Arkansas rallies to beat LSU 78-70 (Feb 11, 2017)
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) Dusty Hannahs and Daryl Macon scored 17 points each and Arkansas rallied from a nine-point halftime deficit to defeat LSU 78-70 on Saturday night.
The Razorbacks (18-7, 7-5 SEC) trailed by as many as 14 points in the first half and took control of the game with outstanding 3-point shooting. After making just three shots from behind the arc in the first half, Arkansas made seven after halftime.
''We came out and were laying an egg, not playing good defense,'' Hannahs said. ''At halftime, we realized that it was time to get rolling and we did that. It was a good win to get. They're the last-place team in the conference, but any road win is a win we're going to take.''
Hannahs made four of his five 3-pointers after halftime with all four makes coming in the first seven minutes. During that time, the Razorbacks took a 50-46 lead.
Arkansas had as much as a 12-point advantage in the second half.
''What a tale of two halves,'' Arkansas coach Mike Anderson said. ''You hear that all the time, but for us it was. The biggest difference was when we're down 14 (in the first half) and made a nice little run.
''LSU was attacking us off the dribble, so we went to our matchup zone - tried to make them shoot jump shots. We rebounded a little better out of that. Dusty Hannahs had a nice rhythm going and Macon played well for us.''
Anton Beard scored 11 points and Dustin Thomas nearly had a double-double with nine points and nine rebounds for Arkansas.
Antonio Blakeney led LSU (9-15, 1-11) with 21 points and a career-high 12 rebounds. Duop Reath accounted for 14 points and 15 rebounds. Brandon Sampson had 12 points for the Tigers, who lost their 11th game in a row.
''We played a good first half of basketball,'' LSU coach Johnny Jones said. ''In the second half, we needed to play great to make sure that we were able to secure victory. We came out in the second half as though we were a team who was satisfied with what we were in the first half.
''We allowed Arkansas to get off the mat and become a confident basketball team in the second half. We did not play tough enough to put ourselves in the position to secure victory.''
BIG PICTURE
Arkansas: The Razorbacks got a victory they needed in the worst way. Arkansas was on the verge of losing three straight games to SEC teams who have losing overall records. The Razorbacks dropped their two previous games to Missouri and Vanderbilt.
LSU: The poor play continued for the Tigers whose 11-game losing streak is their longest in seven seasons. All but three of the defeats during the losing streak have been by double digits.
RARE VICTORY
Arkansas had lost seven consecutive games to LSU in Baton Rouge prior to Saturday. The Razorbacks' last victory in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center came in 2008 when they defeated the Tigers 68-52.
CONTRASTING RESULTS
LSU dominated the glass as it outrebounded Arkansas 50-30. The Tigers had 18 offensive rebounds which led to 21 second-chance points. The Razorbacks scored only five second-chance points. However, LSU committed 16 turnovers - four more than Arkansas. The Razorbacks scored 25 points off those 16 Tigers miscues.
GOOD DEFENDER
Arkansas center Moses Kingsley was not much of a factor on the offensive end of the floor as he scored just nine points. Kingsley was 2 of 4 from the field and 5 of 6 at the foul line. However, Kingsley made an impact on defense with five rebounds and five blocked shots. Three of those blocked shots came after halftime.
UP NEXT
Arkansas: The Razorbacks will play away from home for the fifth time in seven games when they face South Carolina in Columbia on Wednesday.
LSU: The Tigers will go back on the road when they meet Ole Miss in Oxford on Tuesday.
