Darius Acuff Jr. scored 28 points and No. 21 Arkansas never trailed in rolling past LSU 91-62 on Tuesday night in Southeastern Conference action at Baton Rouge, La.
Meleek Thomas added 20 points, Trevon Brazile had 14 points and 12 rebounds and Billy Richmond III scored 13 for the Razorbacks (18-6, 8-3 SEC) who won for the fifth time in six games, including an 85-81 victory over the visiting Tigers on Jan. 24.
Marquel Sutton scored 18, Pablo Tamba had 11 and Robert Miller III scored 10 to lead LSU (14-10, 2-9), which played its third consecutive game without starting point guard Dedan Thomas Jr., who leads the team in scoring (15.3) and assists (6.5), because of a lower-leg injury.
Arkansas played without two injured players — guards D.J. Wagner and Karter Knox, both of whom have started 18 games — and used just seven players until the final three minutes.
The Razorbacks shot 56.5% from the floor while the Tigers shot just 30.8% from the field and 14.3% on 3-pointers.
Acuff scored Arkansas’s first six points of the second half, and the Razorbacks increased their 15-point halftime lead to 19. The Tigers responded with the next four points, but Thomas scored five points during a 12-3 run that extended the lead to 60-36.
Miller made one free throw for LSU, but Arkansas scored the next nine points and held a 69-37 lead midway through the half.
Nick Pringle made a layup and Acuff and Brazile had consecutive three-point plays as the Razorbacks scored the first eight points of the game. Miller made a layup for LSU’s first points after nearly four minutes, but layups by Pringle and Acuff pushed the lead to 12-2.
PJ Carter hit a 3-pointer for the Tigers, but Arkansas answered with an 11-3 run to build a 15-point lead. The Razorbacks led by 15 again before Miller scored four points during a 6-0 run that brought LSU within 31-22.
Arkansas expanded its lead to 17 points before Jalen Reece’s jumper trimmed the lead to 42-27 at halftime.
–Field Level Media
