No. 3-seed Arkansas defeated No. 15-seed Ole Miss 93-90 in overtime on Saturday to advance to the SEC Tournament Championship Game against No. 4 Vanderbilt.
Vanderbilt (26-7) got to the finals with an easy 91-74 win over Florida, the top seed. Arkansas' guards Meleek Thomas (29) and Darius Acuff Jr. (24) combined for 53 points to get the win. Arkansas (25-8) hasn't won the SEC Tournament since 2000. John Calipari was proud of his team.
"I apologized to the guys during the game," Calipari said. "Should have called a timeout so the kid couldn't run it up the court and shoot a layup. I was going to until I said, do they have a timeout? No. I did not want to give them a chance to talk to their team. I should have called a timeout, and I didn't. Almost cost us the game.
"They fought, and we won it anyway. I told them, I'm hoping I help you win many more games than I create something that has us lose."
Calipari was referring to the Razorbacks taking a 79-77 lead on a Thomas free throw with five seconds remaining in regulation. AJ Storr took the inbounds pass and raced down the court to shoot a layup as time expired.
The Razorbacks also got a big game from Malique Ewin who had 14 points and 13 rebounds. Thomas, in addition to leading the team in scoring, added five rebounds, five assists and two steals. Calipari praised both of them.
"Malique Ewin, double-double," Calipari said. "If he can just stay the course, a couple breakdowns defensively, if he can just stay the course, okay? You saw Meleek Thomas light it up. He took one shot, the guy that threw it, grabbed it, it came out to him, and he just launched it. I'm like, Meleek, and it went in, great shot, kid. Way to go.
"I almost have to let him do some of the stuff because it is who he is. He is a shot-maker. He is a guy that's not afraid. What Malique is giving us is that one more size inside that makes it pretty good."
Thomas, a true freshman, had 12 points at the half then kept scoring after that.
"I would really just say it's a dream come true, first off," Thomas said. "Somehow we dreamed about being on the biggest stage, battle with my team, which is what happened today. That was evident.
"But I would just say the defense, they played me to the best of their ability. When I'm going, I feel it's hard to stop me from going."
Ewin was a big reason the Razorbacks won the battle of the boards 44-31. It was a physical game and he thrived in that setting.
"It was really important," Ewin said. "They're a really good team. We tried to outrebound them and just do the little things to get the win."
Trevon Brazile also chipped in 16 points, 10 rebounds and two steals. But Brazile and other Razorbacks missed some free throws down the stretch that allowed Ole Miss to have a chance to pull off the upset. Arkansas got to the free throw line 31 times, but only made 23 (74%). Brazile missed three of his four attempts and Acuff failed on one in the closing seconds of overtime. Thomas missed one with five seconds remaining in regulation that allowed Ole Miss to tie the game and force overtime.
Acuff had five rebounds and seven assists to go with his points but did turn it over an unusual five times. He only had four points in the first half, but Calipari talked about why he doesn't worry about his star point guard or Thomas, two true freshmen.
"The same reason: he has that otherworldly confidence that he will make the play," Calipari said. "And for those two to be able to do that, you can't be afraid of not making the play. It makes no bearing. If you miss it, I'm making the next one.
"That was the game winner and you just missed it. Well, it went to overtime, I'll make the next two, that's fine. You have to have that mentality that you're not afraid to miss the game winner. Neither one of those two are. They'll shoot it. Even if I say, Pass, they'll shoot it."
The Razorbacks held a one-point lead, 37-36, after a questionable foul was called on Nick Pringle as time expired. Patton Pinkins went to the free throw line and knocked down all three shots.
Arkansas' biggest lead of the game was 23-12 with 10:45 remaining in the first half. Ole Miss' last led in the game 53-51 with 12:31 remaining in regulation. Ole Miss (15-20) was playing its fourth game in four days. Storr came off the bench to lead them with 24 points. Malik Dia had 16 points, Pinkins 15, Ilias Kamardine had 13 and James Scott seven points and nine rebounds. Chris Beard was pleased with how his team fought to the end
"But I thought our guys played with a lot of courage today," Beard said. "We played the game to win. We did not lose this game today. We simply ran out of time. AJ had two game winners today. He made one. One of 'em rimmed out on us. We needed one more minute to play. We just kind of ran out of time today."
Arkansas and Vanderbilt will tip at noon and televised on ESPN.