14-1 (0-1) AP/Coaches: 5/5 Creme: 2-seed NET: 5 |
January 4, 20264:00PM CT at Memorial GymnasiumESPN | Radio Call | Live Stats |
14-0 (1-0) AP/Coaches: 12/11 Creme: 3-seed NET: 13 |
This is it. Our first test of the season and Shea Ralph’s first real opportunity on West End to prove we are a contender. We played LSU close last year, even leading for a bit in the fourth, but we weren’t the force then that we are now. So many of our players have taken massive steps forward this year: Aiyana Mitchell and Justine Pissott have both doubled or tripled their points, rebounds, and assists per game (and in 5-of-6 cases this increase in the stats outpaced what you would expect from their increase in minutes
played), while Sacha Washington is putting up the same numbers she did two years ago on a third fewer minutes. Others remain excellent: Mikayla Blakes is scoring even faster than the mind-boggling pace she set her first year here while Aubrey Galvan (I assume she was excellent in high school) is averaging 7 assists per game, top 10 in all of Division I and the best rate of any freshman in the country. Our players still make the occasional mistake, but when we are firing on all cylinders we clearly have something great.
LSU, though, remains as strong as ever. Despite their strength of schedule being ranked 322nd, the Gumbo Tigahs are clearly the same serious team as they have been in recent years. They are averaging triple-digit scoring, doubling up more than half the teams they’ve played and more than quadrupling the score of Southeastern Louisiana. Milaysia Fulwiley came over from South Carolina to join fellow first-team All-SEC honoree Flau’jae Johnson. Along with Mikaylah Williams, these two players make up probably the most fearsome trio in the SEC. Kim Mulkey, love her or (much more likely) hate her, remains one of the premier coaches in the sport.
Worth noting is they lost to Kentucky this past Thursday, 78-80 in the last second of the game. That means they aren’t undefeated, are probably going to be playing angry, and if we beat them it could send them tumbling down past us in the rankings. Being in the same tier as LSU, it could be huge for getting us a seed or two higher come the conference tournament.
The secret to winning this one will be scoring more than they do, which probably sounds silly, but against a team as prolific as LSU, we will need all-star performances from Blakes and Galvan and the entire rest of the roster. I, as always, believe.
