Three of the four most important players for the Arkansas basketball team entering the 2023-24 season were inconsequential for the Razorbacks on Saturday.
To the surprise of no one, the Hogs then lost.
Without preseason All-SEC forward Trevon Brazile (knee), four-year starter Devo Davis (absent) and their leading scorer in nonconference Khalif Battle zero second-half minutes), the Razorbacks lost to LSU, 95-74 sending Arkansas to 2-7 in SEC and back to .500 overall, 11-11.
Brazile hasn’t played since January 24 against Ole Miss. Davis has missed three games in a row and his status going forward is unclear and Battle has made just 10 of 50 field goals since December 30. Battle remains Arkansas’ second-leading scorer on the season by per-game average.
In other words, in game in which Arkansas allowed 95 points its defense clearly was inept. And in an SEC season in which Battle shoots that poorly and remains the No. 2 on the team, Arkansas’ offense is just as bad.
The defense was the worse of the two Saturday as LSU shot 55% from the field, including a 63% mark in the first half, leading to a 15-point halftime lead. Even when the Tigers struggled – they went more than five minutes without a field goal late in the second half – Arkansas managed to trim the lead to only 17 points.
Will Baker led all scorers with 25 points and teammate Jalen Cook added 20. Tramon Mark scored 20 points and Jalen Graham scored 18 to lead Arkansas.