BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Darius Acuff Jr. scored 28 points — the freshman’s fifth straight game scoring 21 or more — and No. 21 Arkansas routed reeling LSU 91-62 on Tuesday night.
Fellow freshman Meleek Thomas added 20 points, Trevon Brazile had 14 points and 12 rebounds, and Billy Richmond III scored 13 points for the Razorbacks (18-6, 8-3 Southeastern Conference), who led throughout and by as many as 36 points en route to their fifth victory in six games.
Marquel Sutton scored 18 points and Pablo Tamba added 11 points for LSU (14-10, 2-9), which shot 31% (21 of 68) while losing for the fifth time in six games.
The Tigers outrebounded Arkansas 43-36 and grabbed 21 rebounds on the offensive end, but managed just 13 second-chance points.
Arkansas had lost its previous three visits to LSU’s Pete Maravich Assembly Center, but the Razorbacks, who shot 56% (35 of 62), quickly put themselves in position to end that streak.
Arkansas scored the game’s first eight points and LSU didn’t score during the first 3:58 before Robert Miller III got the Tigers on the board, briefly interrupting a 12-2 Razorbacks run to open the game.
Acuff, a six-time SEC freshman of the week, came in averaging 20.5 points this season and has now scored at least 20 points in 14 games this season, including his season-high 31 in a victory over LSU in Fayetteville on Jan. 24.
Acuff scored 12 points in the first 13:08 of his second game against the Tigers, his 3 giving Arkansas a 31-16 lead.
The Razorbacks led 42-27 at halftime, and Acuff’s fast-break layup early in the second half sparked a 15-3 run that made it 69-37 with 9:36 left.
Arkansas forward Malique Ewin left the game with a little less than seven minutes to go after being hit on the head by Tamba, who was assessed a flagrant foul.
Up next
Arkansas: Host Auburn on Saturday.
LSU: At Tennessee on Saturday.
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Brett Martel, The Associated Press
