NASHVILLE – The LSU men’s basketball team wanted another shot at Alabama. The opportunity to secure the program’s first Southeastern Conference tournament championship since 1980 is even bigger for the Tigers.
“Bringing the ‘ship back home man would mean a lot to all of us,” said Javonte Smart, a junior guard and a native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. “So I think that’s the biggest thing, just bringing it back home and showing that we are really, really, really good.”
Cameron Thomas scored 21 points as third-seeded LSU beat eighth-ranked, second-seeded Arkansas 78-71 on Saturday to reach the title game for the first time since 1993.
The Tigers (18-8) will play sixth-ranked Alabama – the regular-season champion beat fourth-seeded Tennessee 73-68 in the first semifinal – at 1 p.m. Eastern on Sunday, looking to improve their NCAA tournament seeding even more by winning the league tourney title for just the second time.
“It was just a huge, huge win,” said Will Wade, who is in his fourth season as LSU’s coach. “First time since ’93 we’re going to play for the championship so very, very excited. Our guys are really excited.”
The teams split during the season, winning on their home courts by almost identical margins. Saturday at Bridgestone Arena, LSU gave more help to Thomas – the freshman who leads the Tigers in points this season – in a matchup of the SEC’s top scoring teams. Smart added 19 points, Darius Days 13 and Eric Gaines 10.
Arkansas (22-6) snapped a 12-game SEC winning streak that tied the program record set by the 1993-94 team that also ended in an SEC semifinal. Second-year Razorbacks coach Eric Musselman insisted he wasn’t thinking about the streak much.
“I’m mad we lost,” Musselman said. “We didn’t play well enough to win.”
Marcus Moody tied his season high with 28 points for Arkansas – 20 of those in the first half as he hit his first six shots a day after being held to five points against Missouri – and Justin Smith added 21.
“It’s definitely difficult,” Smith said of snapping the streak. “When you’re on a run like that, you kind of get used to it. I don’t think we ever got complacent or anything like that, but it definitely hurts. Losing hurts every time regardless, and we really wanted this game.”
The Razorbacks came in leading the SEC at 82.8 points per game, but they couldn’t knock down a shot for nearly 10 minutes in the second half, going without a basket between Smith’s layup with 17:12 left and Smith’s dunk at 7:24.
After Arkansas guard Davonte Davis made a pair of free throws with 11:42 left to tie it at 52, the Tigers reeled off 12 straight points to take the lead for good, and Gaines capped the spurt with a layup with 7:25 left. Arkansas tried to rally, getting within 65-60, but then Smith paced a 9-2 spurt to make it 72-71 with 37 seconds left.
The Tigers made sure to take advantage of their second chances, outscoring Arkansas 17-6 in that category despite being outrebounded 42-39.