Here's everything you need to know about Toney's return to action and much more from the Hogs' win over LSU this afternoon...
arkansas.rivals.com
Forget the NET rankings. Arkansas left no doubt where it stands in relation to LSU Friday afternoon.
After sweeping the home-and-home series with a pair of tight wins, the Razorbacks comfortably took down the Tigers 79-67 in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Fla.
Not only did that punch its ticket to the semifinals, but it also improved Arkansas to 3-0 against LSU this season. It’s the first time it has beaten a single opponent three times in a year since 2001.
“Look, I mean, have to face the music,” LSU head coach Will Wade said. “Arkansas is just better than us. Beat us three times this year. Just flat better than us.”
It seemed like the Razorbacks and Tigers were in store for another down-to-the-wire game for much of the first half. Neither team led by more than four points over the final 10 minutes, with LSU holding a three-point advantage entering the final minute.
However, Arkansas swung the game back in its favor with a personal 6-0 run by Chris Lykes. He was fouled with 22.7 seconds left and made both of his free throws, plus knocked down a pair of free throws from a technical foul on Wade.
Those shots gave the Razorbacks a one-point lead, but Lykes wasn’t done. He swiped the ball from Tari Eason in the closing seconds and hit a jumper at the buzzer to make it 29-26 at the break.
“I thought that Chris Lykes's push at the end of the first half was really, really huge for us momentum-wise to go up with a short, small lead,” head coach Eric Musselman said.
That was the beginning of the end for LSU, as Arkansas eventually stretched it to a 19-0 run by scoring the first 13 points after halftime. In a stark contrast to the first half, all five starters contributed to the scoring.
After shooting just 24.1 percent in the game’s opening 20 minutes, the Razorbacks caught fire and shot 60.7 percent in the second half.
“At halftime they did a great job, our team did, of making a couple of adjustments on where the ball was placed in pick and rolls, and I think that that led to some clean, easy looks,” Musselman said. “We were able to kind of take a deep breath, relax, and discuss some of the things, and got great player feedback as well.”
Arkansas led by as many as 17 and maintained a double-digit lead for all but 30 seconds down the stretch. Each time the Tigers cut their deficit to nine, Chris Lykes answered on the ensuing possession for the Razorbacks.
It was a 3-pointer by Lykes with 4:07 left that put Arkansas up by double digits for good, but a dunk by Au’Diese Toney in the closing seconds was the exclamation point — albeit one criticized by ESPN’s Karl Ravech and Jimmy Dykes.
“You can't let it bother you when they whip our ass three times,” Wade said of the play. “It is what it is. … I don't let that stuff bother me.”
The last time the Razorbacks swept a three-game series, more than two decades ago, was also against LSU. However, the Tigers finished under .500 and went just 2-14, finishing last in the conference.
This was a much different LSU team. Wade’s squad will enter the NCAA Tournament with a 22-11 record that included a 9-9 mark in SEC play. Most projections have the Tigers as a 5- or 6-seed in the Big Dance.
It will go down as another Quadrant 1 victory for Arkansas, which was No. 20 in the NET rankings coming into the day. That was four spots behind LSU, which was No. 16 despite having a worse record than the Razorbacks and losing to them twice.
“I have a lot of trust in these guys, so I have been really honest with them about the NET for the last five days,” Musselman said. “I've been very honest with them about what a potential loss could do today and what a potential win could do, because of the body of work that LSU has done during the course of the regular season, so this was a huge win to be able to beat them.”
Here are several other key takeaways from the win over the Tigers…
Toney’s Return
With an at-large bid firmly within their grasp, the biggest question mark surrounding the Razorbacks at the SEC Tournament was the health of senior wing Au’Diese Toney.
The Pittsburgh transfer had started 27 of the first 30 games of the season and is second behind only JD Notae in minutes per game, but missed the regular-season finale at Tennessee because of an injury.
Musselman did not sound too optimistic about Toney’s status earlier in the week and it wasn’t until Thursday that he was even able to participate in practice — and even then he wasn’t working with the starting unit.
However, X-rays and MRIs came back negative and it turns out it was just a “really bad bruise right around the fifth metatarsal” and not even a true ankle injury. That opened the door for him to play Friday afternoon.
“I talked to the medical people and if it was a ligament or something (and) there could be further damage, then we probably wouldn't have played him, quite frankly,” Musselman said. “But because it was a bruise and just kind of pain tolerant. He wanted to play, and we wanted him to play.”
If the pain was a big deal, Toney sure didn’t show it. His impact was felt early and often, as he made a 3-pointer to open the game’s scoring and had 12 points with six rebounds in the first half.
Toney ended up playing all but 2 minutes and 20 seconds against LSU. He finished with a season-high 22 points on 6 of 11 shooting, plus 8 of 10 from the free throw line, and 10 rebounds. It was his third double-double of the season.
“It felt good to be back out there with the guys, especially missing that Tennessee game,” Toney said. “My ankle was feeling good. I was going with the momentum and just having fun out there.”
Included in Toney’s scoring were a pair of 3s, as he went 2 of 3 from beyond the arc. It’s the first time all year that he’s made multiple 3-pointers in a game. He was just 6 of 22 (27.3%) coming in.
Wade described him as a “thorn in our side” because Toney had 30 points in Arkansas’ previous two matchups with LSU combined. He averaged 17.3 points on 57.1 percent shooting in three games against the Tigers this season.
Beyond the scoring, though, Toney has been a vital part of Arkansas’ success the second half of the season because of his defense. That was evident against Tennessee, as the Volunteers shot 66.7 percent from beyond the arc — compared to 16.7 percent in their first matchup.
With Toney back in the lineup, LSU shot just 21.1 percent from 3-point range — well below its season average of 32.2 percent.
“We needed Au'Diese, honestly,” Notae said. “He brings so much defensively and offensively, and just his energy. He’s just going to bring it every single time and he brought a lot of energy today.”
(Story continues below)
HawgBeat - Key takeaways, box score from Arkansas' 79-67 win over LSU at SEC Tourney
HawgBeat brings you all of the key takeaways from Arkansas' 79-67 win over LSU at the SEC Tournament on Friday.
arkansas.rivals.com
Forget the NET rankings. Arkansas left no doubt where it stands in relation to LSU Friday afternoon.
After sweeping the home-and-home series with a pair of tight wins, the Razorbacks comfortably took down the Tigers 79-67 in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Fla.
Not only did that punch its ticket to the semifinals, but it also improved Arkansas to 3-0 against LSU this season. It’s the first time it has beaten a single opponent three times in a year since 2001.
“Look, I mean, have to face the music,” LSU head coach Will Wade said. “Arkansas is just better than us. Beat us three times this year. Just flat better than us.”
It seemed like the Razorbacks and Tigers were in store for another down-to-the-wire game for much of the first half. Neither team led by more than four points over the final 10 minutes, with LSU holding a three-point advantage entering the final minute.
However, Arkansas swung the game back in its favor with a personal 6-0 run by Chris Lykes. He was fouled with 22.7 seconds left and made both of his free throws, plus knocked down a pair of free throws from a technical foul on Wade.
Those shots gave the Razorbacks a one-point lead, but Lykes wasn’t done. He swiped the ball from Tari Eason in the closing seconds and hit a jumper at the buzzer to make it 29-26 at the break.
“I thought that Chris Lykes's push at the end of the first half was really, really huge for us momentum-wise to go up with a short, small lead,” head coach Eric Musselman said.
That was the beginning of the end for LSU, as Arkansas eventually stretched it to a 19-0 run by scoring the first 13 points after halftime. In a stark contrast to the first half, all five starters contributed to the scoring.
After shooting just 24.1 percent in the game’s opening 20 minutes, the Razorbacks caught fire and shot 60.7 percent in the second half.
“At halftime they did a great job, our team did, of making a couple of adjustments on where the ball was placed in pick and rolls, and I think that that led to some clean, easy looks,” Musselman said. “We were able to kind of take a deep breath, relax, and discuss some of the things, and got great player feedback as well.”
Arkansas led by as many as 17 and maintained a double-digit lead for all but 30 seconds down the stretch. Each time the Tigers cut their deficit to nine, Chris Lykes answered on the ensuing possession for the Razorbacks.
It was a 3-pointer by Lykes with 4:07 left that put Arkansas up by double digits for good, but a dunk by Au’Diese Toney in the closing seconds was the exclamation point — albeit one criticized by ESPN’s Karl Ravech and Jimmy Dykes.
“You can't let it bother you when they whip our ass three times,” Wade said of the play. “It is what it is. … I don't let that stuff bother me.”
The last time the Razorbacks swept a three-game series, more than two decades ago, was also against LSU. However, the Tigers finished under .500 and went just 2-14, finishing last in the conference.
This was a much different LSU team. Wade’s squad will enter the NCAA Tournament with a 22-11 record that included a 9-9 mark in SEC play. Most projections have the Tigers as a 5- or 6-seed in the Big Dance.
It will go down as another Quadrant 1 victory for Arkansas, which was No. 20 in the NET rankings coming into the day. That was four spots behind LSU, which was No. 16 despite having a worse record than the Razorbacks and losing to them twice.
“I have a lot of trust in these guys, so I have been really honest with them about the NET for the last five days,” Musselman said. “I've been very honest with them about what a potential loss could do today and what a potential win could do, because of the body of work that LSU has done during the course of the regular season, so this was a huge win to be able to beat them.”
Here are several other key takeaways from the win over the Tigers…
Toney’s Return
With an at-large bid firmly within their grasp, the biggest question mark surrounding the Razorbacks at the SEC Tournament was the health of senior wing Au’Diese Toney.
The Pittsburgh transfer had started 27 of the first 30 games of the season and is second behind only JD Notae in minutes per game, but missed the regular-season finale at Tennessee because of an injury.
Musselman did not sound too optimistic about Toney’s status earlier in the week and it wasn’t until Thursday that he was even able to participate in practice — and even then he wasn’t working with the starting unit.
However, X-rays and MRIs came back negative and it turns out it was just a “really bad bruise right around the fifth metatarsal” and not even a true ankle injury. That opened the door for him to play Friday afternoon.
“I talked to the medical people and if it was a ligament or something (and) there could be further damage, then we probably wouldn't have played him, quite frankly,” Musselman said. “But because it was a bruise and just kind of pain tolerant. He wanted to play, and we wanted him to play.”
If the pain was a big deal, Toney sure didn’t show it. His impact was felt early and often, as he made a 3-pointer to open the game’s scoring and had 12 points with six rebounds in the first half.
Toney ended up playing all but 2 minutes and 20 seconds against LSU. He finished with a season-high 22 points on 6 of 11 shooting, plus 8 of 10 from the free throw line, and 10 rebounds. It was his third double-double of the season.
“It felt good to be back out there with the guys, especially missing that Tennessee game,” Toney said. “My ankle was feeling good. I was going with the momentum and just having fun out there.”
Included in Toney’s scoring were a pair of 3s, as he went 2 of 3 from beyond the arc. It’s the first time all year that he’s made multiple 3-pointers in a game. He was just 6 of 22 (27.3%) coming in.
Wade described him as a “thorn in our side” because Toney had 30 points in Arkansas’ previous two matchups with LSU combined. He averaged 17.3 points on 57.1 percent shooting in three games against the Tigers this season.
Beyond the scoring, though, Toney has been a vital part of Arkansas’ success the second half of the season because of his defense. That was evident against Tennessee, as the Volunteers shot 66.7 percent from beyond the arc — compared to 16.7 percent in their first matchup.
With Toney back in the lineup, LSU shot just 21.1 percent from 3-point range — well below its season average of 32.2 percent.
“We needed Au'Diese, honestly,” Notae said. “He brings so much defensively and offensively, and just his energy. He’s just going to bring it every single time and he brought a lot of energy today.”
(Story continues below)
