BATON ROUGE -- Arkansas forwards Trey Thompson, Arlando Cook, Adrio Bailey and Dustin Thomas combined for 12-of-21 shooting and 26 points in the Razorbacks' 94-86 loss to LSU on Saturday.
Asked about the production at power forward, Coach Mike Anderson replied, "Well, you're talking about offense. How about defense? That's what I'm looking for. I'm looking for guys to play defense."
Thompson, who plays mostly at the five, led the way for Arkansas' big men with 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting. Bailey, a sophomore from Campti, La., did not play in the first half, but he gave the Hogs 5 points and 3 rebounds in 15 minutes in the second half.
"I thought Adrio Bailey gave us energy," Anderson said. "He was out there playing with toughness. He was fighting. That's what I'm looking for, somebody to fill that spot and give us energy, toughness, rebounding capability. He played athletic. Of course being from Louisiana, I'm sure it meant a lot to him."
Fire away
LSU had made more than eight three-point shots once since SEC play started before lighting the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville up for 15-of-30 shooting from that range.
The Tigers hit their fourth-most three-pointers in a game in school history and outscored Arkansas 45-9 from behind the arc. The Razorbacks made 3 of 8 three-pointers, season lows for both.
"Sometimes when that penetration takes place you're trying to protect the basket and those guys did a good job of spotting up and knocking shots down," Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson said. "That's the key to shooting. You've got to shoot the ball ... with confidence. We didn't do a good job."
LSU had made only 4 of 18 three-point shots in a 75-54 victory over the Razorbacks on Jan. 10.
Arkansas, which averaged 20.4 three-pointers taken per game entering Saturday, shot five fewer threes than its previous low, when the Hogs were 5 of 13 in a 65-63 victory over Missouri on Jan. 13.
LSU guard Tremont Waters, who had been 6 of 34 from three-point range in his past seven games, made 4 of 9.
"I guess it wasn't a defensive game,"Anderson said. "I thought Waters did a good job of really narrating and getting the ball to the right people. We were trying to get it out of his hands and make him work and he did a good job of facilitating."
Paint swapping
Arkansas outscored the Tigers 48-22 in the paint, an almost complete reversal from the first game between the SEC West rivals.
During LSU's 75-54 victory at Walton Arena on Jan. 10, the Tigers won the scoring battle in the lane by a 44-26 count.
Quick strike
The Razorbacks established Daniel Gafford early, highlighted by a score on their third possession. After Dustin Thomas rebounded a miss by Aaron Epps, he fired an outlet to Daryl Macon, who found Gafford deep and hit him with an alley oop pass for an easy lay-in behind Epps for a 6-2 Arkansas lead.
"I thought we did a good job of attacking inside," Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson said. "We talked about from the onset of this game to start inside and play inside-out. I thought we did that."
Gafford also scored the Hogs' first bucket by powering in on Duop Reath on the right block, retrieving his own miss and sticking it back in against heavy traffic.
Going free
LSU made its first 14 free throws until Brandon Sampson missed with 2:01 remaining. The Tigers finished 21 of 23 from the stripe.
Arkansas did not shoot a free throw in the first half until Anton Beard completed a three-point play with 3:33 remaining on a foul by Duop Reath during a tough bank shot. Trey Thompson did the same at the 1:53 mark on a feed from Jaylen Barford.
The Razorbacks made 17 of 24 free throws.
The other Daryl
LSU guard Daryl Edwards scored two points in LSU's 75-54 victory at Arkansas on Jan. 10. The 6-3 junior had 14 points in the first half on 4-of-6 shooting that included 3 of 5 from three-point range. He went 0 of 1 in the second half, missing a three-pointer.
Waters' way
LSU guard Tremont Waters joined Kentucky's Tyler Ulis as the SEC's only freshmen in the past 20 years to have multiple 20-point, 10-assist games in the same season.
Waters had 27 points and 11 assists against Arkansas on Saturday. The 5-11, 167-pounder from New Haven, Conn., had 20 points and 10 assists in a 97-84 victory over North Carolina-Wilmington on Dec. 10.
Getting started
Senior Daryl Macon returned to Arkansas' starting lineup for the first time in five games, since an 88-73 loss at Florida on Jan. 17. Macon joined fellow guards Jaylen Barford and Anton Beard and forwards Daniel Gafford and Dustin Thomas.
That quintet started together for the ninth time, the first since the Florida game. Barford and Beard have started all 23 games, while Macon has started 18, Gafford 15 in a row and Thomas 11. Thomas was in the starting five for the first time since a 97-93 victory over Ole Miss on Jan. 20.
Tip-ins
• Arkansas had won its past 30 games when scoring 80-plus points, including 13-0 this year and 15-0 last year, dating to a 90-86 loss to Auburn at Walton Arena on Feb. 17, 2016.
• LSU is 4-0 against rivals Arkansas and Texas A&M, accounting for all of its SEC victories.
• The previous scoring high against the Razorbacks this season had been 93 points by both Ole Miss and Tennessee, each of them in losses at Walton Arena.
• LSU blocked six shots in the first half and had seven in the game. Arkansas had two blocks, one each from Trey Thompson and Daniel Gafford.
Sports on 02/04/2018