FAYETTEVILLE — Stanley Umude did not shoot the ball from three-point range Wednesday like a player who had hit just 30.8% of his attempts in Arkansas’ first 17 home games.
An intriguing storyline throughout the Razorbacks’ run in SEC play has been his long-distance marksmanship in road games. In the team’s eight road trips, the transfer from South Dakota has made 54.1% of his 37 looks.
In Bud Walton Arena, he has experienced his share of struggles beyond the arc. But against a feisty and tough LSU team with payback and an upset on its mind, the Razorbacks would have been lost without his perimeter touch.
Umude scored a team-high 23 points on 8-of-16 shooting and knocked down a pair of critical threes during Arkansas’ 77-76 victory over the Tigers. He picked up the offensive slack on a rare off night from star guard JD Notae.
It was Umude's second-highest scoring home game of the season, trailing only the 28 points he scored in the loss to Vanderbilt on Jan. 4.
More from WholeHogSports: Full coverage from Arkansas' win over LSU
“It’s a great feeling,” Umude said. “I definitely didn’t want to lose this game. I didn’t want to have my last memory of Bud Walton be a loss.
“It’s a great feeling, especially knowing how bad I started the season shooting the ball. I remember I was like 19% at one point. At home, I haven’t been shooting it as well, but these past few games it’s been all right.”
Following the game, Umude recalled his two first-half airballs from deep. But on the floor he continued putting up jumpers as if both attempts caught all net.
At halftime, the 6-6 wing had scored 9 points, but he was 4 of 10 from the floor and 1 of 5 beyond the arc. Umude said Arkansas’ coaching staff told him to be the aggressor in the second half — not settle for threes and attack LSU’s hard close outs.
He did just that, adding an off-the-dribble mid-range jumper and a dunk for his first two scores after the break. And then came the two biggest threes of his Razorbacks career which helped Arkansas climb out of a seven-point hole with 6:31 to play.
His catch-and-shoot three from the right wing brought the Razorbacks to within 65-63. Just more than three minutes later came a catch-and-shoot left-wing three to cut LSU’s lead to 71-70.
“Stan’s (second second-half) three was so huge,” Arkansas coach Eric Musselman said. “And then I let him play, because they were pressing and the one he missed (with 46 seconds left) I thought was a great look as well.”
For all of his long-range challenges in Bud Walton Arena, Umude closed his time in front of the home fans with a bang. He made 6 of 13 attempts against Kentucky and LSU, and averaged 18 points in the two games.
Wednesday marked his fifth double-digit scoring outing in the last six games, and third game in that stretch in which he finished with 19-plus points.
“I’m confident no matter where I’m at or shooting the ball on the court — here or Alabama or no matter where I’m at,” Umude said. “It’s just a matter of getting the reps in and continuing to work on it and just knocking them down.
“My teammates keep finding me in good spots, so it’s just knocking them down.”
Jaylin Williams, who finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds prior to fouling out with 4:27 left, said he has grown accustomed to big offensive nights from Umude considering the variety of ways he can score.
And his ability to hit shots has Musselman looking to expand the team’s offensive playbook to include more avenues for Umude to score.
“We have some stuff that we’ve run (in the past) for shooting 4 men,” Musselman said. “We haven’t had to add that to our play package, but after the Tennessee game (on Saturday) we’re certainly going to add some things to get him some looks, because when a defense is focused on JD, we’ve got to get Stan some higher-quality looks than what I’ve been doing as a coach.
“It’ll be good, because we’ll have a few days after Tennessee to add a few wrinkles to get him some open looks. We’re not going to play here again, so he’ll probably get on fire again in some other building.”