This is Kentucky’s 23rd SEC Tournament championship, its eighth in the last 10 years. Its last championship came in 1999with a 76-63 win over Arkansas in the finals.
Tayshaun Prince and Keith Bogans were both named to the SEC All-Tournament team, and Prince wasnamed the Most Valuable Player in the tourney. Kentucky has had 62 players named to the All-Tourney team 95times, while Prince becomes UK’s 25th MVP.
UK is 99-16 (86.1%) in SEC Tournament play. The Cats have won more tournament titles that the rest of theSEC teams combined.
MVP Tayshaun Prince notched 26 points and a career-high 12 rebounds in the title bout. The double-doublewas the second consecutive for the junior, seventh in his career and sixth in the 2001 season. The All-Americacandidate has notched double-doubles in four of the past six games.
Prince also tied the SEC Tournament championship game record for three-pointers made with six. That recordwas set by UK’s Travis Ford in the 1993 tournament against LSU.
Senior Saul Smith finished his SEC career with three regular-season championships and three SECTournament titles. With today’s game, Smith has played in 140 games in his four-year career. He needs one moregame to tie Anthony Epps (1994-97) for fourth on UK’s all-time games played list.
Smith tallied two points in the contest and now has 701 in his career.
The Cats shot 50.8 percent from the field in today’s game. They are now 13-0 when shooting better than 50.0percent this season.
UK is 19-4 when leading at halftime. The Cats’ 17-point lead at the half was the second largest of the seasonbehind the 25-point lead over Jacksonville State on Nov. 21. The lead was the largest halftime lead by the Catsagainst a SEC opponent this season. The previous high was 16 points at Vanderbilt on Feb. 17.
Ole Miss’ 20.0 percent first-half shooting percentage was the lowest by a UK opponent this season. TheRebels’ 29.0 percent FG% in the game was the third-lowest of the season by an opponent.
The Cats handed Ole Miss their worst loss of the season with the 22-point defeat. The Rebels’ 55 points wasthe fewest points scored by a losing team in the championship game since the 1992 tourney when Kentuckydefeated Alabama, 80-54.
