While LSU and Arkansas’s expectations were polar opposites coming into the season, the Tigers and Razorbacks were faced with the same circumstances heading into Tuesday night’s game.
Both teams found themselves in 0-3 holes to start SEC play, but the tales of these two teams aren’t so black and white.
After a decade-and-a-half-long tenure at Kentucky, Hall of Fame head coach John Calipari took his talents to Fayetteville and brought D.J. Wagner, Adou Thiero and 7’2 245 lbs forward Zvonimir Ivisic along with him.
Arkansas has had a streak of bad luck at the beginning of the new year. To start 2025, they’ve drawn No. 1 Tennessee, No. 23 Ole Miss and No. 8 Florida, all of which resulted in defeat, with the latter two being single-digit losses at home.
But Matt McMahon’s group has played worse against worse competition. LSU dropped its first three conference contests, at home to Vanderbilt and on the road to Missouri and the No. 23 Rebels.
It might not be fair to Calipari and the Razorbacks, but the SEC is apathetic.
During early December’s ACC/SEC Challenge, the SEC dominated, sweeping the ACC with an undefeated 9-0 record through the first night before finishing the event with an impressive 14-2 record. Before the conference play, the SEC held the highest winning percentage (88.9%) for a conference since the ACC in 2002-03.
There’s no other way to slice it; the SEC is the nastiest in the nation. So when two spiraling squads fall below expectations, something’s gotta give.
The Tigers gave their best effort against a team with high expectations. However, the first half wasn’t the most exciting. LSU shot 35.5% from the field and only scored 34 points.
It looked like another poor offensive game, but they only trailed by two heading into halftime.
In the second half, the ball started to roll in for LSU. Cam Carter put up 18 points in the second half, shooting 50% from the field and 66% from the three-point line.
Carter finished with 27 points, shooting 46% from three and 50% from the three-point line. However, as well as Carter played, others stepped up big-time for the purple and gold.
Jordan Sears has been moved to the bench but has been making the most of the opportunity. Although Sears wasn’t necessarily efficient, he added 17 points to the Tigers’ total.
“Bringing me off the bench allowed me to see the floor from a different perspective and read everything, Sears said. “So when I come on the court now, I’m able to be more aggressive. My mentality has to stay in a positive state, stay the course, and just continue to work better for the team.”
Dji Bailey almost finished with a double-double, having eight points and nine rebounds, while Daimion Collins had seven points, 10 rebounds and four blocks.
Two individuals stuck out in this game: Mike Williams and Derek Fountain. These two players did not see much of the court this season, but McMahon called their number on Tuesday.
Williams had eight points, two rebounds, two assists, a steal and a block. Although the stats don’t pop, his impact was immense. He provided spacing for the offense and gave high intensity on defense. Williams finished with the second-highest plus-minus on the team with plus nine.
“You got to give him his credit,” Carter said. “Just staying down until his time came; that’s a strong dude. That’s not easy to do and to come out and produce. You got to give him a lot of credit for that.”
The one who did lead the team in plus/minus was Fountain. Although Fountain did score from the field, he did impact the game in other ways. Fountain racked up three steals, six points and five rebounds. He played the fourth most minutes on the team and finished with a plus-minus of plus 10.
“I thought Derek also gave us a huge lift,” McMahon said. “We were struggling to score early in the game. He got to the free-throw line and converted. But I thought both those guys played really well.”
Collins, who competed for three years as a Wildcat under Calipari, capped off the night with sweet revenge: an emphatic block to erase a layup as the clock hit zeros. It marks the second consecutive season in which the Bayou Bengals have beaten Calipari in Baton Rouge after Tyrell Ward’s mind-numbing, game-winning buzzer-beater sent home No. 17 Kentucky, 75-74, in 2024.
“They deserve to win the game,” Calipari said. “I’m just disappointed in myself that I’m not getting through to these guys where we have to get over the hump.”
In a game in which both coaches desperately needed a win, McMahon’s men rallied behind him at halftime to come from behind and tally the team’s first SEC victory of the season.
“I was really proud of our players’ fight, toughness and response tonight,” McMahon said.
The Tigers will need to continue to play with fight and toughness to begin a conference-winning streak when they travel to College Station to play No. 11 Texas A&M in an SEC showdown on Saturday night.
