BATON ROUGE – No. 1 LSU will be back in action Thursday at 7 p.m. CT in the PMAC to take on East Texas Baptist in the Tigers’ first exhibition of the year.
The exhibition will stream on the SEC Network + and fans can also listen on the LSU Sports Radio Network, 107.3 FM in Baton Rouge, with Patrick Wright and Shaeeta Williams.
LSU will have one more exhibition next Thursday against Loyola (NO) before the official start of the season on November 6 against Colorado in the Hall of Fame Series Las Vegas. LSU’s first home game will be on November 9 against Queens (NC). Prior to that game, set to tipoff at 7 p.m. CT, LSU will receive its national championship rings and raise the national championship banner in the PMAC. Doors for that game will open at 5:30 and the ceremony will begin at 6:20.
The Tigers return for Coach Kim Mulkey’s third season in Baton Rouge as the defending national champions. Multiple pieces from last year’s championship return and the Tigers also reloaded with talent through the transfer portal and with the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class.
Preseason AP All-America Angel Reese is back for her second season at LSU after being named the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player. She set the NCAA record last season with 34 double-doubles throughout the year, averaging 23.0 points and 15.4 rebounds per game. Flau’Jae Johnson, the reigning SEC Freshman of the Year, is also back. The Tigers also return key players like Last-Tear Poa, Kateri Poole and Sa’Myah Smith.
The Tigers brought in the top two players out of the transfer portal in Hailey Van Lith and Aneesah Morrow. Van Lith last season at Lousivilee averaged 19.7 points, 3.2 assists and 4.5 rebounds per game last season and was the only player in American other than Iowa’s Caitlin Clark who averaged at least 19 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists. Over the Summer, Van Lith claimed a Gold Medal with Team USA at the 3×3 FIBA World Cup. Morrow comes to LSU after being one of the most dominant players in the country at DePaul over the past two seasons. She and Reese were the only two players in the country to rank inside the top-10 nationally in both scoring and rebounding. As a freshman during the 2021-22 season both the WBCA and USBWA tabbed Morrow as the National Freshman of the Year.
LSU freshman class is made up of Mikaylah Williams, Aalyah Del Rosario, Angelica Velez and Janae Kent. Williams was a highly recruited guard as the top player in her class according to AGSR, Prospects Nation and the Jr. All-Star National rankings. A 6-6 center, Del Rosario was the top post player in the class and was ranked as high as No. 4 overall by Just Women’s Sports. Velez is a shifty guard from the Bronx, New York who was ranked as the No. 21 player in her class by Prospects Nation. Kent is an all-around guard who has the size and athleticism at 6-1 to be a threat anywhere on the floor and was an ESPN Top-100 recruit.