LSU women's basketball hosted UNT Dallas on Thursday for its first of two exhibition games ahead of the 2026-27 season. The Tigers delivered a 159-32 thrashing inside the PMAC and offered a first look at their rotation.
As expected, Jada Williams and Mikaylah Williams occupied two of the starting guard spots. MiLaysia Fulwiley also cracked the top five, while Grace Knox and ZaKiyah Johnson made up the front court pairing. Four of the five scored over 20 points on Thursday.
LSU shot a whopping 70% from the field and put nine players in the game. The purple and gold scored the game's first 21 points and led by 29 points at the end of the first quarter. Mulkey started subbing in with under five minutes to play, going with Laila Reynolds and Lola
Lampley first.
The Tigers controlled the glass and played well in transition. They outmatched the Trailblazers, who used 14 players on Thursday, in every facet.
Here are three takeaways from LSU's first exhibition game of the 2026-27 campaign.
Fulwiley impresses as starter
Fulwiley built a reputation as a spark plug off the bench between her time in LSU and South Carolina. The two-time SEC sixth player of the year honoree cracked the starting lineup on Thursday and showed off her skill set in every area. She notched game highs with 32 points, over 30 minutes played, and a whopping 17 assists to go along with seven steals and six rebounds. She made seven three-pointers.
The senior guard looks primed to earn a consistent starting role in her final season of college basketball. Fulwiley has been challenged to improve her defense and point guard skills since arriving in Baton Rouge. Improvements in both, to go along with her creativity on offense, make her a shoo-in for the starting five.
Defense takes center stage
LSU came away with 36 steals and scored 61 points in transition. The purple and gold flipped 46 UNT Dallas turnovers into 82 points. It dominated despite an ever-changing lineup for the Trailblazers, who constantly made changes to get fresh legs on the court.
Despite facing a lower-level team, the Tigers left no breathing room for the Trailblazers to get any rhythm on offense. Mikaylah Williams came away with a game-high 11 steals while Johnson pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds. LSU got 30 of its 51 boards on the defensive glass, which helped limit UNT Dallas to two second-chance points.
Where are the front court newcomers?
Noa Morro and Anna Minaeva came to Baton Rouge heralded as two of the best international pickups of the offseason. Neither saw the court against the Trailblazers, leaving Johnson and Knox to shoulder most of the front court responsibilities alongside Meghan Yarnevich.
After the contest, Mulkey reiterated that both are dealing with injuries, with Minaeva set to be reevaluated on Monday and Morro still recovering from a September surgery. Their health will be a storyline moving forward as the Tigers are small without six-foot-three Morro and six-foot-five Minaeva.
This article originally appeared on LSU Wire: Three takeaways from LSU women's basketball's preseason scrimmage
