NASHVILLE, Tennessee – LSU defeated Arkansas from eighth in the ranking, 78-71, on Saturday afternoon to win their first spot in the SEC tournament final since 1993.
Third-placed LSU (18-8) will face Alabama (23-6) in the championship game on Sunday at noon CT. The game will be broadcast on ESPN and broadcast live on the LSU Sports Radio Network starting at 11:30 am.
Tigers are looking for the second title in the SEC Tournament program (1980).
Freshman guard Cameron Thomas led the Tigers with 21 points, including four of three points, while the guard Javonte Smart added 19 and Darius Dias had 13 with eight rebounds. LSU hit 42.4 percent of the field (28 of 66), while Arkansas hit 41.5 percent (27 of 65).
After scoring 20 points in the first half, Arkansas freshman Moses Moody managed just eight in the second half to finish with 28 points out of 8 out of 16 shots. Striker Justin Smith was the only other double-digit Razorbacks player to score 21 points out of 10 out of 13 pitches.
Arkansas fell to 22-6, with a school record of 12 consecutive wins against league opponents since January 20.
In an exciting first 20 minutes, the Tigers used a 14-1 run to overcome an eight-point handicap and lead 38-32 with 5:35 remaining. Thomas hit a pair of three hands, Dias added another, and Smart’s dunk after Thomas’s theft culminated the rally, with LSU hitting seven three hands in the opening stanza.
Neither team led by more than three points in the first 10 minutes of the second half, although Arkansas was without a basket for more than seven minutes.
Meanwhile, Watford stepped back three points from the top of the key and converted a steal to a tray to give LSU a 59-52 lead with 9:58 to play. Set of three days points and a tray Eric Gaines pushed the Tigers’ lead to 12. However, the Razorbacks scored the next six points to reduce the LSU’s lead to 64-58 with 6:03 to keep the game within reach.
After Gaines’ three-pointer and a pair of free throws from Smart put LSU ahead by 10 with 2:28 to play, Moody and Smith got nine straight points for Arkansas to reduce LSU’s lead to one, 72-71 , with 37 seconds to ring.
Smart made a leap to put LSU in three, and the theft of Gaines with 18 seconds remaining would send Smart to the free-throw line to guarantee victory.