LSU stumbled into conference play with two consecutive losses to Kentucky and Vanderbilt. At first, those losses raised concerns about LSU’s potential against top opponents. Then, Kim Mulkey’s team bounced back and laid those concerns to rest with wins against three ranked teams: Texas, Oklahoma, and Alabama.
The key to LSU’s turnaround was to make sure that they wouldn’t lose games in the same way again. After the loss to Kentucky, Mulkey called out her team’s lack of rebounding. The Tigers were outrebounded 45-29, including 17 rebounds. Teonni Key alone grabbed twice as many rebounds for Kentucky as LSU’s top rebounder. After that, LSU didn’t allow any ranked opponents to win the rebounding battle again.
They also outrebounded Texas by four in the rematch, but still lost 77-64. After the game, Mulkey cited turnovers and bad shot selection as the main issues. Now, LSU must replicate what it did after the loss to Kentucky and take better care of the ball. With games against South Carolina, Ole Miss, and Tennessee still to come before the NCAA Tournament, the Tigers have many difficult games ahead. Limiting their turnover numbers could make the difference between winning and losing some of those games.
LSU struggled to take care of the ball against Texas
LSU turned the ball over 19 times compared to Texas’s ten. The Longhorns scored 12 points off turnovers. LSU only got eight. Mikaylah Williams, Flau’jae Johnson, and MiLaysia Fulwiley combined for 14 of the team’s 19 rebounds. Jada Richard turned the ball over twice.
It is difficult to beat a great team if three of your four most important guards cannot take care of the ball—especially if the other team’s guards don’t turn it over as much. Rori Harmon turned the ball over three times, but more than made up for it with her defense and playmaking.
Texas deserves a lot of credit for its defense on LSU’s best players. Johnson shot 3-14 from the field, Fulwiley only got up nine shots and turned the ball over six times, Richard went 1-10 from the field, and even Williams, who scored an efficient 20 points hurt the team with five turnovers. Texas’s stars didn’t score efficiently either. Rori Harmon and Madison Booker combined to shoot 10-35, but Harmon finished the game with six steals and Booker’s length bothered Richard. The Longhorns also put a lot of pressure on LSU by guarding inbound passes and picking players up early.