BATON ROUGE -- LSU had way too many second chances against the University of Arkansas men's basketball team, but the Razorbacks still had their two chances of their own in the final seconds to beat the Tigers on Wednesday night.
The Tigers held on to win 79-77 before an announced crowd of 8,862 at the Maravich Assembly Center when junior guard Charles Manning blocked two Arkansas shots in the final seconds.
First, Manning blocked a three-point try by Isaiah Joe with two seconds left, then he blocked a three-point attempt at the buzzer by Desi Sills, who had grabbed Joe's miss.
Arkansas (12-2, 1-1 SEC) couldn't go to junior guard Mason Jones -- the Razorbacks' leading scorer and late-game shooting specialist who scored a game-high 24 points -- because he fouled out with 32.3 seconds left.
"It is what it is," Razorbacks Coach Eric Musselman said of not having Jones and what happened on his team's final possession. "It happened."
Joe, a sophomore guard, leads Arkansas with 52 three-point baskets.
"We had our best shooter with the basketball at the end," Musselman said. "Probably Desi's our next best shooter with Mason being out."
Musselman said he believed Manning's block of Joe's shot was clean, but that he fouled Sills. The plays happened in front of Arkansas' bench.
"I've got to watch it, but I thought Desi got fouled after the block," Musselman said. "But they're not going to call that."
LSU (10-4, 2-0) outrebounded Arkansas 53-24 -- including 23-3 on the offensive boards -- and the Tigers outscored the Razorbacks 26-0 in second-chance points.
"They've got size and they utilized it tonight on the backboards," Musselman said. "I mean, their offense was putting it up and going and getting it."
Arkansas came into the game rebounding 72.2% of its misses, but LSU grabbed 58.9% of its misses. The Tigers had six more offensive rebounds than the Razorbacks had total rebounds.
"The biggest thing is we got outrebounded by a tremendous amount," Arkansas senior guard Jimmy Whitt said. "That's what killed us."
LSU 6-9 freshman forward Trendon Watford's three-point play -- he hit a layup, was fouled by Whitt and added the free throw -- put the Tigers ahead 79-77 with 8.4 seconds left.
"He hit a tough shot," Whitt said. "He came down and did what he was supposed to do and made the ref make a decision [on calling a foul].
"When you're at home, you're supposed to do that. It was a smart play by him. He was able to finish it with a basket and get the and-one. Big play for them."
Joe had a three-point on a driving basket, was fouled by Skylar Mays and hit the free throw to put Arkansas ahead 77-76 with 21.3 seconds left.
Joe scored all 13 of his points in the second half. He played seven minutes in the first half when he drew two fouls and was scoreless on 0 of 2 shooting.
"If you would have told me Isaiah Joe had zero points at halftime and we would lose 26-0 in second-chance points and have a chance to win the game, I would say you're crazy," Musselman said. "But we did."
Arkansas stayed in the game hitting 8 of 25 three-pointers to 4 of 15 for LSU, but Musselman said the Razorbacks need to more productive from beyond the arc.
"I think that magic number for us from three is we've got to make 10, 11 or 12," Musselman said. "We can't make eight and rebound like we do and win.
"Look, we know our deficiency is rebounding the basketball," Musselman said. "So we have to do what we did tonight, which is take care of the ball."
Watford led LSU (10-4, 2-0) with 21 points and had nine rebounds.
"I thought he made some great plays," Musselman said. "Defensively we wanted to try to attack his lateral foot speed, but I thought he a great job scoring the basketball.
"For a freshman, he's got a great body. He's strong. He used his left hand tonight really well. Tremendous player, there's no question about it."
Mays, a senior guard, scored had 19 points, sophomore forward Darius Days had 16 points and 16 rebounds and sophomore guard Javonte Smart scored 10 points.
The game had 19 lead changes and 13 ties.
"It was back and forth," Whitt said. "But they ended up making the plays to win the game.
"When you get outrebounded like that, you should definitely lose by a lot. So you've got to give us a little credit because we played hard. We didn't give up. We played to the end."
Musselman gave the Razorbacks plenty of credit for their effort.
"I don't think there's any team in America that plays any harder than we do," Musselman said. "We don't go away. There are lot of teams that are up and down. They lose by 16, they lose by 18.
"We played hard, we just lost. So you tip your hat to LSU. They kicked out butts on the backboards and the free throws attempted. So that's the game."
LSU hit 21 of 28 free throws while Arkansas hit 17 of 18, including Jones going 6 of 6.
LSU hit 3 of 4 free throws with 22 seconds left in the first half -- after sophomore forward Reggie Chaney was called for personal and technical fouls -- to cut Arkansas' lead to 40-37 at halftime after the Razorbacks had taken a 35-24 lead.
Chaney was called for his third foul on a shooting attempt by Days. Chaney then slapped the ball into the stands and official Michael Stephens hit him with a technical foul -- which gave Chaney four fouls for the game.
Skylar Mays hit both free throws resulting from the technical to make it 40-36 and Days hit 1 of 2 free throws.
"We picked up a technical foul in a two-point game," Musselman said. "Every little thing matters."
LSU Coach Will Wade called it a huge victory for the Tigers.
"They're going to be a team that is going to be in the SEC race," Wade said of the Razorbacks. "They have great guard p[lay.
"They do a great job of manipulating matchups. I thought the difference in the game, obviously, was our rebounding."
Arkansas fell to 2-2 on the road this season. The Razorbacks won at Georgia Tech in overtime and at Indiana and lost at Western Kentucky prior to losing at LSU.
"I don't think anyone on this team is a sliver-lining guy when it comes to losing a game," Whitt said. "We don't take any moral victories."
Game sketch
RECORDS Arkansas 12-2, 1-1 SEC; LSU 10–4, 2-0
STARS LSU freshman forward Trendon Watford (21 points, 9 rebounds) and sophomore forward Darius Days (16 points, 16 rebounds). Arkansas junior guard Mason Jones (24 points) and senior guard Jimmy Whitt (22 points).
TURNING POINT Watford made a pair of three-point plays, the last with 8.4 seconds left, to offset one by Arkansas’ Isaiah Joe as the teams traded the lead three times in the last 32 seconds.
KEY STAT LSU won the rebounding battle 53-24, including 23-3 on the offensive side, and held a 26-0 lead in second- chance points.
UP NEXT Arkansas plays at Ole Miss on Saturday at 5 p.m. Central on the SEC Network.
Sports on 01/09/2020