By Hunt Palmer
THE STORY: A pair of desperate teams traded buckets, runs, flagrant fouls and leads on Tuesday night.
Ultimately, LSU had what it took to finish the deal.
The Tigers road the back of their senior guards and a phenomenal night at the free throw line to score their first SEC win of 2025, 78-74.
Carter was sensational, scoring a season-high 27 points on 7-of-15 shooting from the floor, 3-of-6 from deep and a perfect 10-for-10 from the line.
That spearheaded a 26-for-28 mark for LSU from the charity stripe.
The 78 points LSU scored didn’t seem likely early on. The Tigers made just one of their first 13 shots, continuously driving into the length and size of Arkansas. At halftime the Tigers were 2-for-10 on layups.
LSU kept driving it in there, and ultimately shots started to fall and Arkansas fouls piled up. But it took some time.
The Hogs stretched their biggest first half lead to 12 with seven minutes to play in the half. LSU used a flurry of late buckets including a Cam Carter buzzer beater to whittle it down to two at the break.
LSU grabbed a four-point lead three minutes into the second half. Arkansas countered with an 11-0 run to retake control.
That was far from the game’s final haymaker.
Carter led a 21-5 LSU surge that put the Tigers up nine with 6:07 to go. It appeared then that LSU had separated from the visitors from Fayetteville.
Freshman sensation Boogie Fland had other ideas.
Known for his ability to get others involved, Fland instead did the scoring himself. Over a two-minute span, the rookie calmly buried four straight jump shots including a pair of threes to draw the Hogs within three with three and a half minutes left.
Out of a timeout, he finally missed, this time a left-handed look at the rim. Carter canned a jumper on the other end to put LSU up seven with two and a half minutes left.
The Hogs still wouldn’t go away. Trevon Brazile buried a clutch three, and a pair of Adou Thiero free throws made it just two with 28 seconds left.
Sears, as LSU did all night, made a couple of free throws to stretch it to four, and Collins sealed it with an electrifying rejection of Thiero at the horn.
LSU will absolutely take any win it can get in this league. On a night when Ole Miss smoked Alabama in Tuscaloosa and Missouri went to Gainesville and won, LSU did what it needed to on its home floor.
This has been the recipe for LSU. Collins and Sears have to drive the bus. No other Tigers finished in double figures.
Is that sustainable? Time will tell, but it a league where every night is a battle, the Tigers can celebrate this one.
THE STATS: LSU shot 40 percent. Arkansas shot 39 percent.
LSU made nine threes. Arkansas made eight threes.
LSU had 15 points off turnovers. Arkansas had 16 points off turnovers.
LSU had 39 rebounds. Arkansas had 37 rebounds.
Mike Williams played a season-high 17 minutes. He hit both of his field goals including a three, made his two free throws and dished out two assists. LSU was plus-9 with him on the floor.
LSU blocked 11 shots.
Collins had four of those blocks, made both of his field goals and grabbed 10 rebounds against his old coach.
Arkansas shot 18-for-49 from two-point range. That’s just 37 percent.
Fland got to his 19 points, but it took 17 shots for him to get there.
THE QUOTES:
Arkansas coach John Calipari on the loss…
“They outscrapped us, beat us to some balls, made some big-time plays. I gotta do a better job with my team. We get up 12 again. Third fourth game in a row we get up 12, and you turn around. I thought we were prepared for that moment. They outscrapped us. We did some half decent stuff, but not enough.”
Sears on Mike Williams playing a season high in minutes…
“Mike puts in work unseen hours. Nobody else knows what’s going on, but Mike is in the gym daily, night and day. I feel like it showed when his time came.”
Carter on LSU’s offensive aggressiveness…
“I feel like some of the past games we’ve been settling. You all can tell. We’ve been settling and not attacking enough. When we attack, it opens everything else up. I think we did a good job of that. We made some threes. We won this game because of it.”
Sears on staying positive during a losing streak…
“Internally I think our team chemistry is through the roof whether times are going bad or times are going good. I feel like us sticking together and continuing to work on what we do best. Outside noise is always going to be outside noise. So, internalize everything. Know what we got in our locker room. Continue to be the best players that we can be. And I feel like it’s starting to show through the hard times. It will get better.”
LSU coach Matt McMahon on LSU’s offense…
“I think it came down to the spacing. I thought we screened a lot better. That created some advantages for our players. We were concerned coming in. Arkansas has a Top 5 shot blocking team in America. The free throw line ended up being huge for us. We’ve shot it at a high percentage. We just haven’t gotten there enough. So to get there 28 times and shoot 93 percent was just fantastic for our team.”
