FAYETTEVILLE -- It's probably best for Arkansas to have traditional SEC kingpin Kentucky coming to Walton Arena on Thursday for a national TV game.
It should help the Hogs sharpen their focus after a 76-74 loss Saturday night in south Louisiana, the kind of down-to-the-wire heartbreaker that can linger like a stalled storm front, turning everything gray for days.
The foul and free-throw attempt discrepancies were particularly frustrating for the Razorbacks.
LSU held a 31-11 advantage over Arkansas in free-throw attempts. The officiating crew of Mike Nance, Patrick Evans and Terry Moore whistled Arkansas for 11 more fouls than LSU, 24-13.
The Tigers won it on Craig Victor's putback of an air-balled three-pointer with 4.2 seconds remaining. The game's largest lead was 38-31 Arkansas late in the first half, and neither team led by more than five points during the final 22:24.
"That loss felt like the Stanford loss, really," Arkansas guard Jabril Durham said. "You feel like you had the game the whole way through, and you feel like even though it was on the road it was ready to be taken for us to get that W.
"It hurts, but you know we've got to get ready for Kentucky now. Good thing in SEC play, you don't have much time to dwell on the past."
Dwelling on LSU would only deepen the Razorbacks' pain. The free-throw disparity of 20 in LSU's favor tied for the largest in the SEC this season with the Missouri at South Carolina game, which was also played Saturday.
Home teams were averaging 3.2 more free throws taken than their opponents in 32 conference games played before Tuesday, with one team attempting 16 or more free throws in three of those games.
The 11-foul disparity in the Arkansas-LSU game is the third most in an SEC game this season. Florida and Kentucky both committed 12 more fouls than an opponent -- Florida in a loss to Texas A&M and Kentucky in its loss at Auburn on Saturday.
SEC road teams were averaging 1.6 more fouls called per game before Tuesday.
Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson voiced his displeasure with Saturday's disparity, saying he thought the Razorbacks were aggressive in driving to the basket, but not as successful at getting to the line as LSU.
Anderson held his tongue Tuesday when asked about it again, saying simply that he was unhappy about it. Anderson said he also did not send any tape from the LSU game into the conference office.
"I should as a matter of fact, but I didn't this time," Anderson said.
Arkansas committed its seventh foul with 14:04 to play in the first half to put LSU in the bonus, and the Razorbacks had eight team fouls before LSU picked up its second. Arkansas committed its 10th foul to put the Tigers in the double bonus with 7:42 to play in the first half. LSU committed its seventh foul on a charging call against Josh Gray with two seconds remaining in the first half.
Arkansas reached seven fouls with 6:51 to play in the second half; the Tigers had been called for two fouls at that point. Arkansas reached 10 fouls at 3:02, and LSU had three fouls at that point.
The overall foul count was Arkansas 24, LSU 10 when Ben Simmons completed a three-point play at 3:00 mark to put LSU ahead 74-69. The Tigers were whistled for the game's final three fouls. Arkansas went nearly 15 minutes without shooting a free throw in the second half, from Trey Thompson's two made free throws at the 15:23 mark until Anton Beard's missed chance to complete a three-point play with 37 seconds remaining. LSU took 11 foul shots in that span.
Anderson did not mention officiating Tuesday when asked about his reaction to viewing the LSU game tape, but he said it was a hard game to put behind him.
"We stopped doing the things that got us in position to lead in that game," Anderson said. "We had a lot of mental breakdowns going down the stretch. Things that we did tremendously in the earlier part of the game. And when it came down to crunch time that last four minutes, we didn't execute. ... But with that all being said, we were still in position to have a chance to win the game."
Arkansas senior guard Anthlon Bell said the Razorbacks can't hold on to the disappointment of that game for long.
"We know we get them again in here, so we're just going to focus on the next game and then wait for that time to come," he said.
The Razorbacks host LSU on Feb. 23 in Walton Arena.
Sports on 01/20/2016