{"id":559774,"date":"2026-01-25T11:42:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T11:42:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/559774\/"},"modified":"2026-01-25T11:42:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T11:42:13","slug":"lsu-basketball-disappointed-after-loss-to-no-20-arkansas-lsu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/559774\/","title":{"rendered":"LSU basketball \u201cdisappointed\u201d after loss to No. 20 Arkansas | LSU"},"content":{"rendered":"

With each passing loss, LSU\u2019s<\/a> chances of making the NCAA Tournament shrink.<\/p>\n

The Tigers\u2019 85-81 road defeat to No. 20 Arkansas<\/a> on Saturday didn\u2019t help, which is why the team\u2019s reaction is what many would expect.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, we’re incredibly disappointed by the result, coach Matt McMahon said on the LSU sports radio network, \u201cbut we’ll build on a lot of the things that took place here today.\u201d<\/p>\n

The fourth-year coach wants his team to reclaim its team identity now that point guard Dedan Thomas returned to the starting lineup. With its dynamic passer, LSU (13-7, 1-6 SEC) wants to go back to being a group that gets high-quality looks in the paint, crashes the glass and has the versatility to play fast-paced and methodically.<\/p>\n

The program demonstrated its vision against a talented foe. It led most of the first half, never trailed by double digits and forced 13 lead changes versus Arkansas, which beat five ranked teams.<\/p>\n

Despite outrebounding Arkansas by eight for 11 more second-chance points and hitting its target of at least 40 paint points, LSU\u2019s inept 3-point shooting led to its demise.<\/p>\n

\u201cI loved our effort on the glass,\u201d McMahon said. \u201cBut at the end of the day, they hit 10 3s, and we only made three. We couldn\u2019t make up that 21-point difference behind the 3-point line.\u201d<\/p>\n

After making seven or more 3-pointers in five SEC games, the Tigers finished 3 of 15 compared to Arkansas\u2019 10 of 22. What made the perimeter shooting insurmountable was the brilliance of Razorbacks star freshman Darius Acuff.<\/p>\n

The 6-foot-3 projected NBA draft pick had a career-high 31 points and six assists. He had 24 points on 10-of-11 shooting in the second half alone for Arkansas (15-5, 5-2).<\/p>\n

The disappointment does have a silver lining: Thomas. McMahon was pleased with how the lead guard performed in his return to the starting lineup in the second game back from the lower leg injury he suffered on Jan. 2.<\/p>\n

LSU\u2019s best player had 18 points on 7-of-20 shooting, five assists, four rebounds and three turnovers in 31 minutes. The three self-created scores he had with under four minutes was what LSU lacked in other close losses. This was progress from his two points on 1-of-8 shooting and three assists in 17 minutes against No. 16 Florida on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy number one takeaway from Tuesday was he was able to get to his spots on the court,\u201d McMahon said. \u201cHe was moving pretty well. I thought he was even better today. Had his first two practices in three weeks, and I thought he looked a lot more comfortable. He’ll shoot a better percentage moving forward. Some of the timing on a couple of those lobs wasn’t there like it had been, but I think his recovery has been phenomenal, and a great credit to his hard work and our medical team.\u201d<\/p>\n

A healthy Thomas means LSU is complete, not including redshirt junior Jalen Reed, who had a second straight season-ending injury in the sixth game of the season.<\/p>\n

Before McMahon\u2019s team can wonder how Selection Sunday will pan out, LSU\u2019s immediate goal is to rack up wins with Thomas back, starting with Mississippi State at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.<\/p>\n

\u201cOverall, you know, pleased with our energy, our effort, our competitive spirit,\u201d McMahon said. \u201cWe got to get better, and we got to be prepared to win on Wednesday, when we come back home to play Mississippi State.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With each passing loss, LSU\u2019s chances of making the NCAA Tournament shrink. The Tigers\u2019 85-81 road defeat to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":559775,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3723],"tags":[7,217,4258,8981,231,772,1544],"class_list":["post-559774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-basketball","tag-basketball","tag-college-basketball","tag-lsu","tag-lsu-basketball","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-basketball","tag-ncaab"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115955560822146577","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=559774"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559774\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/559775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=559774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=559774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=559774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}