University of Arkansas guard Moses Moody scored 28 points for the third time in the last four games — and fourth time this season — in LSU’s 78-71 victory over the No. 8 Razorbacks on Saturday in the SEC Tournament semifinals.
The 6-6 freshman from Little Rock hit 8 of 16 shots, including 4 of 10 three-pointers, and 8 of 12 free throws.
“I thought he was great,” Arkansas Coach Eric Musselman said. “He led the game in scoring. He played phenomenal other than missing a couple free throws, which we all know he usually makes.”
Moody scored 20 points in the first half, when he shot 7 of 10 in the first half, including 4 of 5 three-pointers.
“When they were sitting in that 1-3-1, I was wide open,” Moody said. “A lot of those shots were easy, wide-open looks.”
LSU opened in a zone defense, then after eight minutes switched to man-to-man the rest of the game.
“When they got out of that [zone], they put more attention on me,” Moody said. “They started switching ball screens. Just tried to stay with me more.”
Moody closed the regular season by scoring 28 points at South Carolina and against Texas A&M, then responded with another 28-point game after being held to five points in Arkansas’ 70-64 victory over Missouri on Friday night.
“He came out firing,” Razorbacks senior forward Justin Smith said of Moody’s hot start Saturday. “I think he kind of had a chip on his shoulder after the last game.”
Smith said the Tigers did a good job defending Moody in the second half, and that he needed more help from his teammates.
“Maybe that’s on us, the rest of us, trying to get him more open shots,” Smith said. “But we’ll take this game as a learning experience.”
In the three games in which Moody has scored six or fewer points, he averaged 26.3 points the next game.
Moody also scored 28 points at Alabama this season.
Henderson shines
Arkansas forward Ethan Henderson played a combined 43 minutes with 7 points and 7 rebounds in 10 SEC regular-season games, but the 6-8 junior from Little Rock played a key role off the bench in the SEC Tournament.
Henderson had 7 rebounds, 4 points and 3 blocked shots in 26 minutes against LSU with just 1 turnover. He had 4 points and 2 blocked shots in 8 minutes against Missouri on Friday night.
“I thought Ethan played hard for us,” Arkansas Coach Eric Musselman said. “He played his role.”
When Arkansas beat LSU 99-90 last season in Walton Arena, Henderson had 10 points and 6 rebounds in 27 minutes.
“Ethan Henderson, he’s been a thorn in our side,” LSU Coach Will Wade said.
“Ethan, he really stepped up,” Arkansas forward Justin Smith said. “He gave us a lot of good minutes. He made us be able to do a little bit more different things on defense. He made us more versatile.”
Henderson played minutes in the SEC Tournament that likely would have gone to 6-10 freshman Jaylin Williams, who traveled with the team to Nashville, Tenn., but missed his fourth consecutive game Saturday for an undisclosed reason.
Musselman said Williams will be able to play in the NCAA Tournament.
“I think Ethan really stepped up in Jaylin’s shoes since he’s been gone,” Arkansas guard Moses Moody said. “We needed a guy to come in and do what Ethan did. He fulfilled that role.
“Jaylin coming back is going to be an extra plus, and with Ethan playing the way he is, that’s going to be a new addition to the team almost.”
Good move
Arkansas tore up LSU’s zone defense to start the game and jumped out to a 22-14 lead. With 12 minutes left in the first half, Tigers Coach Will Wade switched to a man-to-man defense.
“I think the man-to-man defense we played was very good,” LSU junior guard Javonte Smart said. “I think everybody on the team bought into guarding somebody. I think that’s a big step for us.”
Wade was asked whether LSU’s defense in the second half was its best effort of the season.
“That was close,” Wade said. “We were active, we were contesting things. We forced them to take a bunch of jump shots, which is certainly an advantage for us defensively.”
The Razorbacks shot 6 of 26 on three-pointers, including 1 of 12 in the second half.
Welcome back
Eric Musselman said having 6-10 Jaylin Williams return for the NCAA Tournament will be a big lift for the Razorbacks.
“It changes the complexion of who we are,” he said. “We’ll see if we make a change to the starting lineup.”
If Williams starts, he presumably would take the place of 7-3 sophomore Connor Vanover, who played just 13 minutes combined in two SEC Tournament games.
Little chippy
Immediately after the game, some LSU players yelled at the Razorbacks.
“They had two players that were yelling at our bench,” Arkansas Coach Eric Musselman said. “[LSU] Coach [Will] Wade and I talked. He said that he would address it.
“Other than that, I didn’t see any of their assistant coaches do anything other than come over and congratulate us on a good season and wish us well in the NCAA Tournament, as I wished Will good luck heading into [today’s] championship game.”
FT struggles
Arkansas hit 11 of 19 free throws (57.1%) against LSU and started 3 of 9.
“We didn’t make free throws,” Arkansas Coach Eric Musselman said. “That happens.”
It hasn’t happened to the Razorbacks often this season. They’re shooting 73.3% (437 of 593) as a team.
“You get back in the gym and work on your foul shooting,” Musselman said. “We’ve been a pretty good free-throw shooting team all year. If you look at our guys’ percentages career-wise, we’re actually way ahead of probably what we thought free-throw percentage coming in.”
Moses Moody, an 81.7% shooter on the season (134 of 164), scored 28 points, but he missed the front end of a one-and-one free throw opportunity and was 2 of 5 before finishing 8 of 12.
“I don’t know what it was,” Moody said about the missed free throws “A lot of them just weren’t falling with myself and the team. Just ball going in and out. Sometimes it goes that way.”
‘Fulk’ out
Tennessee forward John Fulkerson was ruled out of the rest of the SEC Tournament after suffering fractures around his right eye Friday.
Florida forward Omar Payne was ejected from the Gators’ 78-66 loss to the Vols for throwing an elbow that caught Fulkerson flush on his right cheek and sent him to the floor, then the hospital and concussion protocol.
Fulkerson was shown on the Tennessee bench Saturday with a significant black eye and swelling on the right side of his face.
He posted this message to his Twitter account Saturday: “I know a lot of people are upset with what happened during yesterday’s game. Omar reached out to me this morning and was very remorseful. Everyone makes mistakes. Let’s all show grace and focus on today’s game. Go Vols!”