Heading into Wednesday night, the lone win in SEC Conference Play for the LSU men’s basketball team was a month ago, at home versus Arkansas. This go-around, the Tigers traveled to Fayetteville to play the Razorbacks. The woes for LSU continued as they lost to Arkansas 70-58, dropping their record to 12-12 and 1-10 in conference play.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The Tigers jumped out to a quick five-point lead. Cam Carter missed his first shot but Corey Chest secured the offensive rebound and passed the ball back to Carter to the open three. Dji Bailey then stole the ball from Razorback forward Adou Thiero and turned that into a reverse layup.
Arkansas’ offense started to wake up the next few minutes, tying the game at 11 just over five minutes into the game. 7’2″ sophomore Zvonimir Ivsic made plays on both ends, knocking down a wing three, then blocked Damion Collins’ layup attempt. Ivisic was one of four Razorback players to score with Karter Knox and D.J. Wagner getting in the paint for their points.
Derek Fountain broke the tie with a three and LSU’s defense proceeded to allow a 10-2 run over the next four-and-a-half minutes. Ivisic’s dunk was the highlight and Wagner capped off the run with a tip-in off his miss. Arkansas was ahead 21-16 with less than eight minutes to go in the half.
The Tiger reclaimed the lead in the next 50 seconds, putting up six straight points as Chest hit a midrange jumper and free throw. Curtis Givens III then found Carter for his second bucket from behind the arc. Arkansas put up five straight before Robert Miller and Fountain combined to score thrice in the paint, including a dunk to tie the game late in the first half.
Knox and Vyctorius Miller traded three in the closing seconds with Miller’s coming in the final four seconds. That bucket gave LSU the 35-34 lead heading into the locker room.
Miller III was the main source of offense for LSU to begin the second half. The 6’10” freshman scored eight of the team’s first 10 points coming out of intermission. The other made shot was courtesy of the other freshman Miller off of a pullup jumper.
Through the first eight minutes of the second half, Arkansas played with their hair on fire. Razorback players combined to make nine out of their first 12 shot attempts and take the 53-45 lead. Ivisic led the way with seven points and Knox scored multiple times as well.
Carter’s three-pointer ended a four-minute scoring drought and cut it to within two possession with 10 minutes left in the second half. Arkansas would extend their lead over the next couple of minutes as Ivisic knocked down his third and final three of the night, then threw down another dunk on the next possession.
The Tigers put up six more points over the final five minutes and it was nowhere near enough as LSU fell the Arkansas 70-58. The loss put Matt McMahon’s group at a 12-12 record and 1-10 in the SEC.
BIG NUMBER: 52
The Arkansas offense had no issue scoring on all three levels. By the end of it all, the Razorbacks knocked down nearly 52% of their shot attempts. LSU made 39% of their shots.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Zvonimir Ivisic
The Croatian big man struggled to miss on Wednesday, finished the night with 25 points on 10-13 shooting, and was 3-5 from three-point range. Ivisic was also a menace on defense, blocking four shots, and altered many of LSU’s shot attempts. Because of the high-scoring volume, Arkansas came out on top 70-58, dropping the record of the Tigers to 12-12 and 1-10 in conference play.
UP NEXT: The LSU men’s basketball will return to the hardwood on Saturday, February 15th. Matt McMahon’s group will travel to Norman, Oklahoma to take on the Sooners. Tipoff in the Lloyd Noble Center is set for 5:00 p.m. The action can be heard on ESPN 103.7 Lafayette 104.1 Lake Charles.