FAYETTEVILLE -- LSU played the regular-season finale at Walton Arena on Saturday without standout forward Jordan Mickey, but the Tigers got 27 points from sophomore Jarell Martin and huge contributions from other role players to stun No. 18 Arkansas 81-78.
Martin was a wrecking ball in the lane, hitting 11 of 18 shots, grabbing eight rebounds and blocking an Alandise Harris shot at the rim with 26 seconds remaining in a tied game.
Martin was smarting after LSU's home loss to Tennessee on Wednesday, while Mickey was sitting out to recover from a left shoulder injury suffered in the 78-63 loss to the Volunteers.
"It's a great feeling for us to come out in this atmosphere and pull off this victory," Martin said. "I took it real hard against Tennessee. It was real hard on me. I didn't sleep that whole night."
LSU Coach Johnny Jones said he told Martin at Friday's shoot-around that he might have to score 40 points against the Razorbacks.
"He came in tonight and put on the type of performance that I expected," Jones said.
Martin had help from guard Keith Hornsby, who hit the game-winning three-pointer at the final buzzer, and Jalyn Patterson, who hit 6 of 8 three-pointers en route to a career-high 20 points.
"That gave me some confidence early on, so it was good for me," Patterson said of his 4-of-4 shooting from three-point range in the first half.
Last at home?
Bobby Portis and Michael Qualls, Arkansas' leading scorers and top underclassmen, were noncommittal when asked if this was their final home game as Razorbacks.
"I'm just trying to be the best Razorback I can be ... the best student-athlete I can be," said Portis, a sophomore and a leading candidate for SEC player of the year. "I'm not worried about anything else but just trying to win for our program and my guys."
Qualls, a junior, said he has to look at other things.
"I'm not jumping, looking at the future," Qualls said. "I'm worried about Razorback basketball and getting ready for the SEC Tournament so we can do business there and take care of business."
Guard attack
LSU showed that it had the talent at guard to attack Arkansas' full-court pressure and also break down the defense with dribble penetration in the half court.
Josh Gray, who had 10 points and six assists, including his pass to Keith Hornsby for the game-winning three-pointer, said Coach Johnny Jones predicted he would have a good game.
"He believed in me and he told me I was going to have a big night just because of the style they play, fast, up-tempo and they like to press a lot," Gray said.
Hornsby had two driving layups early after LSU beat Arkansas pressure to give the Tigers a 7-2 lead.
Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson said LSU shot well, "but I thought our defense could have been a lot better.
"They made plays when they had to. I thought the Gray kid did a good job of attacking us and really getting guys open shots."
Home and road
Arkansas closed out its home season with a 17-2 record at Walton Arena with the dagger 81-78 loss to LSU. The Razorbacks were 7-2 in SEC home games, falling to Mississippi and LSU.
The Tigers proved to be one of the SEC's top road teams, finishing with a 6-3 mark to tie Arkansas for the second-most road victories in the league behind Kentucky (9-0).
Crossover jam
Arkansas' Bobby Portis and Michael Qualls combined for the most crowd-pleasing play of the first half.
The play started when Portis had to out-hustle Jarell Martin at midcourt to corral a perimeter pass. As he wheeled around Martin, Portis executed a crossover dribble to elude another defender.
After a couple of dribbles he launched an alley-oop pass to Qualls, who had broken down the right baseline, then leapt up to slam in the perfectly placed lob for a resounding dunk, the Hogs' final basket of the first half at the 1:49 mark.
Free throws
Arkansas made its final eight free throws, including six from Alandise Harris, to salvage what began as a horrible night from the free-throw line.
The 8-for-8 finish made Arkansas 15 for 23 (65.2 percent) for the game after the Razorbacks started 7 for 15. The Hogs were 3 of 8 from the free-throw line in the first half, including guard Anton Beard's 1 of 3 showing after being fouled on a three-point attempt with 6.4 seconds left in the half.
LSU went 6 of 11 from the line (54.5 percent).
Boot display
Arkansas football Coach Bret Bielema received a standing ovation as he walked down an aisle at the 12-minute mark of the first half. Bielema and the Razorbacks' football team got another ovation when they were introduced along with the Golden Boot trophy during a first-half timeout.
Several Razorbacks, including Jonathan Williams, Dan Skipper, Jared Cornelius and Sebastian Tretola, helped wheel in the 175-pound trophy, created by former Arkansas linebacker David Bazzel. Arkansas has the trophy after beating No. 17 LSU 17-0 last fall.
Family funeral
Senior Alandise Harris had a long end to his week, attending the funeral of an aunt on Friday after the Razorbacks returned early Friday morning from their victory at South Carolina.
"He just got back in this morning around 1:30," Coach Mike Anderson said. "You can imagine his emotion and you could see it in the first half, it wasn't the same Alandise Harris. I was proud of him in the second half when he started to settle down and got to the free throw line and made plays for us."
Harris finished with 10 points on 2 of 6 shooting from the floor and 6-of-6 free throws to go with 2 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 blocked shots.
Sports on 03/08/2015