Up and down LSU rides bubble to Arkansas
BATON ROUGE – Atop a bubble is not a good place to be in Bud Walton Arena, but that is where the up and down LSU basketball team will find itself Saturday afternoon.
The Tigers (21-9, 10-7 Southeastern Conference) could have shored up an NCAA tournament bid on Wednesday with a win, but instead seriously damaged those chances with a 78-63 loss to Tennessee (15-14, 7-10 SEC) — the 10th place team in the league with a 105 mark in the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI).
The Tigers fell nine spots to No. 55 in the RPI after the Tennessee loss. Now, a win over 18th-ranked Arkansas (24-6, 13-4 SEC), which is also at 18 in the RPI, at 1 p.m. Saturday on ESPN would propel LSU off the bubble and into the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2009. But LSU has a 5-16 record in Bud Walton, which opened in 1993, and has lost its last four there.
The Tigers also may not be 100 percent. Sophomore forward Jordan Mickey, who leads the nation with 3.7 blocked shots a game and is averaging 16 points and 9.9 rebounds a game, took a hard fall late in the Tennessee game and injured his left, non-shooting shoulder. He wore a sling to practice on Thursday.
“I’m not sure what percent he’ll be,” LSU coach Johnny Jones told reporters. “But I’m thinking he’ll possibly be back.”
The Hogs, meanwhile, won 78-74 at South Carolina Thursday night for their seventh win in eight games with the only loss over that stretch a week ago Saturday at No. 1 and undefeated Kentucky, 84-67.
“We’ve got to go to Arkansas and put this game behind us,” Jones said. “Learn from what transpired here and make sure we go up there and play well.”
If Arkansas does not scratch 70 percent from the field in either half as Tennessee did in the second period, LSU may have a chance. And the Tigers have won four SEC road games this season, including one at RPI No. 45 Ole Miss in January, and have a non-conference victory at RPI No. 23 West Virginia in December.
“We’ll do what we’ve done before,” a downcast LSU guard Keith Hornsby said after the Tennessee debacle. “Address the issues from the last game and move forward.”
Tennessee did shoot amazingly well – 69 percent in the second half and 52 percent for the game – and played above itself, but LSU was not exactly in its face on defense and looked a little spent as the game wore on. The previous Saturday, the Tigers looked NCAA Tournament worthy in a 73-63 handling of Ole Miss at home to gain a tie for fourth place in the SEC.
A loss at Arkansas will likely knock LSU to sixth place in the SEC with the SEC Tournament starting Wednesday in Nashville. An 0-1 exit there after a loss at Arkansas would mean an 0-3 fall going into NCAA tournament selection Sunday.
“Everything was right there for us,” Hornsby said. “We came in focused, and it seemed like we were ready to play a great game. And things started not going our way in the first half. We didn’t respond how we would’ve liked, and Tennessee played great.”
LSU, which has four players averaging 33 minutes or more a game, managed a 33-33 tie at halftime, but wilted as the Volunteers outscored the Tigers 29-11 through the first 12 minutes of the second half for a 62-44 lead with 8:31 to go. LSU was never closer than 11 the rest of the way.
“I think the big thing is LSU is not a super deep team,” Tennessee coach Donnie Tyndall said.
“Coach said eventually they are going to bow down,” said Tennessee forward Armani Moore, who scored 19 points with eight rebounds. “I think they had at least four guys who played over 35 minutes.”
Mickey and guards Tim Quarterman and Hornsby played 38 minutes each for LSU, while Jarell Martin logged 35 minutes and guard Jalyn Patterson 33. The next most used player was Josh Gray with 11 minutes. Only Moore and Josh Richardson played 30 minutes or more for Tennessee.
“If you keep pressuring them on the defensive side, eventually they will wear down,” Moore said.
Arkansas is likely to employ a similar strategy. It is famous for it. The Razorbacks have eight players averaging between 15 and 29 minutes a game, and none averaging 30 or more.
“We probably weren’t aggressive enough trying to get the ball to the rim,” Jones said.
“We know we can play a lot better,” Quarterman said. “We need to play a lot better to finish out this season right.”