Kim Mulkey explains LSU missing National Anthem vs. Iowa: 'That's nothing intentionally done'

Led by head coach Kim Mulkey, the LSU Tigers entered the Elite Eight against the Iowa Hawkeyes looking to advance to the Final Four and continue the defense of their national championship.

Before the game, some people noticed that LSU didn’t come out for the National Anthem. That was a situation that Mulkey explained after the game as not being done intentionally and coming down to the Tigers’ pregame routine.

“Honestly, I don’t even know when the Anthem was played,” Kim Mulkey said. “We kind of have a routine where we are on the floor and then they come off at the 12-minute mark. We just — I don’t know, we come in and we do our pregame stuff. I’m sorry — listen, that’s nothing intentionally done.”

The game itself was a competitive one throughout. It went into halftime tied after a back-and-forth first half. However, in the third quarter, Iowa was able to pull ahead and didn’t let LSU catch up in the fourth quarter.

A massive part of the win for Iowa was Caitlin Clark. She had 41 points, 12 assists, and seven rebounds in a dominant effort that Kim Mulkey could do nothing after the game but praise.

“There’s not a whole lot of strategy,” Mulkey said. “You’ve got to guard her. Nobody else seems to be able to guard her. We didn’t even guard her last year when we beat them. She’s just a generational player and she just makes everybody around her better.”

With the win, Iowa advanced to the Final Four, where the Hawkeyes will play UConn. Meanwhile, LSU was eliminated and will go back to the drawing board to try and figure out how to make a deep run next season.

Angel Reese shares she will make a decision on her future ‘when I’m ready’

One decision that will have a massive impact on LSU and Kim Mulkey moving forward is whether or not Angel Reese decides to return to LSU. However, for now, it’s still a decision that everyone is going to be waiting on.

“I’ll make a decision when I’m ready,” Reese said during her postgame press conference.

Angel Reese has been one of the stars in the women’s game during her time at LSU and finding a way to replace her, whenever that comes, is going to be very difficult. Still, it doesn’t seem like she’s made a decision about her future just yet.