After jumping out to a 4-0 lead, the Razorbacks quickly lost control of the game after a 40-6 LSU run in the first half. The Tigers led 44-13 at one point, before the Razorbacks cut the deficit to 20 at half.

The Tigers ultimately won the game 92-76.

The first thing I really want to stress is that last night was not a result of Justin Smith’s absence. Even though he is arguably the most valuable player on the roster, his presence would not have changed the outcome. It might have minimized it a bit, but the fact is that the team was just not ready to play.

Musselman said in the post-game presser that this was the first time in six years where his team just didn’t play with intensity. The only other time he mentioned was when Nevada laid an egg at New Mexico after being ranked in the top-10. The two situations aren’t comparable.

Arkansas is currently fighting for respect in the college basketball world. Respect as a legitimate program and contender to make it past the first weekend in the NCAA Tournament. Performances like last night greatly hurt the program’s reputation in that regard and wound the team in the fight for respect.

Coming off a close loss at a top-10 Tennessee team and a dominant win over Georgia at home, the Razorbacks had an opportunity to win two monumental games to really put college basketball on notice to the program being built in Fayetteville, and in the first game of the two they fall behind 31 points in the first half.

It was so bad that Coach Musselman, known for not taking timeouts, burned three in the first ten minutes of the game, and even said in the presser that he would’ve used six if he had them.