to use the Southeastern Conference Tournament title game to measure where they are before the NCAA Tournament.
Nick Pringle disagreed, saying a league championship was on the line Sunday.
"And I said, 'If that's what you need me to say, great, let's go get this championship!" Calipari said.
Darius Acuff Jr. scored 30 points and handed out 11 assists, leading Arkansas to its first SEC Tournament championship since 2000 by beating Vanderbilt 86-75.
"We just happened to play a little bit better the last four minutes," Calipari said.
With the win, 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 with stints at UMass in the A-10 and Memphis in Conference USA.
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 by 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. That helped Arkansas snap a skid of four straight losses in this game with its second-ever win in the SEC title game.
Arkansas takes a five-game winning streak into the NCAA Tournament after clinching an automatic spot with the victory.
"We not done yet," Acuff said.
Billy Richmond III added 18 points for Arkansas. Trevon Brazile had 16 and D.J. Wagner 11.
No. 22 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.
"We're dejected," second-year Vanderbilt coach Mark Byington said. "We wanted this. We put everything into it. We'll get back up and we're excited about the NCAA Tournament coming up next week."
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 and finished shooting 62.5% from 3-point range (15 of 24).
Vanderbilt will be playing in the NCAA Tournament for a second straight year.
Arkansas takes a five-game winning streak into the NCAA Tournament.
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