By Keith Taylor
Special to NKyTribune
NASHVILLE — Kentucky is back in the Southeastern Conference finals.
The top-seeded Wildcats earned a ticket to the league championship game with a 79-74 victory over Alabama Saturday. Kentucky takes on Arkansas in a 1 p.m. tipoff Sunday at Bridgestone Arena. Kentucky carries a 10-game winning streak into the conference finale and seeking its third straight tournament title.
“We have a great will to win,” Kentucky coach John Calipari said. “What you don’t want as a coach is for players to think you cannot be prepared to play a game and then you can turn it on and you’ll be OK.”
Freshman guards De’Aaron Fox and Malik Monk helped the Wildcats overcome a furious effort by the Crimson Tide and combined for 48 points, but it was Fox who led the Cats to victory with a stellar performance in the second half.
Fox finished with a career-high 28 points to pace Kentucky but did a bulk of his scoring in the final seven minutes with 14 points and sank eight free throws during that pivotal stretch. Fox also connected on a clutch 3-point play with Wildcats clinging to a 64-62 lead to give Kentucky a much-needed lift when it mattered the most.
“I just kept making plays and (my teammates) kept putting the ball in my hands,” Fox said. “When I know the coach is trusting me and my teammates are trusting me, (you’ve) just (got to) keep attacking and doing what you’re doing. All I’ve got to do is just make the play.”
Despite the flurrying finish, things didn’t come easy for Fox, who committed five turnovers in the first half. Fox changed his shoes and settled down in the second half.
“I didn’t want (the end of the game) to be the same as when I started the game,” Fox said. “In the second half, I just wanted to cut down on turnovers and be able to run the team.”
Monk, who scored just eight points in his two previous games, including two in the tournament opener, followed Fox with 20 points. Monk tallied 13 points n the opening half and made two of Kentucky’s three shots from long range. Fox followed Monk with nine points in the first half.
Determined to snap out of his two-game slump, Monk took drastic measures to get back on track and the preparation began long before tipoff.
“I got up early — early,” Monk said. “I knew I had to get up and execute for the team. Me having a shoot around (and) after every shoot around, I think have a good game. If I get shots up before the game, I just have a good game or a better flow.”
Kentucky forward Bam Adebayo just missed a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds. Adebayo praised Fox’s ability to take over during the most critical stage of the contest, which enabled the Wildcats to overcome the Crimson Tide.
“He was making plays and we just kept getting him the ball,” Adebayo said. “He was making layups and finishing. He came up big for us.”
Kentucky nearly let an 18-point lead slip away before escaping with a 67-58 win over the Crimson Tide in their lone meeting during the regular season in Tuscaloosa.
Alabama (19-14) reached the semifinals for the first time in four years following two straight victories to open the postseason, including a 64-53 victory over No. 4 seed South Carolina in the quarterfinals but ran out of steam its first trip to the semifinals in four years.
Dazon Ingram paced Alabama with 17 points and scored nine of those in the first half. Calipari praised Alabama’s toughness and ability to stay within striking distance throughout the contest.
“I thought (Alabama coach) Avery (Johnson) had his team ready to go and those kids fought like heck,” the Kentucky coach said. “We were luck to get out alive.”
Gametracker: Kentucky vs. Arkansas or Vanderbilt, 1 p.m., Sunday. TV/Radio: ESPN, 98.1 FM WBUL.
Keith Taylor is a senior sports writer for KyForward, where he primarily covers University of Kentucky sports. Reach him at keith.taylor@kyforward.com or @keithtaylor21 on Twitter