LSU Women’s Basketball players Flau’jae Johnson and Izzy Besselman spoke to the media after a 89-73 Senior Night win over Tennessee.
After four years of being with the Tigers, senior guard Flau’jae Johnson is graduating. It’s a bittersweet moment, but she takes it all in and is always grateful for the LSU fans who have supported her over these four years, including Thursday’s game against Tennessee.
“It felt good,” Johnson said. “We got the best fans in the World, but it’s kind of like any other night because they show up and show out every time we come to the PMAC, but it felt good.”
Senior guard Izzy Besselman took on a different role these past few years with the Tigers. Because of her heart condition, she wasn’t able to play like she wanted to, but she was very supportive of her teammates and was there to help as much as she could.
“I think my perspective definitely changed, and it’s kind of different than what it was before,” Besselman said. “But just being any leader or supporter or really anything I can for my teammates just makes an impact in any way.”
Senior Night is always a sad night for any team that adores and will miss their seniors, but it’s also an opportunity to pass the torch down to the underclassmen, especially the freshmen. Knowing that the senior class had a huge impact on the freshmen, there’ll be exciting things to come for LSU over the next four years.
“This is an impressive freshman class,” Johnson said. “They’re very spirited and I’m really hard on them for a lot of stuff like as people for being accountable, but they always rise to the occasion. ZaKiyah, Grace, Bella, Divine… they’re all really great players and I’m always telling them to stay here for four years and build something special, but they’re all just amazing players and I’m definitely going to come back next year to see them play.”
As one of Kim Mulkey’s first four-year recruits, Johnson has learned a lot from her head coach and is just thankful for her being a great, winning coach.
“It’s a lot of things I’ve been able to experience here because Coach Mulkey has just an aura for winning,” Johnson said. “I’ve never not been in a March Madness Tournament. I’ve never not been a high seed or hosted. I’m just thankful I’ve been able to really try to grasp everything that’s been thrown at me since the first day I got here.”
It’s been cool just being at this program at LSU with a winning coach. I’m beyond thankful to be able to have worn this jersey and been able to play under Coach Mulkey.”
LSU will go on the road to travel to Starkville to take on the Mississippi State Bulldogs for their final game in the regular season. They will play Sunday at 3 p.m., and fans will be able to watch it on the SEC Network.
