Some thoughts and notes following Arkansas' sixth loss in SEC play:
Tremont Waters
Arkansas had no answer for Tremont Waters in either meeting this season.
The freshman was more of a facilitator in LSU's win in Bud Walton Arena in January, but he did it all on Saturday.
Waters finished with 27 points - his most in conference play - and a career-high 11 assists as LSU had its best game offensively since hanging 104 on North Florida in December. He totaled 19 assists in the two wins over Arkansas.
LSU entered the game fresh off a pair of beatdowns at the hands of Auburn and Tennessee, and Waters struggled, combining for just 11 points and three assists. Facing Arkansas' leaky defense was apparently just what he needed to get back on track.
Defensive letdown
Shooting 55 percent on the road is typically a recipe for success. Arkansas did that Saturday.
But it failed to string stops together on the other end. LSU knocked down a season-high 15 threes and averaged 1.324 points per possession in the win, scoring on better than 53 percent of its possessions.
Arkansas' offense was in a good rhythm over the final 25-plus minutes, connecting on 24 of its final 33 shots, which helped trim a double digit LSU lead to four on a couple of occasions. The Hogs stopped settling for long jumpers and attacked the rim with great success.
The energy defensively, though, just wasn't there and it led to a season-high in points allowed and a middle-of-the-pack SEC team - in terms of offensive efficiency - scoring at a 1.457 PPP clip in the second half.
Arkansas' defensive effort was disappointing and wasted a rare strong offensive showing away from Bud Walton Arena.
Shot selection
Mike Anderson has been clamoring for more production from his forwards to help take some pressure off of Daryl Macon, Jaylen Barford and Daniel Gafford.
Arkansas' bigs, namely Arlando Cook, came out firing Saturday and took some really inefficient long 2s. He knocked down a couple of them, but they're shots Mike could probably do without - especially from 16-18 feet out.
Cook played just five minutes in the loss, but still got four shots up. He even had a one-minute stretch in which he took three straight jumpers.
In previous games, Cook and others have failed to pull the trigger on midrange jumpers, so in a way, the forwards looking for their shot is an improvement, but at the same time you'd like for those looks to come more in the flow of the offense.
Moving forward
South Carolina has to be one of the last teams Arkansas wants to see next week.
Frank Martin's club is tough, mean and capable of locking teams down defensively. The Gamecocks will come to Fayetteville losers of three straight games, but they've proven to be a headache in wins over Kentucky, Florida and Georgia.
Vanderbilt, although its league record won't show it, is also playing better of late. The Commodores hold wins over LSU and TCU, and narrow losses at Tennessee and Kentucky.
Both teams will without question test Arkansas' patience on both ends. We'll see if Arkansas can return home and regroup for the stretch run.