Victor II, Simmons lead LSU past Arkansas 76-74

LSU is not there, nor were the Tigers picked there.

A strip of the ball off an inbounds play by Simmons appeared to be an uncalled foul late in the game; however, Kingsley either has to be stronger with the basketball in that situation or get it to chest or head level instead of holding it at his waist.

“The 6’10”, 19-year old has taken the team and the rest of the country by storm since arriving this season for the Tigers. Now, LSU made enough plays down the stretch to get the wins.

They quickly moved the ball down the floor, and Blakeney, one of four players in double figures for LSU, hoisted a heavily contested 3-point shot that missed everything.

Make the Three- The Razorbacks have become the elite three point shooting team in the SEC over the course of the season. “We wanted to make sure Simmons worked for everything he got and I thought we did that”. I can score when I want, but I enjoy passing the ball more. Victor made some plays for them, Simmons made some plays for them. And with the game a home one for the Tigers, LSU is a handy favorite. It appears, however, that the deal had already been consummated prior to other teams trying to lure the powerhouse freshman to their campus. “It’s really hard to prepare for every single guy because they’re playing a lot of guys”. Like Patterson, Gray has started LSU’s last two games after few starts previously. Patrick returned to the states, and worked for the Houston Rockets, before becoming a coach for LSU in 2012. The Aggies (15-2, 5-0) earned two victories over Florida and Georgia last week and are now the class of the conference.

Still, LSU’s game with Arkansas was anything but a tiresome one for a paid crowd of 13,610 in the PMAC. They’ve played really well. Simmons grabbed the rebound and was fouled by Trey Thompson on a putback. The decision he made to go to the Tigers was easy. The home team has covered the point spread in seven of the last nine meetings of these two. “Were lucky to have him here”, Simmons said. He also has improved his shot, but he is still learning to play the game as well with his mind as his body. Proof of that was a week ago, when the Tigers hosted the Kentucky Wildcats, top-1o ranked, and coming off an nearly flawless season past year. Simmons and the LSU squad have put together some impressive victories.

The Tigers will have to do so knowing that, with a self-imposed one-year ban, postseason play is no longer an option. Doing against the SEC’s second-highest scoring team, coincidentally behind the Razorbacks, will be the trick to determining the contender-or-pretender designation.

The Aggies have a lineup that includes two of the biggest guards in the conference in Danuel House, a preseason first-team All-SEC pick, and Jalen Jones – who are both 6-7. The sky’s the limit for Simmons going forward. “They’re sitting there with an eight-game winning streak, they are 5-0 in the SEC and they probably have as balanced of a team and experience as anyone”.