1/13/2021 basketball Edit

Gameday Central: How to watch Arkansas-LSU, Tigers to know, more

Arkansas head coach Eric Musselman masked up. (Arkansas Athletics)

Ryan Casper

HawgBeat Editorial Intern

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The Hogs will be making the trip down to Baton Rouge for this midweek clash with the LSU Tigers. This is the first game between the two teams since March of last season, where the Hogs won 99-90. Furthermore, this is the 70th meeting overall between the two squads–Arkansas leads the series 37-32, and LSU is on top 18-12 when played in Baton Rouge.

Arkansas is coming off a much needed 99-69 victory against Georgia a couple of days ago, after dropping two in a row to Missouri and Tennessee. With KK Robinson officially ruled out for the season, the Hogs will be short players yet again.

LSU is coming off a strong win against Ole Miss last weekend and is looking to add on to their current two-game win streak against the Hogs. Their only loss in SEC play came down in Gainesville when they lost to the Florida Gators, 83-79.

Here is everything you need to know for the matchup against the Tigers:

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Important Times

Doors Open: 5 p.m.

Tip-Off: 6 p.m.

TV/Radio

ESPN2: (Tom Hart, Jimmy Dykes)

Razorback Sports Network: (Chuck Barrett, Matt Zimmerman)

Satellite Radio: XM: 382, Sirius: N/A, Online Channel 972

Tigers to Know

G Cameron Thomas: This freshman guard from Virginia is all over the floor for the Tigers this season. He leads the team in points per game (22.3 ppg) and is shooting 91.2% from the free-throw line with 68 attempts so far. He's questionable for Wednesday night's game but the Hogs have prepared for him to play.

F Trendon Watford: The sophomore out of Birmingham, Alabama, Watford is second on the team in points (17.8 ppg), rebounds (6.7 rpg), and assists (4.0 apg).

G Ja’Vonte Smart: The Baton Rouge, Louisiana, native is nothing but an all-around player for the Tigers. Smart is third on the team in points (15.4 ppg), fourth in rebounds (4.0 rpg), first in assists (4.1 apg), and first in minutes (34.0 mpg).

Stat Comp. (Arkansas | LSU)

Scoring Offense: 9 (88.2 ppg) | 14 (85.6 ppg)

Scoring Defense: 111 (67.2 ppg) | 176 (70.0 ppg)

FG%: 100 (46.16%) | 29 (49.07%)

3pt%: 95 (35.58%) | 72 (36.51%)

3pt DEF: 66 (30.0%) | 19 (27.8%)

Musselman's Keys to the Game

"One of the strengths of LSU is their ability to get steals. They're averaging 9.5 steals per game, which is No. 12 in the country. So, that's a really big part. Obviously, we've turned some teams over. When you look at the turnovers we caused in the Missouri game and maybe the turnovers we caused in the Georgia game.

"Both teams like to score. It's interesting because they're such a great offensive rebounding team, but yet Watford is really a 3-man playing the 4 or 5 as a point forward. And Days is kind of a 4-man who's playing some 5. He's a really good pick and pop player.

“So, to some degree, I don't want to say they're undersized because they are great athletes with great length, and obviously Trendon Watford has incredible size at 6-9. But, obviously some of our things are what are our matchups going to be? Who do we start? Because of the matchup problems. Because No. 2 Watford can beat you off the bounce and is an elbow isolation player. Days can shoot the three as well as post up. We might have to think outside the box a little bit in some of our matchups with how we might lineup to start the game."