COLUMBIA, Mo. – No. 5 LSU (16-0, 4-0 SEC) will be on the road Thursday at 6 p.m. CT to take on Missouri (14-3, 3-1) on the SEC Network as the Tigers look to continue the best start in program history.
Thursday’s game will be televised on the SEC Network with Eric Frede and Tamika Catchings. Patrick Wright will call the game on the LSU Sports Radio Network, 107.3 FM in Baton Rouge.
LSU is off to its best start in program history and the Tigers are one of three remaining undefeated teams in the country, but the LSU will take on a Missouri team that has a lot of returning pieces and has the capability to make a lot of shots from the perimeter.
“I know what I saw last year, and they have four of their five starters back,” Coach Kim Mulkey said. “They shot the ball uncharacterizable poor in their last outing against Arkansas. They spread the floor on you. We’re going to have to guard all five positions out there with the exception of one post that they have that doesn’t go out there and shoot it.”
LaDazhia Williams will make her return to Mizzou Arena. After playing at Missouri for two seasons and graduating from there, Williams joined LSU over the summer as a grad-transfer. Williams is the only starter from Missouri last year that did not return to this year’s team.
“She was friends with Te’a Cooper,” Coach Kim Mulkey said of Williams. “Te’a Cooper transferred to me at Baylor. She and LaDazhia both played at South Carolina together. They both left South Carolina and remained friends. I think what the interest was with LaDazhia coming to play for me was Te’a Cooper telling her, ‘I played for that woman for a year and what she does with post players, you might want to go check it out.’”
Angel Reese has led the way for the Tigers with a double-double in every game this season. On Tuesday she won her fourth SEC Player of the Week honor of the season after scoring 26 and grabbing a LSU-record 28 rebounds last Thursday. Then on Sunday at Kentucky she had 26 points and 13 rebounds.
Flau’jae Johnson has been an impressive freshman, scoring in double-figures in each of her first four conference games. She had 26 points during Sunday’s win at Kentucky.
LSU has won its four SEC games by an average of 27.0 points.
Missouri is coming off a 22-point loss, but the Tigers shot the ball uncharacteristically bad at 29.0-percent from the field – a season-low shooting percentage. Missouri is shooting the ball 45.3-percent from the field this season to rank No. 5 in the SEC. Throughout the season, Missouri has shot 35.5-percent from three-point range to rank second in the SEC as the Tigers make 7.76 threes per game as a team that likes to shoot the ball from deep.
Haley Frank and Lauren Hansen lead the Tigers scoring 14.8 and 13.6 points per game, respectively.
Last year’s LSU vs. Missouri game was a thriller in Baton Rouge that went to overtime. Khayla Pointer hit a layup with 5.7 second remaining in OT to break a tie and Alexis Morris blocked a Missouri layup attempt as time expired to allow LSU to win, 87-85.