LSU entered conference play as a top-five team in the country. Nevertheless, starting SEC play has been a challenge, as LSU fell to Kentucky and Vanderbilt. Mulkey made a significant change against Vanderbilt, inserting MiLaysia Fulwiley into the starting lineup.
Fulwiley has been LSU’s leading scorer and one of its best perimeter defenders all season long, but Mulkey still used her as a spark off the bench rather than letting her start. Fulwiley did a lot of good in her first start for LSU, but definitely wasn’t perfect, and Jada Richard also played a great game.
Now, Kim Mulkey has to decide if she wants to keep Fulwiley in the starting lineup or wants to move her back to the bench. As of now, there’s no perfect answer, especially considering all the other things LSU has to fix before facing Texas and Oklahoma. Mulkey criticized her team’s lack of toughness after both losses and suggested that a tougher non-conference schedule would only have sent LSU into SEC play with a few losses. Keeping Fulwiley in the starting lineup would alleviate some of the pressure on Mikaylah Williams and Flau’jae Johnson, but moving her back to the bench makes it easier to rotate the team’s three top scorers.
MiLaysia Fulwiley played much better against Vanderbilt than Kentucky
The loss to Kentucky was Fulwiley’s worst game of the season. She scored only two points on 1-6 shooting. Her performance against Vanderbilt was much better. Fulwiley scored 13 points on 6-13 shooting from the field, grabbed seven rebounds, dished out six assists, and got two steals and one block.
Her defense on Vanderbilt freshman Aubrey Galvan also made a real difference. She turned the ball over three times and went 4-16 from the field.
At the same time, Fulwiley also turned the ball over five times, which was a game high. However, Fulwiley also played the most minutes of the season against solid defense, which surely factored into her high turnover number.
What will make Mulkey’s decision even more difficult is that Jada Richard played a very solid game against Vanderbilt. Richard had started 15 games before being moved to the bench in favor of Fulwiley despite a good performance against Kentucky.
Richard finished with 13 points on 5-10 shooting, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, and 2 steals. Her scoring was invaluable in a game in which Flau’jae Johnson went 0-4 from the field and didn’t score. She also played solid defense.