Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Home not friendly as of late to Hogs
FAYETTEVILLE — LSU’s basketball team has struggled to win on the road in Will Wade’s two seasons as coach, but not in Walton Arena.
Wade’s Tigers beat the University of Arkansas 9488 in overtime on Saturday in Walton Arena to make him 2-0 on the Razorbacks’ home court.
LSU (12-3, 2-0 SEC) broke a nine-game road losing streak. It was the Tigers’ first road victory since they beat Arkansas 75-54 in Walton Arena on Jan. 10, 2018.
Wade didn’t want to brag about being undefeated in Walton Arena, where Arkansas is 354-83 since the building opened for the 1993-94 season.
“I think it’s more coincidence than anything,” Wade said. “This is obviously one of the two or three toughest places to play in our league.”
Arkansas had been 25-5 in SEC Saturday games the previous seven seasons under Coach Mike Anderson and won nine in a row before LSU ended that streak.
Anderson’s Razorbacks are 117-21 at Walton Arena in his eight seasons at Arkansas but are 7-4 this season.
In addition to LSU, the Razorbacks (10-5, 1-2 SEC) have lost at home to Western Kentucky 78-77, Georgia Tech 69-65 and Florida 57-51.
The four losses tie for the most Arkansas has suffered in Walton Arena in a season under Anderson. The Razorbacks were 13-4 in Walton Arena during the 2015-16 season when they lost at home to Akron, Kentucky, Auburn and South Carolina,
“I don’t like losing,” Anderson said. “I don’t like losing period — home, away, it don’t matter.
“So me and my staff and our players, we’ll find a way. We’re going to find a way. We always do. Our team will continue to get better.
“It’s just like I said in December, it’ll be different in January. I think in February you’ll see a different team and we’ll learn. These will be learning lessons for us.”
Including LSU’s 94-86 victory over Arkansas in the Maravich Assembly Center last season, Wade is 3-0 against the Razorbacks.
So is LSU sophomore point guard Tremont Waters, who is averaging 17.1 points and 10.1 assists in the three games.
“When you have a point guard like Tremont, it helps,” Wade said. “Having him to combat some of the pressure and make those reads, because you can’t really run against Arkansas what you would typically run. They take you out of what you want to do.
“You’ve got to have somebody that you trust and somebody that you feel comfortable with to make the right reads.”
Arkansas, led by Daniel Gafford’s career-high 32 points, rallied from a 13-point deficit in the second half to send the game into overtime.
“Again, the learning curve,” Anderson said. “We talk about the little bumps. There was another little bump that took place here [in losing to Florida on Wednesday night]. But we learned from the last bump, and I thought we got better.
“I thought we competed against one of the better teams we’ve played this year.”
Arkansas has seven home games remaining, but this week the Razorbacks have road games against the SEC’s two hottest teams in No. 3 Tennessee (14-1, 3-0) and Ole Miss (13-2, 3-0). The Vols and Rebels both have won 10 consecutive games.
The Razorbacks play at Tennessee on Tuesday night.
“It’s a quick turnaround,” Anderson said. “We’ve just got to play, that’s all. Just go play and we’ll see what the outcome is.
“If we go with the same intensity and the same mindset that we saw [against LSU] — especially in that second half — I think we’ll be OK. I think we can play with anybody.”
Arkansas’ three SEC games — including a 73-71 victory at Texas A&M — haven’t been decided until the final seconds.
“Every game in this league, that’s how it’s going to be,” Anderson said. “Every night. It’s a possession here, a possession there.
“Our league is really, really good from top to bottom. People may think it’s top-heavy, but it’s not. So the schedule continues and we’ve just got to continue to try to get better.”