BATON ROUGE -- On a dreary day that was spitting rain outside, the struggling LSU Tigers made it rain threes inside the Maravich Assembly Center.
LSU poured in a season-high 15 three-pointers, snapping out of a deep shooting funk to down the Arkansas Razorbacks 94-86 before an announced crowd of 9,272.
The Tigers (13-9, 4-6 SEC) swept the Razorbacks for the first time since 2009, posting the highest point total against the Razorbacks (15-8, 4-6) this season. LSU had lost five of six games since whipping the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville 75-54 at Walton Arena on Jan. 10.
The University of Arkansas, Fayetteville had won its past 30 games when scoring 80 or more points dating to a 90-86 home loss to Auburn on Feb. 17, 2016.
But the Hogs couldn't protect their perimeter and LSU, which had not shot better than 45 percent in its past seven games, exploited the opening with 15-of-30 three-point shooting.
"We were supposed to keep them off the line, and we were supposed to be with the guys that can shoot the basketball, and I didn't think we got all the way out to the shooters, especially early on," Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson said.
"We gave them a lot of open looks," said Arkansas guard Daryl Macon, who scored a team-high 22 points. "It's not hard to make a shot when you get a lot of open looks like that, and this is the gym they shoot in every day."
LSU Coach Will Wade had challenged his guards during his Friday news conference, pointing out their recent shooting woes.
"We were saving our makes for that game," Wade said. "There's not a whole lot else you can say. You can win a lot of games when that happens.
"It was a good win. We needed it. It's tough to say it's a must-win in early February, but it was as close to it as you can get."
LSU's only games with better than 47 percent shooting since Dec. 22 have both come against Arkansas. The Tigers were shooting 42.4 percent overall and 27.5 percent from three-point range since hitting 52.7 percent from the floor in their victory at Arkansas.
Freshman point guard Tremont Waters had been 3 of 21 from beyond the arc in his past five games before making 4 of 9 against the Hogs. He also hit 9 of 10 free throws en route to a game-high 27 points.
"I was in a slump," Waters said. "Lately I haven't been making shots. It felt good to make some. This was a huge win."
LSU forward Aaron Epps scored 16 points with 2-of-4 three-point shooting, and Skylar Mays hit 3 of 4 three-pointers and scored 15 points. Daryl Edwards added 3 of 6 three-pointers and scored 14 points, all in the first half, and Brandon Sampson made 2 of 4 behind the arc en route to 13 points.
"They just had a great game," Macon said. "I've got to give it to them. Their point guard Tremont Waters set them up for great shots. He got them going."
Macon made 7 of 12 shots, as did Arkansas guard Jaylen Barford, who scored 15 points. Anton Beard and Trey Thompson added 11 each for the Razorbacks, and Daniel Gafford scored 10.
The Razorbacks, trying to win back-to-back games in Baton Rouge for the first time in 19 years, outshot LSU from the floor -- 55 percent to 52.7 percent -- owned a 30-25 edge in rebounds and a 48-22 advantage on points in the paint. But they could not overcome the three-point shooting that led to a 45-9 scoring deficit beyond the arc, nor match LSU's blistering 21 of 23 performance from the free-throw line.
"They shot the ball well and got to the free-throw line," Anderson said. "I think that's the thing that they did that kind of neutralized what we did. They made some big shots."
Arkansas got the ball to Gafford in the opening minutes and opened a lead of 6-2. Transition layups by Barford and Macon helped the Hogs to a 10-7 advantage, but a pair of three-pointers from Sampson opened up the flood gates.
LSU separated with a 10-0 run just past the midway point of the first half that ended with the Tigers on top 28-16 after threes by Edwards and Duop Reath. The Razorbacks went 0 of 8 in that stretch, all on jumpers outside the lane.
The Tigers made 4 of 5 three-pointers to open the second half, opening their biggest lead at 52-39 on an Epps' three at the 17:59 mark.
Arkansas clawed back to within 61-57 with a 7-0 run fueled by Macon's three-point play, a steal and dunk from Adrio Bailey, and a pair of free throws from Darious Hall. LSU kept the Hogs at bay and went back ahead by 11 points as Mays canned a three and added a dunk.
"We were coming back," Macon said. "We cut it to four in the second half and couldn't execute on the offensive end. It was either a turnover or a forced shot, and they came down and executed every time. That just kept the lead growing."
The Razorbacks trailed 89-77 with 56 seconds remaining before making a final push to crawl within 90-84 on three Macon free throws at 22.6 seconds, but Gafford was called for an intentional foul for wrapping up Epps with both hands on the ensuing inbounds pass to ice it for the Tigers.
Sports on 02/04/2018