Arkansas tops LSU on the road

Arkansas tops LSU on the road Despite foul trouble, Hogs snap Tigers’ winning streak

From the Arkansas Razorbacks

www.arkansasrazorbacks.com

Arkansas overcame the odds and snapped No. 19 LSU’s 10-game winning streak with a 90-89 victory Saturday night in front of 13,311 in attendance at Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge.

With Razorbacks Daniel Gafford, Jalen Harris and Gabe Osabuohien all having fouled out of the game by the 2 minute mark, with LSU shooting 38 free throws compared to just 11 for the Hogs, and with an 18-point Razorback lead disappearing in the second half, Arkansas (13-8, 4-4 SEC) still managed to pull off the upset over LSU (17-4, 7-1 SEC).

The Tigers had won 18 straight home games dating back to a 61-60 loss to Georgia on Jan. 16, 2017.

“We got rattled, but we never lost our poise,” Arkansas coach Mike Anderson said during his postgame radio spot.

“This was a game everybody thought LSU would win, but they forgot to tell the Razorbacks that came in, and I thought we played well.”

“They shoot 38 free throws, think about that Chuck [Barrett], and we shoot 11 and somehow we find a way to win,” Anderson said.

“Everything was thrown at us. Even going down the stretch, we weren’t getting any calls. Right there at the end, we had to call a timeout and I thought a guy just dove on us. But that’s life on the road. To me, that’s a great chance these guys get to grow up and learn how hard it is on the road.”

Arkansas never trailed by more than a point in the second half, but the Hogs were behind 89-88 after a pair of free throws by Javonte Smart when Gafford fouled out with 2:01 left. After two possessions for each team, the score was still 89-88.

Guarded by Waters, Arkansas’ Mason Jones brought the ball up the floor, drove to the paint, went up and under and finger-rolled the ball in the hole with 22 seconds left to put the Hogs up 90-89.

Waters brought the ball up for LSU, and eventually the ball went inside to freshman forward Naz Reid, who missed a spinning layup on Reggie Chaney with 9 seconds left. After a scramble, Smart missed a pull-up jumper from the baseline and then Reid threw up a desperation 3-pointer off the front of the iron as time expired.

Arkansas won the turnover battle 21-18, and despite losing the rebounding battle 44-20, the Hogs still got off more shots than the Tigers, 60 to 59.

After taking a 45-41 lead into halftime, Arkansas made it an 18-point lead, 66-48, just 6 minutes and 15 seconds into the second half on a dunk by Chaney. From the 17:29 mark when Arkansas made it a 54-46 lead off a Harris layup, until Chaney’s dunk with 13:45 left, a span of 3 minutes and 44 seconds, Arkansas made it a 14-2 run. It was a 10-0 Razorback run over a span of 2 minutes and 21 seconds.

LSU slowly chipped away at the Arkansas lead. Starting with a free throw from Kavell Bigby-Williams with 13:13 to go, the Tigers out scored the Hogs 37-18 the next 9 minutes and 34 seconds until Smart gave the Tigers their first lead of the second half on a layup with 3:39 to go. It was the first LSU lead since it was an 11-9 game with 14:48 to go in the first half.

With 8:20 to go and a foul by Osabuohien, the Hogs had four players with four fouls but still had an 11-point lead, 77- 66. Adrio Bailey, Harris, Chaney and Osabuohien all had four a that point.

Osabuohien fouled out with 7:33 left, and LSU made it a 9-point game, 77-68 on a pair of Reid free throws.

With 4:22 left after a big 3-pointer to make it 8479, Harris became the second Razorback to foul out of the game. After Waters made both free throws, it was an 84-81 game.

After an elbow to Gafford’s head was reviewed and called a common foul against Reid, Joe missed a 3pointer and the Tigers scored in transition to take their first lead of the second half with 3:27 left 86-85. With 2:01 remaining and the Hogs up 8887, Gafford became the third Razorback to foul out of the game. All five of Gafford’s fouls came in the second half.

Up next, the Hogs play host to the Vanderbilt Commodores (9-11, 0-7 SEC) tonight at 8 p.m. in Bud Walton