When the LSU men’s basketball team takes the floor Wednesday night, it will attempt to not be on the wrong side of history.A loss by the Tigers (9-14, 0-9) would tie the LSU record for the worst start in Southeastern Conference play in school history set by the 1957-58 team, which started 0-10 in the SEC before knocking off Alabama.LSU has seven more games to play in the SEC, and LSU coach Trent Johnson is optimistic about his team’s chances to be successful.”First thing I’m going to tell them before we meet is, ‘OK, we got seven to go,'” Johnson said. “Just as long as everybody stays the course and accepts responsibility for being in this situation.”The latest foe standing between LSU and its first conference win is a resurgent Arkansas squad.The Razorbacks (12-11, 5-3) lost three of their first four SEC contests, but have rattled off four wins in a row and now find themselves sitting in first place in the SEC West.  “You look at the youth and inexperience they had last year and obviously some of the     problems they had off the floor, but you look at this team now, and they’ve matured and grown up,” Johnson said. “They’re playing together, and they’re playing within themselves.”Arkansas is led by sophomore guard Courtney Fortson, who averages 20 points, six assists and five rebounds per contest.”Courtney is playing very well for us right now and is a big part of our success of late,” said Arkansas coach John Pelphrey in a news release. “He has a knack for scoring and getting fouled, and his hard work practicing his shot in the off season has really paid off.”Fortson missed his team’s first 14 games of the season because of a suspension stemming from a post he made on his Twitter page in February where he made light of an Arkansas student’s rape allegations.Fortson isn’t the only reason Arkansas is playing well recently, as four other Razorbacks average double figures in scoring.Sophomore guard Rotnei Clarke averages 16.5 points, 2.5 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game.Though guards are the Razorbacks’ leading scorers, there isn’t a discrepancy in productivity between their frontcourt and backcourt.Freshman forward Marshawn Powell is a player Johnson calls one of the best in the conference — if not the nation — and he averages 15.3 points and 6.9 rebounds per game.His frontcourt mate, senior forward/center Michael Washington, averages 13 points and pulls down six rebounds per game.The Razorbacks’ 2009 season was similar to the one the Tigers are facing this season. They finished with a 14-15 overall record.Johnson said he sees some of his current team members in their opponents for Wednesday night.”Arkansas is a perfect example with what they had to go through last year,” Johnson said. “Now, look at what they’re going through. Fortson is making better decisions, and those freshmen are sophomores.”LSU, on the other hand, is playing very poorly statistically. The Tigers rank near the bottom of the SEC in most offensive categories and are a middle-of-the-pack team in terms of defense.But hope isn’t lost for the Tigers in Johnson’s eyes. He said he hopes his team can learn a lesson from the New Orleans Saints — a team that was 3-13 just four seasons ago. “There’s no secret to it,” Johnson said. “Guys that are going to stay engaged and stay the course with a good, solid program — it’s going to happen. Whether you’re going to win them all, I don’t know. But the key is to win the ones you’re supposed to win and not lose the ones you should win.”–Contact Johanathan Brooks at [email protected]