Kevin Knox added 18 for the fourth-seeded Wildcats (24-10), while Wenyen Gabriel chipped in 12 points before fouling out. Quade Green finished with 10.

Admiral Schofield paced the second-seeded Volunteers (25-8) with 22 points and 10 rebounds, while Grant Williams finished with 15 points. Jordan Bone scored 12 and Lamonte Turner added 10, but made just 3-of-12 shots from the field.

Gilgeous-Alexander drained a 17-footer with 59 seconds left to give Kentucky a 70-67 lead. The Wildcats then used free-throw shooting to salt away their 31st SEC tourney title, hitting 7 of 8 in the final 34 seconds, including the final two by Gilgeous-Alexander with 2.4 seconds remaining.

In avenging two losses to Tennessee during regular-season play, Kentucky canned 50 percent of its shots from the field and converted 20 of 24 free throws while limiting the Volunteers to 37.1 percent accuracy from the field.

The result earned the Wildcats the conference's automatic NCAA Tournament bid. Tennessee is in line to earn an at-large berth, but was denied its first SEC tourney title since 1979.

Kentucky controlled most of the first half, hitting four of its first eight 3-pointers while holding Tennessee to 4 of 16 shooting as it opened up a 20-10 lead on two free throws by Gabriel with 11:07 left.

When Green canned a jumper with 4:31 remaining in the half, the Wildcats increased their advantage to 33-16 and appeared on the verge of a blowout. But at that point, Schofield took over and single-handedly lifted Tennessee back into the game.

Beginning with a 3-pointer with 3:17 left, Schofield scored the Volunteers' last 13 points of the half. He drained three 3-pointers and a jumper before capping his run with two free throws, cutting the Kentucky lead to 36-31 at the half.

-- Field Level Media