The LSU women’s basketball team faced several challenges during the initial stages of its quest to defend its national championship title. Despite being ranked as the No. 1 team in the AP preseason poll, the Tigers stumbled in their season opener against No. 20 Colorado, suffering a 92-78 defeat. Additionally, star forward Angel Reese was sidelined for four consecutive games early in the season due to what head coach Kim Mulkey referred to as “locker-room issues.”
Furthermore, LSU experienced setbacks with the loss of two key players before the New Year, followed by a rough stretch in January where they dropped three out of five games. However, the team rebounded impressively, winning eight consecutive games to close out the regular season. They also secured two victories in the SEC tournament before ultimately falling to No. 1 South Carolina in the title game, with a final score of 79-72.
Despite these challenges, the defending champions earned the No. 3 seed in the Albany II regional and are poised to begin their title defense in earnest. Their journey commences with a matchup against No. 14 Rice, scheduled for Friday afternoon in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
After bouncing back to win the SEC Player of the Year award, Reese declared, “Anyone seeing us moving forward should be scared.” The SEC tournament compounded the depth problems caused by the injuries to guard Kateri Poole and forward S’Myah Smith. Reese was forced to play through an ankle ailment, SEC Freshman of the Year Mikaylah Williams was limited by a foot injury, and backup point guard Last-Tear Poa was out with a concussion. Mulkey declared, “We are in the process of getting healthy.” “You want to be playing your best basketball during this time of year. I genuinely believed that we were during the SEC tournament.
Before the NCAA Tournament began, Reese and Williams appeared to be in good standing. Poa posted on social media on Sunday, indicating that she anticipates returning to action “soon.” The late-game fight that left the Tigers (28-5) with just five players and the Gamecocks with six following ejections was the game’s most memorable image. However, that took attention away from another close contest between the two rivals, which took place at Baton Rouge during the regular season and saw South Carolina prevail 76-70 when Reese fouled out with four minutes left.
Mulkey said her team’s “toughness, talent, a will to win and leadership” were evident during the SEC tournament run, which started with wins over Ole Miss and Auburn. “I saw a lot of what it takes to win,” she said, “and if you do that and you get beat along thee way then that team just did a little bit better than you did.” Rice (19-14) received an automatic berth after becoming victorious as the No. 10 seed in the American Athletic Conference championship.
On Sunday in Baton Rouge, the winner of the LSU-Rice matchup will take on the victor of the match between Louisville, the sixth seed, and Middle Tennessee, the eleventh seed. Mulkey declared, “This is a tough, tough region.” “The seeding isn’t particularly important to me. All you want is to play the first and second rounds at home.” A rematch of last year’s championship game against No. 1 seed Iowa in the Elite Eight and a rematch with South Carolina for the title this season are also possible matchups to look forward to.