March Madness is approaching for the women’s collegiate basketball tournament. With less than 10 days remaining until Selection Sunday, the madness is just getting started.
No. 9 LSU ended its season losing three out of its last five games, including losing its season finale against unranked Ole Miss at home, 85-77.
The Tigers even had some lousy injury luck. Before their matchup against the Rebels, Flau’Jae Johnson was ruled out for the game and the entirety of the SEC tournament.
Johnson was wearing a boot as she had been dealing with shin inflammation in her right leg.
LSU will be missing its leading scorer, who averages 18.9 points per game, 5.8 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.6 steals per game while shooting 46.5% from the field and 37.2% from three.
“I don’t think Flau’jae’s best basketball has happened in the last couple of weeks, so let’s rest her,” Mulkey said on LSU Radio. “It’s just not worth it.”
Johnson’s absence from the SEC tournament means others must step up. Luckily for the Tigers, they have a few players they can lean on.
Mikaylah Williams
Johnson joined two other teammates on the All-SEC First Team, one of them being Mikaylah Williams.
Much like her counterpart in Johnson, Williams also had a very successful season at LSU.
Williams averages 17.5 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.2 steals per game. She also shot the ball at 46.6% from the field and led the team in three-point shooting with 38.7%.
Williams is the most polished player who can consistently create a shot off the dribble. She knows how to get to her spots on the court, and using only a couple of moves, maybe even just a jab step, Williams can score with ease.
With Johnson out, it’ll be up to Williams to go and get buckets. It’s to no one’s surprise that LSU can go through scoring droughts, or the offense may look stagnant at times.
Despite Johnson being out in the Ole Miss game, the Tigers were up by 15 in the third quarter.
However, the Rebels stormed back to overcome that deficit, and a key contributor was that LSU only scored 13 points in the fourth quarter.
Williams has been able to bail out LSU throughout this season, as there have been multiple times when Williams would take over and go to work.
But there have also been times when she struggled in big games, such as against Texas, South Carolina and Tennessee, even though they defeated the Volunteers twice.
For the Tigers to win the SEC championship, she must be consistent and aggressive. They’ll rely on her for consistent three-point shooting and someone to score outside the paint.
Aneesah Morrow has been outstanding all season and was selected to the All-SEC First Team, but she dominates in the paint through post moves and second-chance opportunities.
LSU can’t afford for Williams to have a bad game or an off-night with Johnson’s offensive presence entirely gone. However, with more potential shots coming her way, Williams can step up as a primary scoring option to help lead the Tigers.
Kailyn Gilbert
The player that got the start in Johnson’s place was Kailyn Gilbert against Ole Miss.
Gilbert, similar to Williams, is a great scorer who shoots the ball well from three and can create her shot game in any game.
Although her numbers don’t blow up the stat sheet, her impact has been immense, to say the least, for the team in purple and gold.
Gilbert has averaged 9.8 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game in her first season with LSU. She shoots 42.0% from the field and 36.4% from beyond the arch.
After transferring from Arizona, Gilbert knew her numbers would likely dip due to the talent on the roster.
Nonetheless, Gilbert has found ways to impact her team even as a player who comes off the bench.
She is a spark plug for the Tigers.
When the offense gets stagnant, or LSU wants to push the pace, Gilbert is the first one they bring off the bench. Gilbert can take over a game and hit clutch shots when she gets hot.
In its game against Washington, down by one, Gilbert hits the game-winner to give the Tigers the win.
Against Stanford, when LSU was down by five with 17 seconds left, Gilbert once again hit a big-time shot that gave the Tigers the victory.
Fast forward to their game against Tennessee in Knoxville, where Gilbert scoops in a left-handed layup to win the game for LSU.
Gilbert is not afraid of these moments, and if there’s one person off the bench who can help take responsibility while Johnson is gone, it’s Gilbert.
Mjracle Sheppard
One of the most underrated aspects of Johnson’s game is her defense.
As her offensive production has gone up this season, people have overlooked what she does on the defensive end.
Her length and intensity have made her a great defensive player, and she has sometimes been assigned to guard the team’s best player.
While Williams and Gilbert are tremendous offensive players, their defense could use some work. To compensate for the lack of defense at the guard position, Mjracle Sheppard would be the best player to fill that role and get more minutes in the next couple of games.
Sheppard transferred from Mississippi State to LSU this past offseason and has had a quiet season.
In the roughly 11 minutes she’s given, she’s only averaged 3.6 points, 2.3 rebounds and one steal per game.
Nothing crazy at first sight, but if you watched her play, you know what she brings to the table: defense.
Sheppard is a terrific defender and is a pest for opposing teams. She fights through screens, plays the passing lanes, takes charges, dives on the floor for loose balls, and does everything you want in a great defender, which she brings to the table.
To preserve players such as Williams, Morrow or even Gilbert, who will play many minutes in the tournament games, LSU will need to look to its bench for others to step up, and Sheppard could be one of those players.
While her archetype is a defensive threat, she’s not a liability on offense.
In the four games where she’s gotten at least 20 minutes, she’s averaged 9.2 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game while shooting 53% from the field, showing that she can produce on both ends when given the minutes.
LSU will have to explore its options at the guard position with Johnson ruled out for the conference tournament. Sheppard is one of those options who can receive Johnson’s missing minutes in these next couple of games.
The Tigers play Florida tonight in the SEC Tournament Quarterfinals in Greenville, S.C.
