LSU junior guard Akilah Bethel is expected to get her first minutes for the Lady Tigers this season, but it won’t be her first experience on the floor with LSU.
In November 2012, the LSU women’s basketball team squared off against No. 12 West Virginia, Bethel’s original team. Then-freshman guard Danielle Ballard carried the Lady Tigers to a 71-63 victory with a 25-point performance.
Bethel played 23 minutes as a Mountaineer in the game, contributing seven points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Bethel suffered a season-ending knee injury in January 2013, in what would be her last game in a West Virginia uniform. In May 2013, LSU coach Nikki Caldwell announced that Bethel would transfer to LSU and play for the Lady Tigers.
Since her arrival in Baton Rouge, Bethel said she has instilled an aggressive edge to practice.
“I definitely think [my playing style] brought a different aspect to everyone,” Bethel said. “[They’d say,] ‘Hey, she’s a little physical.’ It brought a whole new aspect to practice.”
Because of NCAA transfer rules, Bethel had to keep her physical style on the bench for the entire 2013-2014 season with LSU, including the Lady Tigers 76-67 win against her former team in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
Now that Bethel is free from the NCAA transfer rule, she said she can’t wait to get back on the court and put her physical attitude into real gameplay.
“It was painful [to sit out a year],” Bethel said. “I loved playing with them and playing against them. It’s just now exciting to actually be with them through the journey.”
Bethel is expected to play a major role for the Lady Tigers during this season, but that role will be different than what she is used to.
At the team’s media day event two weeks ago, Caldwell hinted at using Bethel like a forward to improve the Lady Tigers’ press defense and give LSU a speed advantage.
“Akilah Bethel is one of the quickest, if you will, [fours] in the game,” Caldwell said. “She will be a mismatch for a lot of people because of her quickness.”
Bethel said she expects her ballhandling skills to give other teams’ fours fits throughout the season because of her backcourt experience.
“I think I bring toughness,” Bethel said. “I think I bring speed. I think I bring versatility as far as I’m not a stand-still four. I can dribble. I’ve played guard before so I know how to use my quickness.”
In her one and a half seasons with the Mountaineers, Bethel averaged 2.1 rebounds per game in her freshman season and 1.8 in her sophomore season. But Bethel isn’t worried about her ability grab boards because her toughness will help her beat opposing bigs.
“I love to win,” Bethel said. “Whatever the team needs me to do, I’m going to do it. I have that we-will-win-by-any-means-necessary [attitude].”