FAYETTEVILLE — It was a more exciting game, but ultimately the result was the same. Arkansas fell behind big at home and rallied late only to come up short.
Things were trending in the Razorbacks’ favor, as Daniel Gafford’s dunk with 30 seconds remaining sent the game to overtime, before LSU pulled away in the extra period to win 94-88.
Trailing by as many as 13 points early in the second half, Arkansas used a 12-0 run to tie the game with five minutes left. The Razorbacks managed to tie it up a few times, but didn’t get their first lead until Gafford made a layup to start overtime.
Back-to-back three-pointers by Ja’Vonte Smart and Naz Reid proved to be the difference, though, with LSU outscoring Arkansas 13-5 the rest of the way.
“It's tough,” Gafford said. “To go out and play your tail off for 40 minutes then to come out and have to play another five minutes for overtime and to have a loss like that, it's one that's going to hurt us real bad.”
One reason the Razorbacks were in it as long as they were was because of Gafford’s play. After taking only four shots in Wednesday’s loss to Florida, he scored a career-high 32 points on 14-of-19 shooting.
“Coach says every time I touch it, good things happen,” Gafford said. “Every time I touch it I try to make the best play, try to score or I try to get it out to a shooter.”
Head coach Mike Anderson said they made a concerted effort to get him the ball more against the Tigers and it it was evident early on.
“They had no answer for him,” Anderson said. “Our guys did a much better job of finding him on time and he did a good job of finishing.”
Despite giving up the monster performance, LSU head coach Will Wade wasn’t too disappointed. He said the Tigers’ biggest focus was limiting Mason Jones and Isaiah Joe from three-point range.
The tandem averaged six combined threes per game coming into Saturday’s matchup and Wade knew those plays were big for Arkansas’ momentum when playing at home.
“We ultimately tested our theory. We didn’t think we could lose two by two,” Wade said. “I didn’t intend on giving Gafford quite as many easy looks as we gave him, but we felt like if we could keep Arkansas off the three-point line, we’d have a good chance and that’s what ultimately happened.”
Wade also said they initially tried to sag off the Razorbacks’ forwards, Adrio Bailey, Reggie Chaney and Gabe Osabuohien, in an effort to limit Gafford, but they had to scrap that plan when Chaney made some jump shots.
“Chaney hit a shot early, a couple of those guys hit some shots early, so we couldn’t quite help as much off those guys,” Wade said. “Coach Anderson adjusted and put a little bit better shooting in there and had them curl and some screens and some different things that gave us problems.”
In 27 minutes off the bench, Chaney scored 12 points and added five rebounds and four steals before fouling out in overtime.
Gafford said he noticed how LSU was playing him, so he gave the freshman the necessary confidence to have that kind of performance after playing only five minutes against Florida.
“They were sagging off of him and they left the lane wide open for him,” Gafford said. “I just told him whenever he touches the ball to just go straight toward the basket and either get fouled and get the and-1 or score the basket.”
For Arkansas, it was the fourth loss inside Bud Walton Arena, matching the most Anderson has had in one season. Despite the result, he was encouraged by what he saw from his team as it battled back from yet another double-digit deficit.
“I was disappointed in the outcome of the game, but I was not discouraged with the effort,” Anderson said. “That was probably one of our better halves, that second half.”
A road trip to No. 3 Tennessee awaits the Razorbacks on Tuesday. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. and it will be televised on ESPN2.
BOX SCORE
