Despite a late surge from the Tennessee Volunteers, the LSU Tigers hold on to win 57-54 in Knoxville to secure the No. 2 seed in the upcoming SEC Tournament.
This game was another example of LSU having its players step up in the face of adversity. Alexis Morris was out for this game and is likely to miss the entirety of the SEC Tournament. Autumn Newby took the opportunity and ran with it as she was a large part in LSU building its early lead that eventually became the cushion for the Tigers to hold on to victory. Newby was 5-7 from the field with 12 points and nine rebounds.
The bigs for the Tigers helped neutralize Volunteer star center Tamari Key in the first half, as it was only a matter of time before she really broke through in the second half. Mulkey applauded her team in the post game press conference for how they played against Key today.
LSU was able to win despite a poor shooting performance from Khayla Pointer, again here at the end of the season. The team’s ability to overcome those rare poor efficiency nights from Pointer has to be encouraging, because most nights Pointer is most of the team’s offense. Most people would assume that if Pointer isn’t on top of her game, the Tigers would lose, especially right now with Alexis Morris out. That is just not the case for this team. Even when Pointer isn’t hitting her shots at a high clip she is being a great leader for the team and coming down with huge rebounds.
You could tell that Alexis Morris wanted to be there with her team and on the court, as she was tweeting along support for her teammates throughout the day.
It was fairly easy viewing for Tigers fans all night, until a late 12-1 run in the fourth quarter brought Tennessee within two points and started some unrest within the fan base. Mulkey attributed this run to LSU having needless turnovers and missing free throws. Two things that were completely in the Tigers’ control and can be fixed for future games.
The Tigers first regular season under Kim Mulkey has come to a close, as the team finishes with a 25-4 record, finishes as a top ten team in the country, and second in the SEC. Pretty incredible turnaround from last year’s 9-13 finish.
That right there is plenty to be happy about as an LSU fan. However, this is not remotely close to the end for this team. The SEC Tournament begins on Wednesday, March 2. Despite what happens there, the team is already a lock to make the NCAA tournament. They are also poised to host the first two rounds back at the PMAC, giving Tiger fans another chance to see them.
The support of the fans and LSU putting themselves into these huge games in the regular season should point to the players being somewhat prepared for these big tournament environments, that they may not be used to after these last few years.