No. 7 LSU Hosts EKU Monday In Season Opener
BATON ROUGE – Coach Kim Mulkey will lead the No. 7 Tigers into her fourth season Monday night in the PMAC at 7 p.m. CT when LSU hosts Eastern Kentucky.
Through her first three seasons in Baton Rouge, Coach Mulkey had led LSU to become one of the most nationally relevant programs across women’s college basketball. The Tigers have been at the epicenter of the sport’s popularity spike in recent seasons, catapulted by the 2023 national championship. A season ago, LSU reached the Elite Eight, but the Tigers return three top starters and will once again look to reach the sport’s top spot this season.
For the second year in a row, season tickets for LSU Women’s Basketball are sold out; single game tickets are still available. In each of Mulkey’s first three seasons leading the program, LSU has set season-long attendance records each year: 112,983 in 2021-22, 148,468 in 2022-23 and 220,932 in 2023-24.
Fans coming to the game are reminded that tickets are all mobile this season. LSU is slated to play three Monday home games throughout the season, each of which will feature a pregame happy hour at concession stands from when the doors open up to 10 minutes until tipoff.
Monday’s game will be streamed on SEC Network+ with Lyn Rollins and Garrett Walvoord. Patrick Wright and Shaeeta Williams will call the action on the LSU Sports Radio Network.
LSU enters the season with one of the best trios in the nation. ESPN released its preseason player rankings with Aneesah Morrow at No. 7, Flau’Jae Johnson at No. 8 and Mikaylah Williams at No. 17. Notre Dame was the only other team with three players listed in the top-20. All three Tigers played a significant role for LSU last year during the run to the Elite Eight.
“They’re not going to change,” Mulkey said. “I expect them to be the same people they’ve been since they’ve been here. They’re not going to pretend to be someone they’re not. They’re great basketball players. They’re going to do their thing and be who they are.”
With 1,229 career rebounds, Morrow goes into the season as the active rebounding leader across NCAA DI. She is 361 rebounds shy of jumping into the top-five in NCAA DI history. Morrow has surpassed that figure in each of her first three college seasons. She also enters the season ranked No. 3 among active NCAA DI players with 2,178 points, but the two players ahead of her are entering their fifth season while Morrow is a true-senior entering her fourth season. She averaged 16.4 points and 10.0 rebounds during her first season at LSU, securing 22 double-doubles.
The multifaceted star Johnson has continually proven that her star is one-of-a-kind. She balances the rigors of being a top player in one of the nation’s premiere programs while also standing out as a rap star. Johnson was the 2023 SEC Freshman of the Year on LSU’s national championship roster and then upped her game as a sophomore to earn Second Team All-SEC honors. Across seven postseason games last year in the SEC and NCAA Tournaments, Johnson led LSU in scoring five times. In the NCAA Tournament she averaged 20.5 points and 6.3 rebounds in four games.
“(Flau’jae) might have been the best guard in the NCAA playoffs last year,” Mulkey said. “I mean, that young lady was phenomenal, and I think what you’re seeing is comfort, a leader. You’re seeing things come easy for her, and it’s because she has all that experience. She puts in the work.”
Williams returns as the reigning SEC Freshman of the Year. In just her fourth college game last season she dropped 42 points against Kent State, the most scored by a LSU freshman in the NCAA era. She showed in her first season the ability to be a volume scorer and now having one season under her belt is poised to build her resume as one of the county’s top players. She averaged 14.5 points a year ago.
Sa’Myah Smith returns after injuring her knee in the seventh game last season. Before her injury she had shown increased production after being on LSU’s national championship team as a 2023 SEC All-Freshman honoree. Aalyah Del Rosario also returns after being on the 2024 SEC All-Freshman team.
The Tigers added a bevy of newcomers too. Guard depth will be bolstered with the additions of transfers Shayeann Day-Wilson, Kailyn Gilbert and Mjracle Sheppard along with freshman Jada Richard. Jersey Wolfenbarger is a 6-5 forward who transferred from Arkansas.