LSU (20-10, 8-9) had arguably one of its best performances against No. 14 Arkansas on Wednesday, pushing one of the best teams in the SEC to its absolute limit in a back-and-forth battle on the road. It just wasn’t enough at the end of the day, as the Tigers lost control of the game in its waning seconds.
This occurred despite having one of their best performances on the boards and from the free throw line this season, with the team sporting a 22-10 lead in offensive rebounds and a 95% shooting performance from the line. The Tigers have been solid on the offensive boards throughout the season, but the free throw performance came as a huge surprise, and at the perfect time.
Darius Days gave his teammates credit for their performances on the boards and line, highlighting the importance of improving in those aspects of the game come tournament time.
“All season, our Achilles heel probably was offensive rebounding, defensive rebounding and making free throws at the end or in the middle of games,” Days stated. “It’s about that time to make those strides.”
One of LSU’s main contributors in both of those categories was Tari Eason, who amassed 24 points and seven rebounds, with 10 of those points coming from the line (and on a perfect shooting performance no less) and four of those boards coming on the offensive end. It’s just a shame that he, along with Mwani Wilkinson, fouled out in the final minutes of the game when the team desperately needed him.
While they certainly had a chance to win without him on the floor, with Xavier Pinson falling just short of making a game-winning layup as the last seconds of the game were ticking away, having Eason on the floor for those last few possessions could have given the team the edge they needed in the end. While it seems like LSU’s problems from the free throw line are disappearing at the right time, foul trouble still plagues them.
The Tigers place near the bottom of the nation in fouls, sporting nearly 20 per game. Of the 77 points the Razorbacks scored on Wednesday, 24 came at the line, with three of those ultimately deciding the game in the last minute. When your team consistently has players in the game with foul trouble and allows their opponents to score a third of their points from the stripe, they are going to lose a lot of close games.
Eason mentioned that their problem isn’t merely staying in games, as the team has clearly proven themselves in that regard, it’s finishing them.
“What we take away from this is that we have to finish out stronger,” Eason declared. “We need to make strides in that area and we’re going to continue to, but we definitely took a step in the right direction.”
In terms of finishing games, Eason definitely has a point. LSU sports a 37.5% winning percentage in close games, and it doesn’t take too deep of a dive into their schedule to see that yourselves.
Overall, this performance shows once again that the Tigers can hang around with some of the best teams in the conference, but their glaring flaws are still detrimental at this point in the season. It’s incredibly difficult to judge what this team will do come tournament time, but for now, all eyes look ahead to their regular season finale against Alabama.
