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Emotional Factors, Recent Improvement Put Hogs in Rare Situation

Arkansas finds itself with perceived advantage for first time in months
Kent Smith|
LSU Tigers guard Jordan Sears attempts to steal the ball from Arkansas Razorbacks guard Boogie Fland during the second half at Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
LSU Tigers guard Jordan Sears attempts to steal the ball from Arkansas Razorbacks guard Boogie Fland during the second half at Pete Maravich Assembly Center. | Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

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Arkansas RazorbacksLSU Tigers

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — There is no rhyme or reason to the LSU basketball team Arkansas will face Wednesday night.

It doesn't seem to matter whether the Tigers are at home or on the road. They're erratic at best with little indication as to whether they are about to get blown out or suddenly tighten up on defense and start raining down shots.

Betting men would probably take the former heading into Bud Walton, although that is minimally impacted by the increase in quality performances by the Razorbacks. Instead, it's because the Tigers are coming off their most heartbreaking loss of the season and seem poised for a big emotional letdown.

LSU took the lead on Ole Miss seemingly for good with 10 minutes left in the first half Saturday. When the Tigers up by 11 with just over two minutes left it seemed academic.

Then, in a "Why can't we have nice things?" moment that is all too familiar to Arkansas fans, the bottom fell out. The Rebels went on a 13-0 run that included a chaotic tip-in with less than a second left that required a review to see if it went in on time to pull out a shocking 72-70 win in the Pete Maravich Center

People are often dismissive of the potential mental carry-over of a close loss, but in this case, LSU, in serious need of an SEC win, played lights out on both ends of the floor for 38 minutes. The Tigers hit everything they threw up no matter how desperate the shot looked, nor how contested.

Playing that well and leading by that much late in the game takes a toll on a team. It's hard to shake that off and get ready for the next team on the schedule.

"Just like anything in life, from a perspective standpoint, it's crushing," LSU Matt McMahon said. "It is what it is. If you take it from the perspective that's a Top 15 team in the country, which I believe it is ... you showed for 36 minutes that you can play with a team if you're connected as one and competing at a high level. That will be the only way I know to move forward is to take that perspective, learn from it, come in and work on Monday and get ready to play at Arkansas on Wednesday."

The other major factor at play here is how different John Calipari's line-up is this time around. When these two teams last met in a 78-74 LSU win, freshman guard Boogie Fland hit a two-minute hot streak late in the game to lead the Hogs with 19 points, Jonas Aidoo had one of his better games with 12 points, 10 rebounds and four blocked shots, and Zvonimir Ivisic barely registered a pulse as two fouls were the only stats on his line that weren't goose eggs.

Since Fland went out for the season following thumb surgery two weeks ago, Arkansas has improved dramatically. DJ Wagner has stabilized the point guard position, bringing with him an agressive ball movement offense that has allowed the Razorbacks to be more consistent in scoring.

That has led to a revival in Ivisic's game. He has scored in double figures in four of the six games since LSU, including 27 against Alabama. He's also posted double digit rebounds twice and has accounted for 13 blocks and six steals.

Also, there were hints as to how best to use transfer guard Johnell Davis during the first half against the Tigers. After a bit of tinkering, Calipari finally got him on track.

Davis has scored 18, 18, 24 and 13 over the past three games. In addition, he has become a major problem for other teams on defense.

During the Hogs' 3-2 SEC run, Davis officially has 14 steals, although it should be noted his quick hands constantly disrupt opposing offenses by knocking away passes and dribbles, often out of bounds and often resulting in turnovers.

"They're fighters," Calipari said. "If a guy didn't fight, I took them out. If you're gonna dive on the floor and come up with that ball, well, then you're not gonna be in."

His efforts have become infectious, spreading across the floor, leading to a more swarming defense rather than the occasional highlight reel block. The result is increased opportunities to create offense with defense, making Arkansas a much more dangerous team.

It's because of these factors that, for the first time in a while, it's easy to perceive Arkansas as coming into a game with the edge. That comes with the caveat that this is the SEC and anything can happen, but, for one rare moment, Razorbacks fans can enter a game expecting the Hogs to win.

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Kent Smith
KENT SMITH

Kent Smith has been in the world of media and film for nearly 30 years. From Nolan Richardson's final seasons, former Razorback quarterback Clint Stoerner trying to throw to anyone and anything in the blazing heat of Cowboys training camp in Wichita Falls, the first high school and college games after 9/11, to Troy Aikman's retirement and Alex Rodriguez's signing of his quarter billion dollar contract, Smith has been there to report on some of the region's biggest moments. 

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