BATON ROUGE — The LSU men’s basketball team opened the game with a 24-2 run and led by as many as 37, as the Tigers dominated Arkansas, 75-56, on Saturday evening in the Maravich Assembly Center.
The story of the game was LSU’s first half play. LSU led 49-19 at halftime while holding Arkansas to just 19 percent from the field and forcing 10 turnovers. LSU avenged a 73-65 loss at Arkansas on Jan. 22.
The Tigers (15-9, 4-8 SEC) shot 48.1 percent from the floor (25 of 52) while holding Arkansas (7-16, 2-10 SEC) to 32.3 (21 of 65) and scoring 22 points off 18 Razorbacks turnovers.
The Razorbacks lost for the 12th time in 14 games, while LSU won for the third time in its past five games.
Ronald Dupree led the Tigers with 25 points and 13 rebounds. He was 9-for-9 at the free throw line, as the Tigers made 21 of 25 on the evening.
Torris Bright was the only other Tiger in double figures scoring in LSU’s balanced attack with 10 points. Jaime Lloreda and Collis Temple had eight points each, while Brad Bridgewater added seven and Darrel Mitchell and Xavier Whipple had six each.
Arkansas was led by Kendrick Davis with 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting. The Razorbacks were only 8-of-19 from the line.
The Tigers opened the game by scoring 11 straight, capped by a pair of free throws and a three-pointer from the left wing by Dupree.
With 16:22 left in the half, Arkansas head coach Stan Heath called a timeout to end the bleeding. But after Arkansas scored its first bucket of the game, the Tigers responded with nine straight points ending in a second-chance three-pointer by Bright with 13:15 to play.
Heath called his second 30-second timeout down 20-2, as his Hogs made only 1-of-7 field goals and turned the ball over five times.
The Tigers extended the lead to 24-2 — and its second run to 13-0 — on a three-pointer by Mitchell from the left corner with 11:53 left in the half.
A pair of free throws by Mitchell kept the LSU advantage at 20, 30-10, at the 7:49 media timeout. Despite shooting only 63.7 percent on the season, the Tigers made their first 12 free throws of the game while the Razorbacks made only 1-of-3.
A one-handed dunk by Dupree off an alley-oop from Xavier Whipple gave the 6-7 high flying forward 11 points and upped the LSU lead to 32-11 with 6:25 to play in the first half.
Antonio Hudson followed with his first basket of the game and Lloreda hit 2-of-4 free throws to give LSU a 36-11 lead. The Tigers’ free throw streak ended at 13 straight on a Lloreda miss at the 5:22 mark.
Consecutive baskets by Whipple and Brad Bridgewater gave LSU a 27-point lead, 40-13, with 2:30 to play before the break.
Meanwhile, Arkansas’ field goal percentage fell to 13.8 (4-of-29) before an eight-foot jumper by Kendrick Davis with just more than a minute on the clock.
The Tigers led by 30, 49-19, at the half.
Both LSU and Arkansas made 4-of-11 shots from the field to start the second half, as the Tigers continued to lead by 28, 60-32, with 12:08 to play.
The Tigers led by as many as 37, 60-23, after a 7-0 run. However, Arkansas scored the next nine to get within 28 and force an LSU timeout.
Dupree scored seven straight as the lead grew to 35, 69-34, with just more than eight minutes to play.
As LSU went to its bench, the lead shrank to just 74-56 in the closing minute.
The Tigers return to action on Wednesday, Feb. 26, when Auburn comes to the PMAC for a 7 p.m. contest.