SEC foes pick Hogs off from behind arc

LSU's Tremont Waters (3) shoots a three-point basket in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Baton Rouge, La., Saturday, Feb. 3, 2017. Arkansas' Anton Beard (31) defends. (Patrick Dennis/The Advocate via AP)

BATON ROUGE -- The Arkansas Razorbacks make it a breeze to step up and make threes.

LSU became the latest team to unleash a three-point spree on the Hogs on Saturday, capitalizing on a lack of pressure to drill 15 of 30 shots beyond the arc in its 94-86 victory at the Maravich Assembly Center.

Three spree vs. Hogs

Eight of Arkansas’ SEC opponents have shot better from three-point range against the Razorbacks than they have on the season. A breakdown of the three-point shooting showings of the Razorbacks’ 10 SEC opponents

;Vs. Arkansas;;All SEC games

Opponent;3FGA-3FGM;Pct.;3FG Pct.

Tennessee;11-25;.440;.401

@Miss. State;4-21;.190;269

@Auburn;11-20;.550;.409

LSU;4-18;.220;.318

Missouri;11-29;.379;.363

@Florida;13-25;.520;.365

Ole Miss;11-29;.379;.314

@Georgia;9-22;.409;.317

@Texas A&M;10-26;.385;.288

@LSU;15-30;.500;.318

The loss dropped the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville (15-8) into a pack of six teams at 4-6 in SEC play with eight games remaining. Only Vanderbilt at 2-8 has a worse record in the conference.

LSU's hot shooting from long range carried on a disturbing trend for Arkansas, which ranks 13th in the conference at defending the three-point line by allowing 40.4 percent shooting.

The Tigers became the eighth SEC opponent, and sixth in a row, to shoot better from three-point range against Arkansas than their season average. LSU's 50 percent accuracy from beyond the arc marked the third time an SEC opponent made at least half of its three-point shots against the Razorbacks, following Auburn's 55 percent shooting in an 88-77 victory Jan. 6 and Florida's 52 percent rate in an 88-73 victory Jan. 17.

LSU made 8 of 18 three-pointers in the first half against Arkansas, sparked by Daryl Edwards' 3-of-5 shooting. The Tigers were even better in the second half, connecting on 7 of 12 threes for 58.3 percent.

Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson, who pushes a defense-first mentality, said the plan was to keep LSU's best perimeter shooters off the three-point line. However, the Tigers used good ball movement passing out of traps and off of ball screens and switches on the perimeter to find open spot-up shooters.

Guards Tremont Waters, Skylar Mays, Brandon Sampson and Edwards combined to go 12 of 23 from three-point range, and forward Aaron Epps chipped in with a 2 of 4 performance.

Arkansas guard Daryl Macon said the Hogs' defense was not up to the task.

"We gave them a lot of open looks," he said. "We've just got to step it up defensively."

Arkansas has held only two SEC opponents below their season three-point percentage, but each of those teams won the game. Mississippi State, the league's worst three-point shooting club, hit 4 of 21 (19 percent) in a 78-75 victory Jan. 2, and LSU made 4 of 18 (22 percent) in its 75-54 victory at Walton Arena on Jan. 10.

Arkansas' last five SEC opponents -- Florida, Ole Miss, Georgia, Texas A&M and LSU -- have combined to shoot 11.8 percentage points higher from three-point range against Arkansas than their season average.

Macon, asked about the sense of urgency confronting the Razorbacks in the final month, referenced Arkansas' recovery from a 1-3 start last year.

"Yeah, it has to go up a lot," Macon said. "One thing we've got to do is just stay together as a team and keep working. We can't fade away from each other.

"I can't say we were in this position last year, but at a point in time last year we had to fight back and that's what we've got to do now. We have to fight back and just finish the season strong."

The Razorbacks won four consecutive games after their 1-3 SEC start last year, including road victories at Texas A&M and Vanderbilt. They also won five games in a row after a 1-3 spell that ended Feb. 7, and they had an 8-1 run down the stretch, with more road victories at LSU, South Carolina and Auburn during their 12-6 SEC season.

The current Razorbacks, looking for ways to patch up their perimeter defense, play five of their final eight games at Walton Arena, starting Tuesday at 6 p.m. against a South Carolina team hitting 32.9 percent of its three-point shots in SEC play.

ADVERTISEMENT

More headlines

Sports on 02/05/2018