Hogs dig early 21-point hole they can’t climb out of against LSU

BATON ROUGE, La. — Eric Musselman may have been embarrassed as much as disappointed after watching his team stand by while LSU steamrolled them, 92-76.

It’s a game everybody will want to forget, but Musselman won’t anytime soon. In addition to the disappointment and embarrassment, he was probably a little ticked-off, too.

“Just an overall poor performance,” he said later.

That was an understatement and probably as measured as Musselman could be.

“LSU came out ready from the jump,” he said. “We had guys trying to do things that are not characteristic of them.”

The Razorbacks fell into a 21-point hole early in the first half and could not recover.

Photo by: Beau Brune | LSU Athletics

The Hogs scored the first four points of the game, but LSU used an 18-0 run to take a 22-7 lead. After an Arkansas basket by Desi Sills, LSU reeled off an 8-0 run to lead 30-9 with 10:35 left and was in control the rest of the way.

“Our shot selection was not good, which is indicative of our shooting percentage (34% for the game),” Musselman said. “We had eight assists. We didn’t have very good point guard play at all.”

The Tigers essentially hit the Hogs square in the mouth without getting anything back, then ran circles around them the rest of the way.

“LSU was more physical and tougher,” Musselman said.

Arkansas showed some fight in the second half, outscoring the Tigers 45-41 in the period, thanks to 13 second-half points from Moses Moody and 12 from Sills.

LSU had five players score in double figures, shot 53.1 percent from the field and out-rebounded the Razorbacks. 46-39.

Photo by Beau Brune | LSU Athletics

Darius Days and Trendon Watford each recorded a double-double. Days finished with 18 points and 13 rebounds while Watford had a game-high 23 points and 10 boards.

JD Notae led Arkansas with 22 points with three steals. Moody added 18 and Sills 14.Jaylin Williams had 10 rebounds, seven points and two steals.

Arkansas stays on the road face No. 24 Alabama on Saturday. Tipoff is set for 2:30 p.m. and the game will be televised on SEC Network, streamed online at HitThatLine.com and on the ESPN Arkansas radio stations.