Arkansas' 83-75 win over LSU on Saturday, their ninth consecutive Southeastern Conference win, should put them safely and soundly in the NCAA Tournament field.
The Hogs are in sole possession of second place in the SEC. They have two more games this season before the opener of the SEC Tournament. They could lose all three of their next games — which they won’t — and it would not be enough to knock them out of March Madness.
It didn’t start out like a good afternoon for the Razorbacks. They trailed 37-32 at the half, having led the scoring for just one minute, when they scored the first field goal of the game.
They missed a bunch of shots and gave up even more, looking almost nothing like the team that beat SEC leader Alabama last Wednesday.
At halftime, head coach Eric Musselman worked his magic again.
The Razorbacks came out in the second half playing lock-down defense.
J.D. Notae, who came off the bench to score 18 points, tied it at 46 with 15:49 to play. The Hogs would never trail again Saturday.
They ended up winning much like they did against the Crimson Tide: With defense and at the free throw line.
Arkansas made 23 of 31 free-throw attempts, 16 of 21 in the second half.
With 11:46 to play, the Razorbacks were in the bonus — the Tigers had 10 fouls — and had fouled just once.
The Razorbacks would lead by as much as 21 in the second half, mainly because their defense was denying the Tigers good shots. At one point LSU had made one of nine field-goal attempts.
Arkansas finishes at South Carolina and with a make-up game against Texas A&M. Those two games will probably do nothing more than add to the Hogs' win total. Those games won’t be a factor for the Razorbacks and the Big Dance.