Johnson’s focus on struggling Razorbacks

• By GARY LANEY
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Feb 18, 2009 - Page: 1C - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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Trent Johnson has a knack for making every upcoming game look difficult even when, on paper, it shouldn’t. With LSU’s schedule rated as the 105th toughest in the country, not an easy feat for a program in a power conference, the Tigers coach has had a lot of practice.

Usually, opponents get sold with a generic “they are impressive,” or a compliment to the opposing coach. On Monday, however, with the last-place team in the Southeastern Conference looming as the first opponent for the Tigers after they entered the national rankings, Johnson was ready with something extra.

“It’s interesting,” Johnson said. “If Pittsburgh beats UConn (an ‘if’ that became true Monday night), Oklahoma will probably be ranked No. 1. They (Sooners) have one loss. Guess who beat them?”

That would be Arkansas. The same Arkansas that’s on a five-game losing streak and tied for last place in the SEC at 1-9 and 13-10 going into today’s game at 7:05 p.m. against No. 23 LSU (21-4, 9-1) at Fayetteville, Ark.

The Razorbacks come into the game as a one-team refusal to the common belief that the SEC is down. In how many conferences can the last-place team beat — assuming OU doesn’t lose this week — the No. 1 team in the country?

“We’re going to have to play better than what we’ve played the last two or three games,” Johnson said. “I don’t want to take anything away from what we have done the last two or three games, but Arkansas, in Fayetteville, is a difficult place to play and a difficult challenge.”

Ask the Sooners, who lost there 96-88 on Dec. 30. Or Texas, which dropped a 67-61 decision there on Jan. 6.

But the Bud Walton Arena mystique has certainly taken some hits in SEC play. Mississippi State opened conference play with a win in Fayetteville, starting a stretch where the Razorbacks have lost four of five conference games played on their floor. Meanwhile, LSU has found its footing on the road, winning four straight road games after losing its first three ventures — including one neutral site game — away from Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

In doing so, LSU, which has won six straight and nine straight SEC games, has earned quite an admirer in John Pelphrey, the second-year Razorbacks head coach.

“Trent is doing a great job with those guys, and on both ends of the floor they are outstanding,” Pelphrey said. “I like their team. They work well together. They’ve got good pieces that are just better than anybody else in our league right now. It’s pretty impressive the way they play the game. I feel they play it the right way. It’s no wonder they are having success.”

But the Tigers come into the game a little short-handed with point guard Bo Spencer out with a sprained left ankle for a second straight game. While the Tigers are minus a piece, Arkansas is bringing back a key piece, perhaps with a lesson in chemistry having been established.

Pelphrey suspended talented freshman point guard Courtney Fortson after the Feb. 11 loss at Auburn. The suspension was called “indefinite” by Pelphrey, although the coach never said why it happened, only that “at Arkansas, we deserve a disciplined program.”

Turns out, the suspension lasted one game, Saturday’s 79-63 loss to Kentucky where the Wildcats’ Jodie Meeks went off for 45 points. On Monday, Pelphrey indicated his point guard would be back, saying “I anticipate having him back in the starting lineup.”