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Kentucky beats Texas A&M, wins SEC regular-season title

Kentucky forward Edrice Adebayo (3) drives the lane against Texas A&M forward Tavario Miller (42). Kentucky won the clinch the SEC regular-season title. (Sam Craft / Associated Press)

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – No. 9 Kentucky won its fifth Southeastern Conference regular-season title in coach John Calipari’s eight seasons on Saturday. He was hardly ready to celebrate.

“We haven’t peaked yet,” he said following the Wildcats’ 71-63 victory at Texas A&M. “That’s the good news. The bad news is – we haven’t peaked yet.”

Kentucky certainly appeared to be at peak performance in the second half against A&M, but that’s part of what’s troubling Calipari. The Wildcats overcame an early 15-point deficit to claim the SEC title outright.

A game earlier the Wildcats had rallied from 19 down to finally upend Vanderbilt. Kentucky on four occasions has come back from double-digit deficits this season.

“We’ve been trying to fix it,” said freshman guard De’Aaron Fox, who led the Wildcats with 19 points, including 15 in the second half. “We picked up our intensity throughout the game, and this time actually took the lead before halftime, and kept it going throughout the rest of the game.”

The Aggies (16-14, 8-10) leaped to a 19-4 lead 8 minutes into the game, as the Wildcats (26-5, 16-2) missed nine of their first 10 shots. A&M’s big lead early only seemed to ignite the Wildcats, as Kentucky closed the first half with a 28-9 run.

Admon Gilder led the Aggies with 22 points and Robert Williams added 20.

The Aggies closed the gap to 55-51 with 6:10 remaining when Kentucky’s Isaiah Briscoe and Derek Willis responded with consecutive baskets, the latter a 3-pointer that bounced off the front of the rim before falling through with 4:13 remaining.

The Wildcats prevailed despite the league’s leading scorer, freshman Malik Monk, finishing with six points on 2-of-10 shooting. He entered the game averaging 21.7 points per game.

“Some games Malik isn’t going to be on,” Willis said. “We can’t always depend on him to have 20-plus scoring games.”

The swifter Wildcats held a 14-4 advantage on the fast break.

“Our guys were ready, and they did what we asked them to do,” A&M coach Billy Kennedy said. “We’ve got to give Kentucky credit, because they never broke.”