NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) _ Joe Johnson scored 27 points and Teddy Gipson added 13 as Arkansas rallied from an 18-point first-half deficit in beating LSU 77-72 Friday night in the second round of the Southeastern Conference tournament.

The Razorbacks (20-9) gave coach Nolan Richardson 20 victories for the 12th time in his 16 seasons and another trip to the semifinals where they will play No. 15 Kentucky, a 78-65 winner over South Carolina, on Saturday afternoon.

They have missed the semifinals only once since their first SEC tournament in 1992 and will play Kentucky for the eight time in the tournament.

``I don't think it'd be a tournament if we didn't play Kentucky,'' Richardson said.

The defending champions had a bye in the opening round as the No. 2 seed from the West and looked rusty, while LSU (13-16) tried to notch its second straight upset in the tournament.

The Tigers hit four straight 3s to open the game. But with only five healthy scholarship players, they hit only three more the rest of the way and couldn't keep up with the deeper Razorbacks.

``Gosh oh mighty that's one of our problems,'' LSU coach John Brady said as he counted down the 12 players on Arkansas' side of the stat sheet. ``Wow.

``The Arkansas overall team quickness they have is too good for us. They just keep coming in with quick players and quicker players, and we can't match that quickness over a period of time.''

The Razorbacks opened the second half with a 15-6 run capped by a Jannero Pargo layup with 12:14 that tied it up at 44. Gipson then gave Arkansas its first lead at 46-45 with a pair of free throws.

It went back and forth before Johnson's 3 put Arkansas ahead to stay at 54-51 with 9:21 to go. He added a couple more 3-pointers as Arkansas padded its lead down the stretch.

Richardson praised the job that Brady and his Tigers did this season. He told his Razorbacks to step up their defensive pressure in the second half and thought they did exactly that.

``In the second half, we totally dictated the tempo of the ball game,'' he said. ``We're just fortunate and very happy and pleased that we were able to pull off a victory and get ready for the Cats.''

LSU made it interesting at the end, whittling a 73-61 lead with 2:11 left with a 9-0 run. Collis Temple III's 3 with 45.2 seconds left pulled the Tigers within 73-70. That would be it as the Razorbacks hit a couple free throws and a last-second bucket to seal the victory.

Pargo finished with 10 points for Arkansas.

The Tigers could have kept themselves in the game by hitting more free throws. They went 25-of-40 at the line.

LSU led by as much as 34-16 on a bucket by Ronald Dupree with 3:29 left in the first half, but Arkansas got going in the final minute and Brandon Dean's two free throws with 11.1 left pulled the Razorbacks within 38-29 at halftime.

Dupree finished with 22 points to lead LSU, and Temple had 20 and Torris Bright 13.