Valuing the basketball was a talking point for No. 8 Arkansas after both of its games in this weekend’s SEC Tournament in Nashville, Tenn.
The Razorbacks matched a season-high with 20 turnovers Friday, but came away with a victory over Missouri in the quarterfinals behind big nights from guard JD Notae and forward Justin Smith.
They weren’t so fortunate Saturday.
Arkansas committed 16 more turnovers in its 78-71 semifinal loss to LSU.
“I thought we did a poor job taking care of the basketball,” Arkansas coach Eric Musselman said. “We had (11) second-half turnovers. We drove the ball into traffic.”
According to KenPom analytics, the Razorbacks committed turnovers over on 25.7% of their possessions Friday, the team’s highest mark since the Jan. 6 loss at Tennessee (27.6%).
Arkansas’ 21.6% turnover rate against LSU is its sixth worst in a game this season. That figure is also its third highest over the last 14 games.
After halftime, Smith had 4 turnovers, Moses Moody 3, Notae 2 and Davonte Davis and Jalen Tate each had 1. For the second consecutive game, Smith had five, matching a season high.
“I think a lot of it is also tournament play. It's physicality,” Musselman said. “I think (Friday) we outscored our opponent in points off turnovers. Tonight, they outscored us 21-20. Yes, we need to definitely take better care of the ball. Having said that, if you look at the style of the game, the two that we played, I mean, again, I think if we were minus-7 in that turnover category, I'd be alarmed.
“Normally our teams in the past, not just this year, but in past years, have done a great job taking care of the basketball. But again, we're about even in these two tournament-setting games on turnovers. We’ve got to get better at it, look at it, stop driving the ball into traffic would help.”
Moody credited LSU’s collective length and active hands on the defensive end. Smith agreed with Musselman in terms of the Razorbacks working the ball through a mass of bodies. But a few were careless.
Running alone in the open floor in the second half with a chance to give Arkansas a three-point lead, Smith caught an advance pass above the three-point line and was whistled for traveling. Then, trailing 74-71 with 18 seconds remaining, Notae lost the handle and turned the ball over out of a timeout.
The Tigers made four free throws in the final 11 seconds to seal the win and advance to their first SEC Tournament championship game since 1993.
“I think they did a good job of running us off the three-point line,” said Smith, who averaged 18.5 points and 7.5 rebounds in Arkansas' two tournament games. “Once we kind of dribbled into the paint, they really converged on us and made it difficult.
"We weren't really able to see our outlets, our kick-outs. Credit to them and their defensive scheme for making it difficult on us.”
LSU coach Will Wade said Saturday was among the best defense his group has played this season. In addition to the 11 forced second-half turnovers, LSU held Arkansas to 1 of 12 from three-point range after halftime.
In Nashville, nearly 29% of the points allowed by the Razorbacks came off of their turnovers. On Saturday, LSU's 21 points off those mistakes matched the most in a game against Arkansas this season (Oral Roberts 21, vs. Auburn 21).
“In the second half they got out of that zone and they really tried to turn the pressure up,” said Moody, the Razorbacks' leading scorer with 28 points. “We were taking like one or two extra dribbles getting into that lane, where we could have got on two feet, got on balance and tried to get a spray-out.
“We’ve got to regroup and be ready for the NCAA championship because we don't get any more do-overs.”