Razorbacks mount second-half comeback for ninth straight SEC victory

The Razorbacks completed their trifecta of revenge games on Saturday with a 83-75 win over LSU. After losses against Missouri, Alabama and LSU in the front half of the SEC schedule, the Hogs have come roaring back, beating each in the last two and a half weeks, capping off a perfect February. The Razorbacks extend their SEC streak to nine victories and move to 19-5, 11-4 in conference play.

Arkansas is now 6-1 against teams that beat it earlier in the year in Eric Musselman's two seasons.

The final score implies dominance but the Hogs trailed by 10 with six minutes left in the first half and by five at halftime. Arkansas used four runs of nine, six, eight and six points in the second half to go up by as many 21 points. LSU used a 14-2 run to close the gap but time was not on their side.

"The main message at halftime was be strong, stop missing layups, go off of two feet," Musselman said post-game. "Draw contact. Draw free throws attempted. And then, we’ve said it since the Alabama game, you can’t beat LSU if you don’t out-rebound them. So I thought our rebounding in the second half was absolutely great.

Musselman started Moses Moody, Jalen Tate, Davonte Davis, Justin Smith and Connor Vanover but Vanover hit the bench early and clocked just six minutes.

Tate picked up two fouls in the first five minutes, spending most of the first half on the bench. The senior scored just two free throws but had six boards and two assists in is 12 minutes on senior day.

LSU's star freshman Cam Thomas went 6-9 in the first half to lead all scorers with 13 points. Four first-half three-pointers helped the Tigers grab an early lead but Desi Sills hit his first three in a month and Jaylin Williams got a bucket inside in a 7-point run to keep the game close.

Smith, Davis and Notae each had seven in the first and Moody contributed six despite going 1-7 from the field.

The Hogs and Tigers went bucket for bucket to start the second half but after hitting the court early for some extra halftime shots, future NBA draft pick Moody hit a three to put Arkansas down by 1.

Thomas answered with a three of his own but a Smith by dunk, a bucket by Notae and three straight trips to the free throw line for Moses Moody gave Arkansas a nine-point run–and a five-point lead–with 14:41 left to play.

Trendon Watford scored a layup and a three-pointer to get back within two but that was as close as the Tigers would get to a comeback on Saturday afternoon. Williams, Notae, Tate, Smith and Davis all contributed in a 14-3 run. Davis scored six of the 14, four points off of fastbreaks.

LSU scored 18 in the last four minutes to Arkansas's five but it wasn't enough overcome the Hogs' previous runs.

Arkansas shot 55% compared to 33% in the first half and the Hogs won the rebound battle (45-39), and the foul battle (22-15).

"Thought we did a great job of defending without fouling, which is really, really key when you have to go guard a guy like Cam Thomas," Musselman said. "He’s a high, high, high volume free throw attempt player and I thought we did a really good job limiting him to four FTAs."

Smith finished with a double-double with 19 and 10 on 8-12 shooting. Moody finished with 18–11 of those points coming from the free throw line. The freshman also had eight rebounds and five assists.

"I think the key to basketball, a big key, is getting free throws attempted, and attacking with force. And Moses is doing that," the head hog said. "His shots weren’t falling, but he did a great job of taking people off the bounce and flashing against their switching man to man."

Notae played 32 minutes–a season high–and finished 5-15 from the field with two threes, 6-8 from the free throw line and six boards.

"I thought JD hit some big shots for us when we needed it but it was really about JD’s defense and how much he’s progressed," Musselman said. "He had active hands and got a strip off a dribble, and then he also got his hands on a pass and deflected it off the guy that was making the pass, Javonte Smart. So I thought he was really aggressive defensively and quite frankly that’s been an area we’ve wanted him to improve on."

Davis notched his third game of the season with 15+ points, finishing with 15 after going 7-12 with five boards and a team-high six assists.

"Devo made some really great, great passes for us," Musselman said. "He’s now starting to play a little bit of 1 and when JD and Devo are out there together, they can kind of share the point guard duties and the other one can slide to the 2 based on who’s defending them."

Williams once again contributed major minutes, scoring eight with six boards and two assists in 30 minutes. He was also credited with a team-high four blocks and two steals.

The Razorbacks held LSU to eight points below their season average. Junior Darius Days finished 0-8 with no points after averaging 12.3 this year.

Arkansas goes back on the road to face 6-12 (4-10) South Carolina on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.