Kim Mulkey calls out 'poorly officiated game' in loss to Alabama

The referees did not cause the loss for the LSU Tigers in Tuscaloosa last night. They played too much of a role in the game, though, said Kim Mulkey.

Mulkey said the 88-85 loss for No. 7 LSU to No. 20 Alabama was “a poorly-officiated game” not necessarily because of the calls but how the amount of whistles affected it. She said she’d have felt that way regardless of the outcome and thought the other sideline would’ve felt that way as well.

“Yes. Yes,” Mulkey said when asked about the amount of stoppages. “That was a poorly-officiated game and, I bet if you’d ask Kristy Curry, she’d tell you the same thing. It wouldn’t have mattered if we would’ve won or lost.

“That was a poorly – it just didn’t flow for either team.”

Mulkey added that it didn’t just make it difficult for the players on the court but did so for the coaches as well in trying to understand what was going on in the game.

“Too much stopping. Think of all the things you saw take place tonight. Is that basketball?” Mulkey asked. “Um, I don’t even know some of (the) things. I was asking questions, like, ‘What is that call? What are you saying? Why are you going to the monitor now?’

“It was a hard game to coach. I kept trying to find answers from the officials. ‘What are you looking at? What are you going to the monitor for?’ One time, they went to the monitor to look at somebody getting hit in the throat that happened two plays before. I don’t know. You know, I just got – it was just too much going on. It was too much, too busy.”

‘Bama led LSU for much of this game and by as much as 13. With a second-half edge of eleven, though, the Tigers got back in the fourth quarter to get it into overtime. A basket would then be the difference in the final frame as, down two, Mikaylah Williams split two free throws and missed a layup in the final thirty seconds that either would have tied or won the game.

Williams led LSU with 22 points (47.1% FG) while Aneesah Morrow (16), who filled the box score, Sa’Myah Smith (15), and Mjracle Sheppard also put up double-figures. The Tide then had a winning quarter of their own in Aaliyah Nye (28), Sarah Ashlee Barker (21), Essence Cody (17), and Zaay Green (15).

The officials did have some effect on the Top-20 matchup in T-Town. Still, Mulkey was sure to say that it wasn’t an outcome-changing one with how the two teams played.

“Let me make it clear. They had nothing to do with us losing. We had a chance to win the game, right, and we didn’t because we didn’t deserve to win. Alabama deserved to win that game,” Mulkey said. “I’ll say it again. You got two free throws to tie it, the ball in your hands to win it. And I’ll still say, had we won, we would not have deserved to win.”