A tried-and-true postgame media question after a team loses is a coach being asked if the loss he just suffered is a "teaching moment” for his team.

LSU coach Will Wade doesn’t need no stinkin’ teaching moments.

He knew, like anyone else who has watched the No. 19 ranked Tigers grab SEC wins from the jaws of defeat in the last couple of weeks, that LSU’s first conference loss of the year was just around the bend.

Unfortunately, Saturday evening before the largest home crowd in the PMAC in awhile, there were 13,311 witnesses to testify that you can only steal so many wins until the basketball gods wag a Dikembe Mutombo chastising index finger.

Arkansas, a freshmen and sophomore-filled team that had been on the south side of .500 in SEC, escaped with a 90-89 victory over the Tigers after blowing an 18-point second-half lead and having two of its key starters foul out in the final minutes.

“We’ve been cruising for this for a while. . .when you walk a tight rope like we’ve walked for about two weeks you’re eventually going to fall off,” Wade said after his 17-4 Tigers (7-1 SEC) lost for the first time since Dec. 12. “We just fell off today.”

It didn’t matter that LSU outrebounded Arkansas by 24 boards (44-20) or that the Tigers made 25 more free throws (32-7) or outscored Arkansas 21-6 in second-chance points.

The killer stat was nearly a third of the Hogs’ points – 24 to be exact – came off 21 LSU turnovers.

And it was the last Tigers’ miscue – an inexplicable lob pass gone awry from guard Tremont Waters to moonwalking forward Marlon Taylor with 36 seconds left and LSU leading 89-88 – that led to Arkansas' game-winning basket on a drive by the Hogs’ Mason Jones with 22 seconds left.

After Jones scored, Wade didn’t call timeout and LSU missed three shots in the final nine seconds.

Waters, who saved the Tigers’ bacon in Wednesday’s 72-57 win at Texas A&M when he scored 38 points, wasn’t brought to the postgame interview room. But both guard Skylar Mays and Wade defended Waters’ high-risk pass on LSU's most critical possession of the game.

“Tremont is a helluva player,” Mays said. “Most plays that seem like crazy to most people he can make.”

Added Wade, “Nine times out of 10 Tremont makes the right decision. He’s our guy. We trust him.”

If LSU had indeed learned anything from its last few wins – an impossible late-game comeback win at Missouri and a victory at A&M when Waters kept the Tigers afloat for the most part – it would be it should have started Saturday’s game with some fire.

Yet considering the PMAC was filled to the roof for the first time this season – “That was as loud as I’ve heard the arena since I’ve been here,” Wade said – the Tigers’ lack of energy, sharpness and even concern for a majority of the game was puzzling.

“We need to play hard from the jump and not wait until the end of the game or when we are down to play hard,” said LSU freshman forward Naz Reid, who had 19 points and 10 rebounds.

Plodding LSU defensive rotations allowed Arkansas, a middle of the SEC pack 3-point shooting team averaging 7.1 3s per game, to record season-bests of 13 3s and a 54.2 percent 3-point shooting clip.

The Hogs were so open on most 3s they could have sat in chaise lounge chairs and sunk them.

Finally after Arkansas came close to pushing its lead to 20, the Tigers dug in their heels in the game’s last 14 minutes.

At that point, LSU, especially its guards, channeled the Tigers’ Butkus Award-winning linebacker Devin White. They ran all over the place, unafraid to cause defensive collisions trying to steal passes and contest shots.

In short, the Tigers played with desperation and purpose that was missing in action for the game’s first 26 minutes.

Even as LSU finally made its closing run when the Tigers began contesting shots, Arkansas, already full of confidence, just kept on stroking 3s.

In the end, Razorbacks’ coach Mike Anderson, a former long-time assistant of legendary Hogs’ coach Nolan Richardson, exited the court in a happy daze after his 13-8 team (4-4 in SEC) recorded its third straight SEC win.

“When I was an assistant with Coach Richardson, we had some crazy games (against LSU) and they all ended up kind of like that,” Anderson said. “They (LSU) stole one in Fayetteville (on Jan. 12 in overtime), but we were able to steal one here. You’ve got to steal them when you can.”

As for the Tigers benefiting in the future from "teachable moments" in Saturday's loss that snapped LSU’s 10-game win streak and 18-game home victory string, Wade made it clear how he felt just before exited his postgame presser.

“I like to win,” he said. “I don’t see anything good in losing.”