BATON ROUGE – Two of the high-powered teams in Southeastern Conference scoring meet on the floor of the Pete Maravich Assembly Center as LSU and Arkansas meet in the SEC Network’s Primetime Saturday tilt at 7:30 p.m.
The game, the first of two meetings this season between the Tigers and Razorbacks, will have Tom Hart and Andrew DeClercq on the call with Jim Hawthorne, Ricky Blanton and host Kevin Ford on the broadcast on the LSU Sports Radio Network (Eagle 98.1 FM in Baton Rouge).
Tickets for the game are available at www.LSUtix.net and at the upper concourse ticket windows beginning at 6 p.m. Saturday. LSU students are able to go to the game free with valid ID.
The Tigers are coming off a rallying second half performance against Ole Miss on Wednesday, winning 90-81, after shooting over 70 percent in the second half of the game for the second time this year. Arkansas is coming into the game off a strong 94-61 win at Missouri on Tuesday night.
The Razorbacks and Tigers are 1-2 in scoring in the conference with Arkansas (9-7, 3-1) averaging 84.4 points per game and LSU (10-6, 3-1) at 83.2 points per game. LSU and Arkansas are 2-3 in field goal percentage in the SEC with LSU at 47.5 percent and Arkansas at 47.3 percent. Arkansas is third in the nation in three-point field goal percentage at 45 percent. LSU is ninth in the conference at 32 percent. Arkansas is second (18.4) and LSU third (16.9) in assists per game while LSU is first (8.5) and Arkansas T2 (7.9) in steals.
The teams are tied with Kentucky for second in the league at 3-1 on the year, one game back of 4-0 leader Texas A&M.
LSU was down eight in the first half and three at halftime before rallying to win with a 50-point scoring half in the final 20 minutes. Five players were in double figures as Craig Victor II had 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting, with Ben Simmons and Antonio Blakeney adding 15 each, Tim Quarterman 14 and Keith Hornsby 10.
Blakeney and Quarterman did not start the game against Ole Miss but both played 20 minutes with Blakeney hitting two threes and 7-of-7 at the line. Between starting point guard Josh Gray, who played the other 20 minutes, and Quarterman, the position was perfect on the night as they combined to make 6-of-6 from the field with three of those treys and 6-of-6 at the free throw line. Gray had 7 points and the pair combined for seven assists.
Arkansas is led by Moses Kingsley averaging 17.3 points a game and 9.5 boards, while Anthlon Bell averaging 17.0 points and 2.9 rebounds. Dusty Hannahs is at 16.5 points per game.
LSU has four players averaging in double figures led by freshman Simmons at 20.3 points per game and 12.6 rebounds followed by Hornsby at 14.9, Victor at 13.3 and Quarterman at 11.6 points per game.
“Our guys did a great job (Wednesday) night,” said LSU Coach Johnny Jones. “We are coming off of a nice victory, but we have to quickly turn our attention to a very tough game Saturday. The Arkansas Razorbacks did a great job in their game against Missouri earlier in the week. They’ve played really well. Their team is starting to jell. You can see the chemistry there. After losing some guys from last year’s team, Coach (Mike) Anderson has done a tremendous job of getting these guys to focus. They are playing really well right now in the way that they play, the up-tempo-type team. They are very aggressive on the defensive end of the floor and try to create turnovers. We will certainly have to be sharp on Saturday, taking care of the basketball and really being ready to defend a very fast team that is very capable of putting up a lot of points.”
After Saturday’s game, the Tigers are on the road for a week before returning to play in Baton Rouge again on Tuesday, Jan. 26 against Georgia.
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