LSU Looks To Match Best Regular Season Record vs. Mississippi State
BATON ROUGE – No. 5 LSU (26-1, 14-1) can match the best regular season record in program history (2004-05) on Sunday at 5 p.m. CT when the Tigers welcome Mississippi State (20-8, 9-6 SEC) to the PMAC to finish the regular season on the SEC Network.
In a SEC Network triple-header, LSU and Mississippi State will square off in the final regular season game of the conference slate with Eric Frede and Matthew Mitchell on the call. Patrick Wright and Shaeeta Williams will call the game on the LSU Sports Radio Network, 107.3 FM in Baton Rouge.
Standing room only tickets are still for sale.
Sunday will be senior day for LSU as Jasmine Carson, Alexis Morris, Emily Ward and LaDazhia Williams will be honored at halftime.
“Senior day is coming up Saturday at five o’clock against maybe the hottest team in the SEC right now,” Coach Kim Mulkey said. “They are really, really playing good to get off that bubble and get to the NCAA Tournament.”
LSU already has the No. 2 seed in the SEC shored up. The Tigers could still grab a share of the SEC regular season title if they were to win on Sunday and South Carolina were to lose to Georgia, but the Gamecocks would still own the tiebreaker for the No. 1 seed. LSU will play next Friday at the SEC Tournament at 6 p.m. CT and its opponent will be determined Thursday in a matchup between the No. 10 and No. 7 seeds.
Angel Reese has recorded 26 double-doubles in her first year at LSU and with another on Sunday, she would tie Sylvia Fowles’ record for most double-doubles in a season. Reese already broke Fowles’ record of 19-consectuive double-doubles when she began this year with 23 in a row. Nine of Reese’s double-doubles have come in the first half, including in each of the past three games. She is averaging 23.7 points and 15.6 rebounds on the season.
The Tigers have a list of other players that have helped lead LSU to one of its best seasons ever up until this point. Alexis Morris has been a force moving from the off guard to the point guard position with 24.1 points per game and 4.3 assists per game. Flau’jae Johnson has played as one of the top freshmen in the SEC, averaging 11.9 points per game. Jasmine Carson has made 10 threes over the past two games for the Tigers and LaDazhia Williams has been a calming presence in the post now with back-to-back double figure scoring games.
Mississippi State won its 20th game of the year over Arkansas on Thursday and the Bulldogs have won five of their past six games, currently sitting as the No. 5 seed for the SEC Tournament. First year head coach Sam Purcell has Mississippi State playing its best basketball as it gears up for postseason play.
Jessika Carter provides a 6-5 presence in the paint for the Bulldogs, and she leads the team with 14.8 points and 7.8 rebounds per game. Mississippi State features quick guards that can take defenders off the dribble to the hoop. JerKaila Jordan score 11.8 per game while Ahlana Smith, Asianae Johnson, Debreasha Powe and Anastasia Hayes all hover between eight and nine point per contest. Jordan, Smith and Johnson all shoot the three ball at a clip higher than 42-percent.