No. 9 LSU Tips Off New Year At Home Against Vanderbilt
BATON ROUGE – No. 9 LSU (13-0, 1-0) will tip off the New Year on Sunday at 2 p.m. CT against Vanderbilt (9-6, 0-1) as the Tigers look to remain undefeated on the season in their first home game of SEC play.
“We’re going to get ready for Vanderbilt,” Coach Kim Mulkey said following Thursday’s win at Arkansas. “I hope we have a great crowd Sunday at home. I know it’s bowl season and all that good stuff, but this group deserves a great crowd Sunday afternoon.”
With a win on Sunday, the Tigers would improve to 14-0 for the third time ever and the first time since the 2005-06 season. Sunday’s game will be streamed on the SEC Network + with Lyn Rollins and Victor Howell. Patrick Wright and Shaeeta Williams will call the game on the LSU Sports Radio Network, 107.3 FM in Baton Rouge.
Following Sunday’s game fans can stick around for postgame autographs with the team which will take place on the upper concourse outside of the Legend’s Club. Sunday is the first of two consecutive home games for the Tigers as they will be back in the PMAC on Thursday at 8 p.m. CT to host Texas A&M.
LSU opened its SEC slate Thursday on the road with an emphatic, 24-point, victory over No. 24 Arkansas in the Tigers’ first matchup of the season against a ranked opponent. Despite shooting a season low .338 from the field in Fayetteville, LSU used elite defense and rebounding to dominate the Razorbacks.
“I don’t know how good we are,” Coach Mulkey said. “When you see each other every day, sometimes you take for granted what you have. I don’t take it for granted; we just go to work. We just know what our goals are.”
The Tigers held the Hogs to season lows in field goals (17), field goal percentage (27.9), free-throw attempts (12), free throws made (five), free-throw percentage (41.7), rebounds (30) and assists (7). LSU outrebounded Arkansas, 62-30, and 23 of them were offensive for the Tigers.
Angel Reese hauled in 16 rebounds and LaDazhia Williams grabbed a career-high 15 as LSU’s two starting post players combined to outrebound the entire Arkansas team. Reese also scored 19 points to record her 13th double-double in as many games this season which is the most by an SEC player to start a season since 1999-00.
Freshman Flau’jae Johnson was impressive in her SEC debut, recording her third double-double of the season with 10 points and 11 boards. Alexis Morris also played key in the road win, scoring 19 pounts with four made threes, dishing the ball for 6 assists and grabbing 5 rebounds.
In Vanderbilt’s SEC opener, the Commodores fell at home to Mississippi State, 72-44. Sacha Washington led Vandy with 11 points and 9 rebounds. Ciaja Harbison, who is averaging 17.8 points per game, was limited to 7 points on 3-17 shooting.