Stands to first-blush reasoning LSU again should be the tonic for what ails Arkansas.

After all, the last time the Razorbacks suffered a two-game SEC losing skein, Arkansas cured it by trouncing the Tigers, 68-52 in Baton Rouge, La.

Tonight, LSU (9-15, 2-8 ) visits Arkansas (17-7, 6-4 ), which is two games behind Mississippi State in the West following last week’s road losses to East leader Tennessee and MSU. So why does Arkansas coach John Pelphrey sweat tonight’s 7 p. m. Raycom-televised game at Walton Arena ?

Well, for starters the Tigers have a different chemistry from a coaching change and an added shot-blocking, 3- point shooting ingredient (6-11 center Chris Johnson ) they didn’t have when Arkansas triumphed on Jan. 26 in Baton Rouge.

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They have rallied around Butch Pierre, the assistant named interim coach since the Feb. 8 firing of John Brady despite Brady being less than two full seasons removed from coaching the Tigers to the Final Four. Their games under Pierre include an 85-73 victory at reigning national champion Florida between contestedto-the-wire 47-45 and 67-63 losses at home to Tennessee, by far the SEC’s best team, and Kentucky.

For an injury-wracked team short on numbers, Johnson’s return from the injured list is a number with numbers. For his five SEC games, Johnson averages 11. 8 points, 5. 0 boards and 2. 9 blocked shots. Nonconference, Johnson stepped out to hit 7 of 16 threes.

“ He’s a tough matchup for us, ” Arkansas senior small forward Sonny Weems of West Memphis said. “ I think they are a different team with him. It’s going to be real challenge for us. ”

Adding Johnson, Pelphrey said, balances LSU’s attack led by junior guard Marcus Thornton, 21. 2 points in SEC games, and 6-10 freshman phenom Anthony Randolph, 15. 4 points and 9. 7 rebounds in SEC games and the SEC Freshman of the Week after posting 22 points with 5 boards against Florida and 24 points and 14 rebounds against Kentucky.

Final Four veteran point guard Garrett Temple directs LSU offensively and defensively.

Weems, scoring most of his 21 points in the first half when Arkansas had LSU in hand 39-22 at intermission, was the catalyst when Arkansas broke its first SEC two-game losing streak.

“ We were obviously in desperate need of playing well then, and we are in desperate need of playing well now, ” Pelphrey said. “ Sonny had a phenomenal effort down there. If Sonny had an average or subpar effort down there, who knows what the outcome of THAT game would have been. We are going to have to overachieve to have a chance. ”

Does Weems, a 6-6 slasher who also stepped outside to nail 5 of 5 treys in Baton Rouge, anticipate LSU designing a defense specifically at him ?

“ Not really, ” Weems said. “ I think they will play the same. Patrick [Beverley ] is our main scorer so I think they will be concentrating more on him. I just do whatever fits in, man. I don’t think their defensive strategy will change. ”

Beverley’s 14 points and 15 boards did double-double damage to LSU in Baton Rouge.

Pierre cited Arkansas’ big frontline and said, “ They have guards that can take care of the ball and score at will with Beverley and Weems. We have to get back in transition and keep the score manageable so we are in position to win the game. ”

Funny, but in the SEC, the Tigers have closed in winning position only away from home.

“ One of the things about this team, ” Pierre said, “ we’ve shot the ball and played pretty well on the road. Hopefully we can continue that and make it a hard-fought battle. ”

Arkansas sophomore power forward Michael Washington, ill on Monday, practiced Tuesday and presumably will be able to start tonight.