Tigers Head to Arkansas

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The LSU men’s basketball team traveled here early Tuesday afternoon for a Wednesday night contest at Bud Walton Arena against the Arkansas Razorbacks and the Tigers are hoping their luck on the road is as it has been the last few weeks.

Tip for the game is set for 7 p.m. as part of a split-regional schedule of games on Raycom Sports.

The Tigers are 9-15 on the season, 2-8 in the SEC West and LSU has won two of its last three road games at Auburn and Florida. Arkansas is 17-7 on the season and 6-4 in the West, in second place two games behind league leading Mississippi State. Arkansas comes into the game off two road losses at Tennessee (93-71) and at Mississippi State (80-74). LSU is coming off a home 57-53 loss to Kentucky on Saturday.

In the first meeting last month in Baton Rouge, Arkansas made 10-of-15 three-pointers while LSU was shooting under 30 percent in a 68-52 decision for the Razorbacks. Marcus Thornton led LSU with 20 points while Sonny Weems scored 21 to lead Arkansas to the win.

Interim LSU Head Coach Butch Pierre though sees the progress his team is making over the last couple of weeks.

“Our team is making some progress,” said Pierre. “We had a hard-fought battle against Kentucky. We fought and were in a position to win the game at the end. We didn’t make a few plays that we needed to, but we are continuing to improve. We have some confidence without ourselves in the way we have been playing. We know it is going to be a tough battle. Arkansas is playing well and they have a lot of experience. We have to continue to improve on the offensive end and in our offensive execution throughout the game. We have to be able to make some plays without having long periods of time without scoring.”

Anthony Randolph is coming off another outstanding week with 22 points at Florida and a career-high equaling 24 points and his sixth double double with 14 rebounds against Kentucky. His performance earned him SEC Freshman of the Week for the third time this season.

But Pierre knows that to have success in an atmosphere like Bud Walton Arena, he knows his team must respond as they did a week ago at the O’Connell Center in Florida.

“We have shot the ball and played pretty well on the road,” said Pierre. “Hopefully we will continue to shoot well and the road and make it a hard-fought battle. On the defensive end, if we can contain them, allow them just one shot, get back in transition and keep the score manageable, we will be in good position to try to win this game.”

LSU returns home on Saturday to face Ole Miss in a 5 p.m. game televised by Fox Sports Net.