LSU win streak ends in upset by Arkansas, 90-89

BATON ROUGE – The LSU Tigers overcame an 18-point deficit, but fell to the Arkansas Razorbacks late in a 90-89 game. LSU falls to 17-4 overall and 7-1 in SEC play. Arkansas improves to 13-8 and 4-4 in the SEC.

The Tigers were led is scoring by freshman forward Naz Reid. He scored 19 and also picked up a game high 10 rebounds. Freshman guard Javonte Smart compiled 18 points. Junior guard Skylar Mays contributed 17 points, as well as two rebounds. Sophomore guard Tremont Waters scored 12. He also had eight rebounds and six assists.

Sophomore forward Daniel Gafford led the Razorbacks in scoring with a game high 23 points. He also recorded eight rebounds. Freshman guard Keyshawn Embery-Simpson contributed 16 points and two rebounds. Freshman guard Isaiah Joe also played a critical role with 18 points, three rebounds and two assists.

Next on the schedule, the Tigers will travel to Starkville for an 8 p.m. tipoff on Wednesday against Mississippi State.

LSU vs Arkansas Quotes
February 2, 2019

LSU Head Coach Will Wade

Opening statement…
“I want to thank all of our fans. I thought they were awesome. They almost willed us back. I thought they were phenomenal. That was as loud as I’ve heard the arena since I’ve been here. Very disappointed we couldn’t pull it out. Arkansas, give them credit. They played tremendously. They played harder than we did for a majority of the game. We cranked it up there with about 14 minutes left. Arkansas played great. Their penetration and pinch offense, they were sharing the ball. They found their open shooters. We didn’t guard them nearly as well as we needed to. (Daniel) Gafford had another big day. Just a tough loss for us.”

On what the teachable moment is after a loss like this…
“We’ve been cruising through this for a while. This was kind of the same as Missouri. We kind of escaped that. When you walk a tight rope, we’ve been walking a tight rope for about two weeks, you’re eventually going to fall off. We just fell off today.”

On what the 21 turnovers can be attributed to…
“We can’t turn the ball over. We turned the ball over 19 times at their place. You can’t turn it over 21 times. Three or four of those were charges. Just didn’t play as well as we needed to. Arkansas had a lot to do with that. They were swarming defensively and they did a nice job.”

On the number of uncontested shots that Arkansas was able to take…
“We got put in rotation. When you get put in rotation at the point of attack, then those guys get wide open. A couple of them, like the one 22 (Gabe Osabuohien) hit, he was wide open for a reason. We weren’t going to guard him. He had made four threes, I think, coming into the game this season. We let 11 (Keyshawn Embery-Simpson) get going. He’s a good player. He played with Darius (Days) down at IMG. He’s a good player and we let him get going. (Isaiah) Joe is really talented. He’s made a bunch of threes in SEC play and he made it tough on us.”

LSU Forward Naz Reid

On the alley-oop attempt…
“I just followed the play like I was supposed to and just got ready for a put back or a rebound.”

On using the game as a teachable moment…
“We need to play hard from the jump and not wait until the end of the game or when we are down to play hard. We need to be ready to go from the jump against any team.”

On the double-double performance…
“I knew rebounding was going to be a big part of today’s game. Obviously it was not enough, but rebounding the ball and taking control of the game with my size and strength happened toward the end of the game. I just had to do my job.”

LSU Guard Javonte Smart

On the crowd playing a role in the comeback…
“Like Skylar said, we are appreciative of them coming out. When we were down, we knew they would help us bring energy. The energy helped us come back.”

LSU Guard Skylar Mays

On starting slow and coming back late…
“We just were not playing hard. Once we got down, we were able to do some of the same things we did against Missouri, but it just was not enough today.”

On the atmosphere tonight…
“We definitely appreciate the fans coming out. We are not happy about how the game ended and losing the game. We are definitely appreciative of the energy. They were a big part of us making a comeback today.”

Arkansas Head Coach Mike Anderson

Opening Statement…
“What a great game. It had a lot of ebb and flow. We came out and we made some shots, and we had some guys come off the bench and give us quality minutes. I thought our guys were really focused on the task at hand. We were able to steal one today. They stole one at our place, but we were able to steal one here.”

On Arkansas’ shooting and overall performance throughout the game…
“We were due. If you think about it, we played defense and we finally shot the ball well, especially with guys coming off the bench and giving us energy. I thought Keyshawn (Embery-Simpson) shot the ball extremely well as he was able to knock down shots. I also thought Isaiah (Joe) played really well. Of course, Daniel (Gafford), I mean what else can you say about him. What a warrior. He played big and unfortunately fouled out which turned the game and it allowed LSU to pressure a little bit. But at the same time, I thought our guys remained poised and did not panic because other guys helped out like Reggie Chaney, which is crucial in this kind of game. And what a big play by Mason Jones.”