ARKANSAS NEWS BUREAU
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas knew before it stepped on the court against LSU that forward Michael Washington wouldn’t play because of an injury.
But the Razorbacks couldn’t have envisioned performing so poorly without him against the Tigers.
LSU picked up its first Southeastern Conference victory Wednesday, routing the Razorbacks 65-54 in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. The Tigers (10-17, 1-12) took control by building a 10-0 lead, held a 15-point edge at the break and continuously baffled Arkansas (14-14, 7-6) with their zone.
In the process, LSU avoided becoming the first SEC team to go winless in league play since 1954. And the Tigers also dealt a serious blow to Arkansas’ hopes of winning the SEC West title.
“We don’t have any excuses,” Arkansas coach John Pelphrey said during his postgame radio interview Wednesday. “We’ve had to line up without a number of guys at different points in time this season. We were plenty confident that we could come in here with what we had and win the basketball game.
“Unfortunately for us we didn’t play well enough.”
Instead, the Hogs, who fell to 0-3 in games without Washington this season, looked nothing like a team that deserved to be in the division title hunt.
Arkansas struggled to penetrate the paint and had bigger problems knocking down jump shots against LSU’s zone. The Razorbacks committed a season-high 21 turnovers, had nine shots blocked and were 34 percent (18 of 53) from the field.
Point guard Courtney Fortson had 18 points on 6 of 18 shooting, but also committed seven turnovers Wednesday night. Rotnei Clarke scored 14 points, but was 5 of 14 from the field. And forward Marshawn Powell was limited to 23 points because of foul trouble and scored five points on three shots.
LSU — which held Arkansas to a season-low 18 points in the first half — had much more success offensively. Forward Tasmin Mitchell led the way with 16 points, getting 12 in a first half in which the Tigers led 33-18. Arkansas’ 18 points was its lowest scoring half of the year.
“We got off to a bad start and did not have much luck at all in the first half going against their zone,” Pelphrey said. “Really felt like it took a lot of steam out of us. Sometimes when you’re not making shots, it’s kind of deflating.
“It was a very, very difficult first half.”
The Razorbacks trailed by as many as 22 points in the second half before making a late run, cutting the deficit to 59-51 with less than a minute remaining. However, it was much too late.
Arkansas, which has lost three of its past four, fell to second in the SEC West after Mississippi State’s win against Alabama. The Razorbacks also are fighting to hold onto the No. 2 spot after Ole Miss, which beat Auburn on Wednesday, improved to 6-7.
Arkansas plays 16th-ranked Vanderbilt on Saturday.
Information from television and radio broadcasts contributed to this report.
