LSU coach John Brady celebrated in front of the student section after Arkansas’ Ronnie Brewer’s potentially game winning shot bounced off the back rim and fell harmlessly to the floor.
“I was impressed with my last 11 seconds of defense,” freshman Tyrus Thomas said. “My man screened Garret [Temple] and switched onto [Brewer]. I had to bow up and play aggressive defense because he is a guy that can hit a clutch shot inside the arc.”
Just seconds before, senior Darrel Mitchell scored his 27th point when he made the game-winning three-point shot to put the Tigers ahead for good, 78-77.
“We gave Darrel the ball in the corner and had our two postmen set a double stagger screen for him,” Brady said. “He came over the top, and the defender got caught up on the screen. He found a way to shoot it, and we won the game.”
Arkansas freshman Sean McCurdy missed two free throws to put the game away with 25 seconds left and gave LSU one last chance.
“That was a tough position for Sean [McCurdy] to be in,” Arkansas coach Stan Heath said. “He is a competitive kid, and I know how bad he hurts.”
Glen Davis committed the foul to send McCurdy to the line.
“My assumption was with him coming off the bench in a close, close game, you got to be uptight and nervous,” Davis said. “Even though he is probably one of the best free-throw shooters in practice, something told me to just hack him.”
LSU (16-6, 8-1 SEC) seemed to be cruising after Tyrus Thomas stretched out to dunk a Garrett Temple pass to push the lead to 75-63 with 4:35 remaining.
But LSU was held scoreless for over four minutes until Mitchell’s game-winning shot. The Tigers turned the ball over on five consecutive possessions during the 14-0 Razorback run.
LSU did not get back on defense after Thomas’ dunk, and Brewer nailed a three-pointer to stop LSU’s momentum.
Brewer struck again when he made a lay-up and a free throw after Tasmin Mitchell fouled to cut the lead to 75-69.
Arkansas (15-7, 4-5 SEC) completed its comeback on a Brewer layup and took a 77-75 lead after two Brewer free throws.
“We were a little too hype after the alley to Tyrus,” Temple said. “Coach yelled a different defense out, but we had a miscommunication and gave up the three to Brewer. I was a little careless with the ball. We have to focus on our execution down the stretch.”
Davis scored 18 of his 19 points in the paint, and LSU outscored Arkansas 40-20 in the lane. The Tigers patrolled the inside on the other end of the court as well, blocking five shots and altering several others.
The Tigers beat the Razorbacks on the boards 33 rebounds to 24 and had nine more second-chance points.
LSU bounced back from its 67-62 loss against Alabama, avoiding another last-minute loss.
“We had the game won on a couple different of occasions when we had 14 point leads,” Brady said. “We had some really careless turnovers, but I remember Nick Saban saying, ‘The main thing is that LSU won the game. That’s the bottom line.’ We are 8-1 and on top of the SEC after nine games. That’s a great place to be.”
 
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