The LSU Women’s Basketball team heads to Nashville on Wednesday for the SEC Tournament, and they are in the best position the program has been in for a long time to potentially win.
Head Coach, Kim Mulkey, preaches to her team that this is just another road trip, and that they need to prepare for this game just like any other this season.
“We’re not going to approach it any different, like Coach [Mulkey] said. Obviously you want to win; We just have more games to be played,” Khayla Pointer said. “We’re going to go to Nashville, we’re going to get prepared and we’re going to lock in Thursday night before Friday, and take this game as we do any other game.”
The Tigers do not know who they will be playing yet, as they are set to face the winner of Kentucky and Mississippi State, who play Thursday night at 6 p.m. C.T.
Following her leg injury against Alabama last Thursday night, Alexis Morris will most likely not be playing in the SEC Tournament in order to get healthy for the NCAA Tournament. Morris will make the trip to Nashville with the team, but Mulkey is still deciding whether or not to let her dress in uniform for the games.
“She’ll [Alexis Morris] be on the trip with us,” Mulkey said. “I’m going to have to decide if I’m going to let her dress out or not, because she’s one of those who might go check herself into the ball game if she has a uniform on.”
With Morris being out, the front court for the Tigers, Autumn Newby and Faustine Aifuwa, know that they have to step up for the postseason games. But the pair have been playing their best basketball of the season, helping the Tigers win many close games, especially their 66-61 win at home against Florida.
“We know that with Lex being out, we [Newby and Aifuwa] have to pick it up a little bit…we know that we have to be a presence  — Kim stresses that every day in practice,” Newby said. “I think that we’ve picked that up together. We’ve tried to do more defensively, protecting the rim, rebounding, I try to bring a little more offensively, and I’m just going to try and continue that throughout the tournament and for the rest of the season.”
As the team starts their postseason run this weekend, they’ve also been reflecting on how much they’ve accomplished as a team and as a program throughout the regular season. Since Mulkey came to LSU, the program has turned around so quickly that it made history in the SEC.
“The thing I shared with the team this morning is, ‘You are a part of history in the SEC,'” Mulkey said. “From what I was told, this 16-game turn around in one season is the best that’s ever been in the history of the SEC.”
This is something that the Tigers, especially the seniors, could have only imagined in their wildest dreams after going 9-13 last season. To most on the team, it still doesn’t feel real.
“It’s amazing — I can’t even put it into words,” Pointer said. “I think it’s just a testament of how much hard work we put in in the off-season. Nobody actually expected us to be here where we are today, but we always knew we had a chance of being pretty good.”
The Tigers have been more than “pretty good,” most recently receiving their highest ranking of the season at sixth in the country. Many of the players have never gone into the SEC Tournament in the position they’re in: the position to possibly win the entire tournament and host the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament.
“It’s been something I’ve never been able to dream of,” Newby said. “I’m just really excited to see how it goes for the NCAA Tournament, because I know it’s going to be a great show out for us.”
LSU will open the SEC Tournament on Friday at 6 p.m. C.T. at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. They will face the winner of Kentucky and Mississippi State, and their matchup will be broadcasted live on the SEC Network.

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Chynna McClinton

LSU women’s basketball graduate student center Faustine Aifuwa (24) hustles for the ball Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022, during LSU’s Senior Night 58-50 win against Alabama in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on North Stadium Drive in Baton Rouge, La.