FAYETTEVILLE — Moses Kingsley was the player of the game:
It was a breakout offensive night for Arkansas senior center Moses Kingsley, who joined he school’s 1,000-point club by scoring a season-high 24 points and grabbed 7 rebounds.
Kingsley, whose career high is the 26 points he scored against Dayton last season, scored on a variety of post-up moves, rebound baskets and face-up jumpers.
“I work on my shot every day after practice and coach encourages me to shoot that (jumper),” Kingsley said. “If I shoot 15-footers, the big men will come out. I want to help spread the floor. It’s not about me shooting, it is about spreading the floor.”
Kingsley now has 1,001 points in his career and becomes the 40th Razorback to do so.
“To do that feels great and to do it in front of the home crowd feels great,” Kingsley said. “I want to give credit to my teammates for getting me the ball, for my coaches and for everybody in the Razorback program.”
Kingsley was 10-of-18 from the field, hit the only 3-pointer he took and hit 3-of-7 free throws - missing his last four.
He also added two assists, a block, a steal and three of his team’s 13 turnovers.
“Big props to Moses Kingsley,” Anderson said. “You think about him eclipsing the 1,000 points scoring and he has done it basically all in two years.”
That the offense works best when Anton Beard is in the game and playing well:
Beard had a great night as he poured in 16 points, dished out seven assists and did not have a turnover in 34 minutes of action.
He was 5-of-7 from the field, 2-of-2 from 3-point range and 4-4 from the free throw line.
“I just saw a guy out there that bounced back from the A&M game,” Anderson said. “…I thought he was focused, I thought he was in charge, I thought he was leading his group.
“He made some shots, but I thought he made some plays for some other guys. He is one of those guys that have a lot of grit about him.”
That Arlando Cook is trying his best to take over the power forward spot away from Dustin Thomas:
Cook started his fourth game of the season and flourished with 8 points, 6 rebounds and 2 assists while also putting in some hustle plays that didn’t show up in the box score.
Cook has 14 points, 13 rebounds and 4 assists combined in 40 minutes last two games vs Texas A&M and LSU.
Cook was averaging 3.6 points and 2.3 rebounds coming in, but had a pair of solid games this week.
He provided a lot of energy in Tuesday night’s 62-60 win at Texas A&M.
That there are still a few good crowds that will come out on the right night against the right foe:
Arkansas’ crowd of 16,099 was the second-best attended home game this season with the Dec. 29 one against Florida the top this season with am announced 20,388.
“First let me say kudos to the best fans in the country, in the world, and that is our Razorback fans,” Anderson said. “They showed up tonight and there was energy in the building and they got to see an exciting game.”
That pretty much everything Arkansas needed to happen on Saturday ended up happening:
In addition to picking up the win over LSU, the teams closest to Arkansas in the SEC standings lost.
Texas A&M downed Georgia, Auburn whipped Alabama, Vanderbilt won at Florida and Tennessee beat Mississippi State.
That left Arkansas in a tie for fifth place in the league with Georgia with 4-3 marks in SEC play.
Kentucky (7-0) downed South Carolina (5-1) in a match up of the league’s top two teams while Florida and Alabama are now both 4-2 and the Razorbacks and Bulldogs are next at 4-3.
Mississippi State now is in seventh at 3-3.
That the next two games might not be as winnable as once appeared:
Vanderbilt (9-10, 3-4), who Arkansas visits Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m., won at Florida to end a four-game losing streak.
Oklahoma State (11-8, 1-6) - who had lost its first six Big 12 games - rebounded Saturday with an 83-64 win at Texas Tech.
The Cowboys - who just missed pulling off an upset at Kansas earlier this week - knocked down 11-of-16 3-pointers and raced out to a 30-10 lead in the first half.
Arkansas and Oklahoma State will meet in Stillwater, Okla., at 3 p.m. next Saturday in the Big 12/SEC Challenge.
Tip ins:
Daryl Macon’s 3-pointer 61 seconds into the game gave Arkansas a 3-0 lead and it never trailed throughout the contest….Dusty Hannahs finished off the scoring with an estimated 35-foot 3-pointer…Jaylen Barford scored all 14 of his points in the second half - the exact opposite of scoring all 14 of his in the first half against Kentucky…Arkansas shot 53.2 percent from the field, 50 percent from the 3-point line and 71.4 percent from the free throw line…The Razorbacks gave up 11 offensive rebounds to the Tigers, but had 15 of of their own and ended up winning the boards to the tune of 44-30.