Faustine Aifuwa has been a major part of the LSU women’s basketball team’s success. When Coach Kim Mulkey first stepped into the program, she expected a lot out of Aifuwa, especially considering she is a graduate senior and a leader of the team.
“Bigs have to play a longer period of time for me and not just play half court,” Mulkey said in a press conference leading up to their matchup against Georgia. “We like to go foul-line to foul-line, that’s where games are won.”
Aifuwa knew she would have to work in the offseason in order to have the ability and stamina to stay in games for long periods of time. Up to this point, her hard work paid off.
The ability for Aifuwa to be on the court for longer periods of time took a lot of dedication and commitment in the offseason. She worked to get in better shape and paid attention to her diet to put herself in the best position possible not only for this season, but for her future seasons beyond college.
“I did lose some weight,” Aifuwa said in the press conference leading up to the Georgia matchup. “I was paying attention to what I was eating and getting myself ready for the pros and stuff like that.”
Aifuwa finished last season playing a total of 713 minutes. This year, with six games remaining in the regular season, she has already played 548 minutes with an average of 22 minutes per game. Along with the remaining conference games, and potentially a deep postseason run, Aifuwa should surpass her minutes played from last year considerably.
“This is the most amount of minutes I’ve played my whole four or five years,” Aifuwa said, “that’s just something me and Coach [Mulkey] have talked about, she expected me to be in shape and be able to keep up in transition and the style that we play.”
Coach Mulkey also wanted Aifuwa, who is a 6-foot, 5-inch center, to be more of a post presence in games.
“She’s got a beautiful face-up jumper,” Mulkey said of Aifuwa, “she’s so strong in there, I want her to do some back to the basket posting up.”
In the team’s last seven games, Aifuwa has most definitely made herself a presence. She has scored double-digit points in four out of the last seven games, and has grabbed at least five rebounds in the last seven games, including a 20-point, 14-rebound, double-double performance in the team’s road-win over Ole Miss.
“From what I’ve been told, she’s [Aifuwa] in the best shape of her life,” Mulkey said, “She’s never run the floor as well as she’s running it now. She’s [Aifuwa] just having a very good year,” Mulkey added.
Mulkey thinks of Aifuwa as a valuable leader on the floor because of seniority and experience. “She is an older senior, she’s been around a while, so she doesn’t get too rattled,” Mulkey said, “she’ll get aggravated at herself when she misses an open shot, but we wouldn’t be where we are without those bigs.”
For Aifuwa, making improvements to her game in the offseason and dedicating herself to the success of the team was about more than just this season. The LSU women’s basketball program has not been in a better spot to make a substantial postseason run since they made the Sweet Sixteen in 2014. Now that a coach of Mulkey’s stature and experience heads of the team, Aifuwa knew she had to do what it takes to leave her legacy in the program along with the other seniors.
“It means a lot to me,” Aifuwa said. “Starting out in the preseason and all the hard work that we put into it, it feels great seeing it all come together.”
While this season has been everything Aifuwa could have wanted, the thought that it is her final season at LSU has yet to become a reality for her.
“It hasn’t really hit me yet that it’s my last year,” Aifuwa said, “but I’m taking it one step at a time, one game at a time, and just enjoying it with my team.”
Aifuwa’s mentality toward this season is how all the seniors, and all the players on this year’s team seem to be approaching this season. As long as they take things one step at a time and play one game at a time, staying true to themselves will come easy. But aside from the wins and losses, Aifuwa just wants to enjoy her last season in the Purple and Gold with her teammates. With this mentality, the team is destined to go on a deep postseason run, and hopefully bring a National Championship back to Baton Rouge. Thanks to the hard work and commitment Aifuwa made in the offseason, she very well may play a great part in making that happen.
Aifuwa’s dedication in the offseason paid off; ‘She’s in the best shape of her life’
February 11, 2022
Chynna McClinton
LSU women’s basketball graduate student center Faustine Aifuwa (24) catches a pass Sunday, Jan. 16, 2022, during LSU’s 82-64 win against Vanderbilt in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on North Stadium Drive in Baton Rouge, La.
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