Takeaways from the Razorbacks’ win over LSU
FAYETTEVILLE — The Arkansas Razorbacks (15-5, 5-2 SEC) gritted out a tough win over the LSU Tigers (13-7, 1-6 SEC) at Bud Walton Arena on a snowy day in northwest Arkansas.
The Tigers gave the Hogs almost all that they could handle, but a strong second half powered by Darius Acuff Jr. — who scored a career-high 31 points — pushed the home team ahead and the Razorbacks moved to 12-0 at home on the season.
Here are HawgBeat’s takeaways from the win…
Tale of two halves
“Flat” is probably the easiest way to describe the Razorbacks in the first half. In the first 20 minutes, they lost the battle on the boards 21-14 and allowed eight of those on the offensive end. The Tigers scored 13 points off second-chance points and scored six points off of five first-half Razorback turnovers.
It wasn’t traditional post-ups that caused Arkansas fits. The Hogs struggled to stay in front of the Tigers’ guards and rotations were a step slow, which allowed LSU to get good looks at the rim.
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Things changed in the second half, though. Arkansas shored up the rebounding, even though it finished with less boards than the Tigers overall, and allowed five offensive boards for just six second-chance points in the final 20 minutes.
”I told them at halftime, you’re going to learn something,” head coach John Calipari said. “You’re going to give up? I don’t care how you played in the first half, all I want to know is how you’re going to play now in the second half. Can you get yourself going?”
Free throws are free
The referees whistle was quick and easy from pretty much the start of the game to the finish line on both sides. There were 39 fouls called between both teams on Saturday, which equals out to a little less than one per minute of game action.
You would think that would lead to a lot of points at the charity stripe for the Hogs, who shot 74.5% from the free throw line coming into the game. Think again. The Hogs finished a putrid 7-of-18 from the foul line, with only Billy Richmond III (3-of-4) and Malique Ewin (2-of-4) making more than one free throw.
That kind of percentage is a deviation from the norm for the Razorbacks.
“The one thing, we shot a really high percentage except from the foul line,” Calipari said. “How do you shoot 30% from the foul line? What are you talking about? We’re one of the best free throw shooting teams in the country.”
Maybe it was the cold weather outside somehow throwing the Hogs off from the charity stripe. Or perhaps it was just an off night, Calipari said “they’re not machines, they’re not robots. They have minds. At times they can be fragile,” after the game. Luckily for the Hogs, it didn’t cost them the win.
Arkansas grits out gutsy win
The Tigers have had a rough go of it since SEC play started, and the loss Saturday put them at 1-6 in league play, but it says something about the Razorbacks that they were able to push ahead for the win.
If you take a gander around the rest of the SEC, it’s fairly easy to see that every game is going to be a dogfight, and being able to dig deep and pull out a win was big for the Razorbacks.
”All these games are hard,” Trevon Brazile said postgame. “I think Florida just lost, and that just goes to show any team can lose any night. It doesn’t matter where you play at, every team in the SEC can play. It’s going to be physical every night so we just got to come out every night, ready to play in the first half. We didn’t do it, and we picked it up in the second.”
What’s next for Arkansas basketball
The Razorbacks will hit the road for a midweek clash in Norman with the Oklahoma Sooners on Tuesday night. After that, they’ll return home to face Calipari’s old muse — the Kentucky Wildcats, who are surging of late — next Saturday at Bud Walton Arena.
Tipoff for Tuesday’s game is set for 6 p.m. CT and the game will air on ESPN.
