FAYETTEVILLE -- LSU went from fourth in SEC offensive rebounding to first in one game.
The big rebounding move came at the expense of the University of Arkansas.
The Razorbacks had a shot at beating the Tigers on the final possession Wednesday night in Baton Rouge despite being outrebounded 53-24, but they could not get a shot at the rim in the closing seconds of a 79-77 defeat.
LSU ranked fourth in the league with a plus-6.2 rebounding margin heading into the game, but the Tigers were first at plus-7.8 after destroying the Razorbacks on the glass, including a 23-3 edge on the offensive end.
The Razorbacks emphasized heading to the defensive glass and blocking out at Thursday's practice in advance of Saturday's 5 p.m. Central game at Ole Miss.
"Obviously we got annihilated, destroyed, whatever word you want to use, on the glass. And we still played a two-point game against a really good team and had an opportunity to win," Arkansas Coach Eric Musselman said. "I think anybody in any sport when you go on the road you want to give yourself an opportunity at the end of the game."
The Razorbacks minus-29 rebound margin was their worst since the 1981-82 season, according to HogStats.com, beating a minus-26 margin in a 68-55 victory over SMU on March 9, 1985.
Arkansas entered the game last in the SEC with a minus-2.8 rebounding margin, but that stat dropped to minus-4.6 after the big deficit.
"We just didn't rebound this ball at all," Musselman said. "And when I mean at all, I could take five of us in the media right now and we could have defensive rebounded just as good as our team did last night."
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LSU's positive rebound margin was its largest in an SEC game since the Tigers beat Mississippi State 56-23 on the boards on Feb. 10, 1993.
"I thought the difference in the game was, obviously, our rebounding," LSU Coach Will Wade said. "We had 23 offensive rebounds. They had 24 total rebounds. We killed them on the glass which allowed us to get more shots up than they did."
LSU forward Darious Days had a 16-point, 16-rebound double-double as part of LSU's attack.
"Coach Wade preached in practice to stay on the glass, stay on the glass, stay on the glass," Days said. "I was just very aggressive and my teammates were aggressive as well. It's very simple. We just stayed on the glass and did what were supposed to do."
The board discrepancy led to LSU's 26-0 edge in second-chance points.
"The coaches were definitely happy about that," said LSU guard Skylar Mays, who scored 19 points on 6 of 15 shooting. "That's the first thing they said in our postgame talk."
Said Wade, "I thought in order to get more shots than them, which I thought was a critical stat coming into this game, I thought we had to just pound them on the glass. We did a very good job on that."
Musselman said he could not have imagined shooting guard Isaiah Joe could go scoreless in the first half, LSU could hold a 26-0 edge in second-chance points and his team would have a chance to win at the buzzer.
"They've got size and they utilized it on the backboards," Musselman said Wednesday night.
"We tried to block out. I guess our block outs weren't good. We'll have to continue to work on block outs and try to figure out a way to get over the back calls by blocking out better."
Musselman said he is on a constant search for someone to help spell Adrio Bailey in the lineup's five spot. Sophomore Reggie Chaney did not help himself in that regard by committing four fouls in five minutes, including a technical foul for swatting the basketball into the stands after he was whistled for a shooting foul.
Meanwhile, the Razorbacks have to regroup in rebounding, where they've been beaten by a combined 36 in their first two SEC games.
"You tip your hat to LSU," Musselman said. "They kicked out butts on the backboards and the free throws attempted. So that's the game. We've got to get ready for Ole Miss. There's nothing else we can do.
"But as far as effort, I'll go with these guys any night into an arena and go play, because they're giving us all they've got for sure."
Sports on 01/10/2020