LSU battles past No. 9 Arkansas, 60-57

BATON ROUGE – The LSU Tigers held off the No. 9 Arkansas Razorbacks at every opportunity and answered every challenge in the final minutes to score a 60-57 win Wednesday night at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in the SEC opener for both teams.

The Tigers are now 12-1 and 1-0 in the SEC after the win while Arkansas dropped to 11-2 and 0-1 in the league.

LSU won for the second time in school history in its SEC opener against a ranked team. LSU best No. 13 Florida to open the 1995 conference slate, 70-66. LSU is now 2-12 in SEC openers against an AP-ranked team.

The game was tied for the ninth time in the half at 51-51 when Trae Hannibal got a layup with 2:53 to play. Anthony Black made one free throw to give Arkansas a 52-51 advantage before the Tigers scored on the ensuing possession to take the lead back 53-52 on a layup in the paint to make it 53-52. Fountain was fouled and made the free throw to make it a 54-52 LSU lead.

After Arkansas again went 1-of-2 at the line to cut the lead to 54-53, the teams traded baskets and LSU led, 56-55, with 54 seconds to play. Out of an LSU timeout, Hannibal again found the way to the bucket for a layup and a 58-55 advantage with 32 seconds left. Arkansas missed a three-pointer, but the Razorbacks got the offensive rebound and scored to make it 58-57 in favor of the Tigers with 21 seconds to play.

LSU broke backcourt pressure on its possession and tried to expand its lead, but Derek Fountain’s layup was blocked. Arkansas got the ball and came down looking to tie or get the lead but Cam Hayes stripped the ball from Arkansas’ Ricky Council IV and KJ Williams came up with the loose ball with 2.4 seconds to play.

LSU used a timeout to get the ball inbounds, then Adam Miller was fouled with 1.8 to play. On a night when LSU was struggling at the free throw line, Miller made both free throws to put LSU up by three. An Arkansas three-pointer from just inside half court was off the mark sending a crowd of 10,428 into a frenzy.

Leading the way for LSU was Hannibal who came off the bench for 19 points on 9-of-14 from the field with one three-pointer, six boards, two assists. Derek Fountain had his second double double of the season with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Fountain was 5-of-9 from the field and 4-of-5 at the line.

Davonte Davis led Arkansas with 16 points, while Ricky Council IV and Jordan Welsh each had 13 points. Makhi Mitchell had eight points and 12 rebounds.

Neither team played its best basketball in the opening 20 minutes as defense dominated. Both teams shot less then 30 percent from the floor in the first half as LSU posted a 24-19 advantage. But in the second half, Arkansas made 15-of-32 from the field (46.9 percent) with four treys but 4-of-7 from the free throw stripe.

LSU would shot 15-of-28 in the final half (53.6 percent) with just one trey and 5-of-9 at the line. For the game, LSU would shoot 40.3 percent (25-of-62) with four treys and 6-of-12 at the stripe.

Both teams turned the ball over 10 times, but LSU had a 13-4 advantage in points off turnovers. The Tigers also had a 40-36 advantage in points in the paint. Arkansas out rebounded LSU, 44-39.