re: PREVIEW: LSU vs Arkansas 1pm ESPN2 @TheOrchard/PMAC

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By Kevin McPherson
LITTLE ROCK -- Separated by fewer than 12 hours, the Missouri Tigers went under the knife before Arkansas head coach Eric Musselman did.

That is to say, the Razorbacks dissected and dismantled Mizzou, 87-43, on Wednesday night at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville to pick up their first SEC win of the season and halt a 3-game league losing skid, then early Thursday morning the Head Hog had surgery to repair a rotator-cuff injury sustained in practice weeks ago.

Heading into its first game of the season against a ranked opponent -- No. 12 LSU (15-1, 3-1 SEC, NCAA NET No. 4) -- on the road Saturday in Baton Rouge, La., Arkansas (11-5, 1-3 SEC, NCAA NET No. 84) is coming off its most complete game and best performance of the season while Musselman is now sidelined for at least two games as he recovers from surgery.

The Hogs and Tigers are set for a 1 p.m. CT tip off in a game that will be televised nationally by ESPN2.

In addition to snapping their 3-game league losing streak against Mizzou, the Hogs released some frustration on the heels of having lost 5 of their previous 6 games dating back to Dec. 11.

In a season that Musselman continues to experiment with his starting five, he sent out a first-time first group of Jaylin Williams, JD Notae, Trey Wade, Au'Diese Toney, and Kamani Johnson against Missouri that established suffocating defense out of the gates while the offense hummed at the other end -- a combination that served as the catalyst for snow-balling Arkansas leads of 7-0, 26-3, 30-5, 35-9, and 49-15 at the break.

The Hogs' 44-point final margin of victory was their second largest ever in an SEC game (behind only a 57-point win over Mississippi State, 115-58, at Barnhill Arena during the '92-93 campaign).

Arkansas assistant coach / interim head coach Keith Smart sees no reason to trot out a different first five as he coaches his first game for the Hogs this weekend in his hometown of Baton Rouge.

Whether or not Smart can roll with that starting group depends on how quickly junior forward Kamani Johnson recovers from an ankle injury he suffered against Mizzou that sidelined him for the remainder of the game.

"Kamani, he's still being (medically) evaluated, and we'll know as we move forward," Smart said. "Obviously, we've got to travel and we've got to see how he responds to traveling with his ankle because you get a little compression there from traveling. But our training staff is doing an incredible job to get him up, and hopefully we have a chance for him to play in this game."

Scouting the LSU Tigers:
Ranked 12th nationally by the Associated Press and No. 4 in the NCAA NET rankings, LSU was the last SEC team to lose a game and the Tigers are one of only two league programs to have only one loss now midway through the season.

Since losing at No. 4 Auburn to begin league play on Dec. 29, LSU has won 3 straight games -- 65-60 over then-No. 16 Kentucky at home, 79-67 over then-No. 18 Tennessee at home, and 64-58 over Florida on the road in the Tigers' most-recent game on Wednesday.

LSU has a talented, versatile, and skilled frontline as Cincinnati transfer and 6-8 sophomore forward Tari Eason leads the way with 15.5 points, 7.2 rebounds, 1.4 steals, 1.2 blocks, and 1.0 assist in 23.3 minutes per game while shooting 53.0% from the field and 79.4% from the free throw line. Senior 6-7 forward Darius Days is averaging 14.7 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 1.5 steals in 29.6 minutes per game while shooting 44.2% from the field, including 35.5% from 3,and 67.6% from the free throw line. Freshman 6-11 center Efton Reid is contributing 8.0 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 1.0 block in 20.3 minutes per game while shooting 51.8% from the field, including 4-of-9 from 3 for 44.4%, and 50.0% from the free throw line.

Sophomore 6-5 small forward / wing Mwani Wilkinson is chipping in with 4.1 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 1.6 steals per game while shooting 44.6% from the field, including 10-of-22 from 3 for 45.5%, and 55.6% from the free throw line.


The Tigers -- they go 8-deep in their rotation -- are averaging 76.1 points while allowing only 56.5 points per outing (ranks 4th in Division 1), 41.1 rebounds (ranks 20th in D1), 12.9 assists, 12.1 steals (ranks No. 1 in D1), 5.0 blocks (ranks 35th in D1), and 14.4 turnovers per game while shooting 45.1% from the field, including 32.3% from 3, and 72.4% from the free throw line.

According to KenPom analytics, LSU has the No. 1 adjusted defensive rating in Division 1.

Notable tidbits, takeaways, and Razorback stats that matter

* Arkansas is 2-4 in games played away from home this season, which includes a 0-2 mark in true road games (league losses at Mississippi State and at Texas A&M).

* In addition to notching their second-largest margin of victory in an SEC game on Wednesday, the Hogs established their second-largest margin of victory over Missouri in the schools' 58 meetings with their most lopsided win coming in a 120-68 blowout in December 1993 as the '93-94 Hoop Hogs ceremoniously opened up their new home at BWA in what would be a national championship season. Arkansas has won three consecutive games against Mizzou and the Razorbacks lead the all-time series, 32-26.

* Arkansas was dominant in every phase of the game against Mizzou -- turnovers (23-8, which included 13 Hog steals), points-off-turnovers (26-4), rebounds (39-31), second-chance-points (20-6), points-in-the-paint (44-22), fastbreak points (17-8), and bench scoring (32-2). The Hogs finished 32-of-64 field goal shooting (50%) on 18 assists while defensively limiting the Tigers to 14-of-48 from the field (29.2%), including an anemic 2-of-16 effort from 3 (12.5%). The Tigers did knock down 13-of-14 from the free throw line (92.9%) while the Hogs converted 19-of-26 from the stripe (72.1%). The Hogs also doubled up the Tigers in blocked shots (6-3).

* While assistant coach / interim head coach Keith Smart will officially be making his Arkansas head coaching debut on Saturday, it's not the first time the Hogs' assistant coaching staff has been in charge of the team during a game. It's not clear if assistant Clay Moser or assistant Gus Argenal finished the Hogs' game against Oklahoma -- an 88-66 neutral-site loss on Dec. 11 -- as the team's lead coach after Musselman was ejected with just under 4 minutes to play and the Hogs trailing by 15 points, but it certainly wasn't Musselman (who had to leave the court) or Smart (who was not with the team for that game).

* Arkansas -- 2-4 against teams ranked in the NCAA NET Top 100 (wins over Cincinnati and Kansas State, and losses against TA&M, Vandy, Mississippi State, and Oklahoma) -- improved to 9-1 against teams ranked outside the NCAA NET Top 100 counting the win over Missouri.

* Musselman is 56-24 overall leading Arkansas, which includes a 23-19 mark against SEC teams. His head-to-head record against LSU and Tigers head coach Will Wade is 2-3 going into Saturday's matchup

* The Hogs emptied their bench against Mizzou as all 12 scholarship players "got clock" -- freshman wing Chance Moore registered his first 2 points as a Hog to go with 2 rebounds -- and both walk-ons also played.

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