With its loss in the Elite 8 to Iowa, LSU’s season has come to an end. The Tigers ended with a 31-6 record.
For the Tigers this season, there were lots of ups and downs.
Between losing their season opener to Colorado, losing Sa’Myah Smith to a season-ending leg injury, losing Kateri Poole for the season, losing Angel Reese for four games and suffering three SEC losses during the regular season, the Tigers were met with a lot of adversity this season.
READ MORE: LSU women’s basketball’s season ends with 94-87 loss to Iowa in the Elite 8
After some time, many came to the conclusion that this year’s LSU team didn’t have what it took to reach and win a national championship. And while they didn’t, they proved many people wrong.
There were always questions roaming around the team on if they’d be able to play complete basketball as a team rather than as individuals. While it took some time, they did that.
Here are some highlights of this season and how it all transpired.
Angel Reese and Aneesah Morrow complimented each other
Reese and Morrow proved to be arguably one of the best frontcourts in the country; Reese ended the season with 28 double-double performances and Morrow ended the season with 22.
Reese ended her LSU career with 62 double-doubles while in Baton Rouge. She set an SEC record last season with 34 double-doubles, set a school record previously held by Sylvia Fowles and a conference record with 23 consecutive double-doubles. She recorded a double-double in all six of LSU’s NCAA Tournament games last season.
Morrow also proved herself this season after transferring from DePaul. There were some questions on how her game would translate alongside Reese and into the SEC. But it often worked hand-in-hand, and Morrow was still able to put up significant numbers in her new conference.
Several times throughout the season, Morrow stepped up as the dominant player in the post.
For example, in LSU’s NCAA Tournament Round of 32 matchup with Middle Tennessee, the Blue Raiders made it a priority to control Reese. In the first half, they did just that.
But Morrow was there to back her up.
She scored nine points and grabbed five rebounds through the first half. Morrow finished the game with 19 points and 13 rebounds.
“It’s something I’ve really been working on all season,” Morrow said. “I feel like I’m more of a physical leader, and just trying to be as much of a verbal leader as I possibly can be.”
With Reese and Morrow working alongside each other, there were very few frontcourts in the country that were able to stack up against them.
Flau’jae Johnson had a break out sophomore season
The improvement Flau’jae Johnson made from her freshman season to her sophomore season was significant.
The guard from Savannah, Georgia averaged 11.0 points per game, 5.9 rebounds per game, 1.9 assists per game and 1.2 steals per game last season.
This season, she averaged 14.9 points per game, 5.5 rebounds per game, 2.5 assists per game and 2.1 steals per game. In addition, she played 32.4 minutes per game compared to 27.6 minutes per game last season.
In the team’s last nine games, Johnson scored in double figures. In six of those nine games, she scored 20 points or more.
Johnson remained to be one of LSU’s go-to defenders and her length as a guard was a threat to many opposing shooters.
From a leadership standpoint, Johnson needed to make this jump going into her junior season.
With the chance of Reese and Hailey Van Lith not returning to LSU for next season, the leadership role will be given to Johnson. It’s a role that she’s proved to be able to handle, as she was voted to be a team captain this season.
“She just plays the game with a lot of heart, and she’s learning to become a leader at a young age,” Mulkey said. “I’m glad I get to coach her.”
Hailey Van Lith played a new position the majority of the season
Van Lith came to LSU from Louisville as one of the top transfer prospects in the country. In Baton Rouge, she was forced to play out of position as a point guard rather than her natural shooting guard position.
Despite some rough patches for Van Lith, she still scored relatively efficiently. In the team’s last 10 games before the start of the NCAA Tournament, she scored in double figures in eight of those games.
In the NCAA Tournament, she showed a different side of her game. Against UCLA, Van Lith’s five assists showed she can distribute the ball and facilitate.
There aren’t many players in the country that would sacrifice their playstyle in order to play for a more talented team. Van Lith found other ways to contribute at a high level.
“She wanted to experience all the things she saw from afar from our championship season,” Mulkey said. “For her to take that leap of faith and leave her comfort zone at Louisville, you don’t see many players do that when she was that big of a piece to their puzzle.”
Mikaylah Williams is one of the best freshmen in the country
As a top recruit in the Class of 2023, Williams came to LSU with high expectations for her true freshman season.
Right away, she seemed to live up to them, scoring 17 points in LSU’s season opening loss to Colorado. Three games later against Kent State, a team that made the NCAA Tournament as a 15-seed, she exceeded them.
Williams scored 42 points, her highest all season by 16 points. She shot 5-for-8 from three and 15-for-20 from the field. She also added seven points and three assists.
This was arguably the game when Williams put everyone on notice.
From there, Williams remained a valuable piece to LSU’s offense. There were times when she would slump, mainly when it came to turnovers, but Williams was always a scoring threat and someone who would take necessary shots.
In every game during the NCAA Tournament, Williams scored in double figures, highlighted by a 16-point performance against Middle Tennessee, where she knocked down two timely 3-pointers.
“Being out there in my first March Madness, it was good,” Williams said. “Just putting to use the abilities God blessed me with. So it was a good experience.”
She also shot 4-for-8 from three against Iowa, as her 3-point shooting was key for LSU to stay in the game with the Hawkeyes. Williams finished that game with 18 points, seven rebounds and three assists.
Williams finished the season averaging 14.5 points per game along with 4.9 rebounds per game and 2.9 assists per game. She also shot 47.1% from the field and 38% from three.
READ MORE: How the lives of Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark changed since the national championship
Aalyah Del Rosario developed just as she should
Standing at 6-foot-6, many questioned what type of role Del Rosario would play as a true freshman.
At first, it was hard for her to get adjusted to the speed of the college game. Mostly this season, Del Rosario would enter the game when Reese would find herself in early foul trouble.
But Del Rosario really found her footing in the team’s win at home against Florida, where she scored 11 points and nine rebounds.
From there, she made more use of her minutes, making those more aggressive plays in the paint that Reese or Morrow couldn’t afford to make for the sake of personal fouls. Del Rosario finished with four fouls against Rice in the NCAA Tournament opener, and UCLA in the Sweet 16.
This season was for Del Rosario to get adjusted to the college game. Now that she has a full season under her belt, she can now develop as a potential scoring threat along with her post defense.
Last-Tear Poa was the team’s X-Factor
When Sa’Myah Smith and Kateri Poole both became unavailable for the season, Poa became even more important to the team than she already was.
Poa’s role was already set to become bigger. She showed glimpses of dominance last season, and her perimeter defense and offensive facilitation were key pieces to the team’s success.
She then became the team’s go-to when it came to depth. When Mulkey’s bench options became thin, it was Poa that she called to the floor.
This season, Poa averaged 20.1 minutes per game compared to 12.5 minutes per game last season.
Her minutes were valuable, especially in the team’s win at home over Alabama, where she scored 11 points and had six rebounds, four assists and two steals. In that game, she played 30 minutes off the bench.
Against Ole Miss in the SEC Tournament Semifinals, Poa took a fall and suffered a concussion. It was then that Poa’s importance to the team became even more apparent.
Her lockdown perimeter defense was missed in the SEC Tournament Championship against South Carolina, but she returned, perhaps earlier than expected, for the NCAA Tournament opener against Rice.
She was met with open arms from the Pete Maravich Assembly Center crowd, and they all loved to see her back on the floor.
“I was trying not to get emotional about it because obviously once you cross that line, it’s go time,” Poa said. “It was the best feeling.”
There, Poa scored nine points in 19 minutes of play. In a game where she was thought to get limited minutes, she played her most amount of minutes of LSU’s four tournament games.
What’s next?
The end of the 2023-24 season for LSU marks the beginning of its offseason.
While there aren’t any games for the team to play, the offseason still has a lot of moving pieces.
Firstly, the attention shifts over to Reese and Van Lith to see if they will return to LSU next year, or take their talents professionally, or elsewhere. Both players have an extra year of eligibility to return to LSU.
After the loss to Iowa, Reese said that she will make a decision when she is comfortable and ready. When that will be, of course, is only up to her.
Whether she stays or goes, Reese’s long-term goal was to help grow women’s basketball, and she feels she’s had a helping hand in that.
“I want to help grow women’s basketball,” Reese said. “I think I’ve done that.”
Besides their returners, the Tigers look to hit the recruiting trail, primarily in the transfer portal, for next season.
Out of high school, the Tigers bring in 5-foot-6 guard, Jada Richard. Richard is the top high school recruit in Louisiana, according to ESPN, and is the No. 97 ranked recruit in the country.
The four-star recruit played at Lafayette Christian Academy in Lafayette.
Just a day after LSU advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament, the Tigers landed 6-foot-5 guard, Jersey Wolfenbarger, out of the transfer portal.
Wolfenbarger is a former five-star recruit and McDonald’s All-American who played her first two collegiate seasons at Arkansas. In the 2021-22 season, Wolfenbarger averaged 7.5 points per game along with 4.3 rebounds per game.
The Tigers will continue its transfer portal pursuits into the offseason, as the portal reopened on March 18.
Regardless, there will be some new faces, some familiar faces and some faces that may be missing. Changes will come with adjustments, but new faces just mean new opportunities.
Mulkey and the Tigers are now looking ahead to its next opportunity.
