BATON ROUGE, La. – The LSU women’s basketball team will enter the 2026-27 season as the No. 9 team in this year’s preseason AP Poll.
It will mark the sixth consecutive season in which the Tigers have been ranked inside the top-10 at any point. The streak of six consecutive seasons with time spent inside the top-10 is tied for the longest in program history. LSU had six straight seasons from 2002-08 that LSU spent time in the top-10.
Coach Kim Mulkey will lead her sixth team at LSU ahead of the 52nd season of LSU Women’s Basketball. She enters her 27th season as a Division I head coach with an overall record of 783-130 (.857). Through five seasons in Baton Rouge, Mulkey has led the Tigers to a 151-26 (.859) mark.
Mulkey is closing in on 800 career wins and ranks 22nd among women’s basketball head coaches in all-time wins. Heading into the season, Mulkey would be one of 18 head coaches to reach the 800-career win milestone.
LSU returns key players including Mikaylah Williams, a first-team All-SEC guard and MiLaysia Fulwiley, the 2026 SEC Sixth Woman of the Year. Three sophomores from the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class a season ago return including Johnson, an All-SEC freshman, Grace Knox and Meghan Yarnevich.
Joining LSU’s team from the transfer portal includes point guard Jada Williams from Iowa State, guard Laila Reynolds from Florida and guard Chloe Larry from Tennessee Tech. Newcomers to the college basketball scene include LSU’s freshman Lola Lampley out of Indiana and international standouts Noa Morro from Spain and Anna Minaeva from Russia. Collectively, LSU returned five players and welcomed six newcomers to round out its roster of 11.
The Tigers have two exhibition games on October 22 and October 29, both of which are free for fans to attend in the PMAC. LSU will officially open its season on November 2 at home against Southeastern Louisiana.
The Southeastern Conference has seven teams ranked in the preseason AP poll including No. 1 South Carolina, No. 6 Texas, No. 8 Vanderbilt, No. 9 LSU, No. 14 Kentucky, No. 19 Ole Miss and No. 21 Oklahoma. LSU will also face preseason No. 2 UConn in Nashville at Bridgestone Arena and No. 12 North Carolina on the road in Chapel Hill for the SEC/ACC Challenge. LSU will also face preseason No. 25 NC State at the Fort Myers Tip-Off on November 28.
AP Poll (Preseason; Oct. 20)
- South Carolina
- UConn
- USC
- Duke
- Michigan
- Texas
- Louisville
- Vanderbilt
- LSU
- Iowa
- UCLA
- North Carolina
- Notre Dame
- Kentucky
- TCU
- Washington
- Minnesota
- Ohio State
- Ole Miss
- Maryland
- Oklahoma
- Oklahoma State
- Illinois
- West Virginia
- NC State