Some nights the rim just seems big. That certainly was the case for the Arkansas Razorbacks Wednesday at Walton Arena. The Hogs blitzed the LSU Tigers, 87-61, thanks to a furious shooting barrage that saw the Hogs down 9 of 13 3-point attempts in the first half.

That’s 69. 2 percent from behind 19-9. Most centers don’t shoot a percentage like that from field off dunks, jump hooks and layups.

The Razorbacks’ deft eye from outside the arc fueled a 17-0 run that left the Tigers shaking their heads and Hog fans crowing for more.

By the end of the half, the Razorbacks rode the crest of a 51-28 lead into intermission.

The 3-point barrage was unexpected. The Razorbacks rank last in the SEC in 3-pointers made with 5. 58 a game and 10 th in 3-point field-goal percentage at 33. 0 percent.

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That might be why LSU kept allowing the Razorbacks to shoot with impunity for so long.

And it wasn’t the usual suspects of Sonny Weems and Patrick Beverley leading the way. Stefan Welsh led the first-half charge, canning 3 of 4, Vincent Hunter nailed 2 of 3, Beverley also canned 2 of 3 with Weems hitting 1 of 2 and Gary Ervin knocking down his only 3-point attempt.

While it’s never a bad thing to shoot such a lofty percentage, a team that’s hitting shots at a pace 30-percent better than usual just isn’t going to be able to sustain it.

But often it tries, and the result is a mess.

Through the first nine minutes of the second half, the Razorbacks shot a drastically cooler percentage from the 3-point line, 1 of 4, but to their credit, they didn’t try to live and die with their 3-point shooting.

That allowed the Hogs to retain their double-digit cushion and continue to administer an old-fashioned whipping to the Tigers.

Thanks to a little help from Ole Miss, the Hogs are just a game back of Mississippi State in the Western Division.

The Rebels defeated the Bulldogs, 74-63, Wednesday at Oxford.

Now, the Hogs go headto-head to John Pelphrey’s alma mater, Kentucky, for a huge showdown with the Wildcats.

While Pelphrey will attempt to make this as normal of a road game as possible for the team, no doubt his return to Rupp Arena as an SEC head coach will be uncommon for him.

“ It’s a special place for me, ” he said. “ It’s where I always wanted to play and it’s a very special place to me, but it would be a lot more special as a coach to go there and win than to go there and lose. ”

Man in the Middle Not a lot has been written or said about Darian Townes this season, but steadily and surely, the senior from Alexandria, Va., has put together a morethan-solid senior season. On a team with an emerging talent in Sonny Weems, Townes has been content to play his role as a vital sixth man. On the nights when he’s gotten the ball inside, he’s generally delivered. In SEC play, Townes aver ages nearly 10 points and 4 rebounds per game, while splitting time with 7-0 start er Steven Hill. Wednesday he faced the task of playing against LSU 6-11 phenoms Anthony Ran dolph and Chris Johnson, and while the two freshmen were more athletically gifted, Townes used his senior savvy to score 12 points, grab 7 rebounds and dish out 4 assists when he passed out of the double team. He even had an excellent steal which he pushed to half court before giving off to Ervin, who eventually scored. He’s a player that has accepted an unselfish role as a senior and made the most of the situation. While the Razorbacks are deep with post players, Townes is the Hogs’ most consistent scorer inside and he remains a valuable piece of the Razorbacks’ puzzle. Terry J. Wood is the sports editor of the Northwest Arkansas Times.