No. 20 Arkansas enters the defense of its unbeaten home record Saturday with a simple directive from coach John Calipari.
“Everybody says you guys play really well and then you get arrogant,” Calipari said he told the Razorbacks after their 93-68 home victory over No. 15 Vanderbilt on Tuesday.
“You got to prove that wrong.”
Propelled by a new starting group, Arkansas (14-5, 4-2 Southeastern Conference) bumped its home record to 11-0 this season by spanking the Commodores. The team brings a 15-game home winning streak into the first of its two meetings this season with LSU (13-6, 1-5) on Saturday.
LSU was outrebounded 50-30 in a 79-61 road loss at No. 16 Florida on Tuesday after breaking a four-game losing streak by beating Missouri on Jan. 17.
“They just mauled us on the glass,” LSU coach Matt McMahon said. “I thought their defensive physicality really bothered us on the offensive end of the floor.”
The Razorbacks face LSU after conducting a mauling of their own against Vanderbilt, their fourth victory over a top-20 team at the time of the game.
They shot 57.8% from the field while holding Vanderbilt to 37.9%, had a 39-27 rebounding advantage and scored 50 points in the paint.
Freshman guard Meleek Thomas made his third start of the season, and wing Karter Knox returned to the starting lineup after coming off the bench in the previous two for Arkansas.
Knox had 16 points and Thomas had 13, both contributing heavily to a 34-14 opening run that had the Commodores chasing the rest of the way.
Junior guard D.J. Wagner, who had started all of the previous 54 games in his two seasons at Arkansas, had 11 points and three assists in 16 minutes off the bench.
The Razorbacks’ fast start contrasted to recent losses at Auburn and Georgia, which built double-digit leads in the first 10 minutes and won by at least 14. In between, Arkansas routed South Carolina 108-74.
“Bringing D.J. off the bench was for one reason. I needed to get him going,” Calipari said. “I wanted him to be the point guard so when he went in, he had the ball more in his hand where he could just go play.”
Wagner complemented freshman point guard Darius Acuff Jr., the only Razorback who has started every game, Acuff had 17 points and five assists against Vanderbilt. Trevon Brazile and Thomas also each had five of the Razorbacks’ 25 assists.
Acuff leads Arkansas in scoring (19.6 points per game) and assists (6.2).
LSU point guard and leading scorer Dedan Thomas Jr. (15.1 points, 6.8 assists) returned against Florida after missing the previous five games with a left leg injury. He had two points and three assists in 17 minutes off the bench.
“He is very important to our team because of his ability to make everyone around him better,” McMahon said. “Mike (Nwoko) got some opportunities that he had been missing out on over the last few weeks.”
Nwoko, averaging 14.1 points, scored 17 against Florida. Max Mackinnon (14.6 points) and Marquel Sutton (13.6 points, 8.4 rebounds) are the Tigers’ other main threats.
