LSU stars "ready to go" after battling injuries entering March

LSU stars Flau’Jae Johnson and Aneesah Morrow both have had a busy past few weeks, constantly rehabbing and looking to get back to 100 percent for the NCAA Tournament. Morrow dealt with a foot bruise, while Johnson had been battling shin inflammation. The two returned to practice on Monday, giving them a full week of preparation before their first game against San Diego State late Saturday night.

Johnson walked into LSU’s pre-tournament press conference with a unique compression shoe that warms her foot and takes pressure off of her foot, but the junior guard insists that she’s notonlyr ready to go, but has used the past few weeks to take her game to the next level.

“It really hasn’t been difficult,” Johnson said. “Being out at first, it was like a change for me, but it really did change my perspective, and I think for the better. I feel like in that little short time, those three weeks, I feel like I got my mental in order. I feel like I’ve become a better teammate. I feel like I’m seeing the game from a different point of view, so I could help my team. At first it was hard. I learned to love the hard stuff. I learned to love conditioning. I learned to love just the little things a little bit more. So it ain’t really been that difficult.”

Johnson always brings the energy and the challenge for her in these high-stakes games will be to maintain her level on both ends of the court. She’s a pivotal part of the Tigers’ defense and without her, the Tigers lacked a wing presence. LSU head coach Kim Mulkey has been pleased with what she’s seen from her star guard so far.

“She’s looking pretty good,” Mulkey said. “She’s hitting shots and she smiles when she does good. She wants extra reps. She doesn’t want anybody subbing in for her. She’s just ready to go. Flau’Jae just has a joy about her. I guess we’ll see when the lights are turned on how long she can last conditioning-wise and how productive she can be when she’s out there on the floor.”

Morrow has been such a steady presence, that there’s no questioning her impact on the game when she’s aggressive and now in her final year, she’s looking to lead the Tigers to a deep postseason run.

Between the two, there are no excuses.

“If you get on that court, you’re not hurt,” Johnson said. “You get on that court and tell coach you’re good to go, then there’s no excuse. For me, I just try to take every precaution. I’ve been doing more treatment than I’ve ever done in my life, really learning how to take care of my body.The boot was more so really like a precaution. They told me you can get out of the boot, but I’m like, no, I’m doing good. I’m not changing nothing up. That’s just how I am.”

The precaution may seem excessive, but these two have done everything possible to give themselves a chance at making the Final Four this year. It’s the most important time of the year and after two weeks off, there’s an urgency that they are maximizing their potential with this LSU roster.

“First, I would say we held each other accountable,” Morrow said of the past two weeks. “We made goals for each other. Everybody needs to be in the gym at this time. You have a sign-in sheet. We did that amongst captains, and we were like, if we’re able to do this and there’s some people relaxing right now, then we’re getting ten steps ahead of those people that are relaxing.

“Just staying together within those two weeks, but also challenging yourself. What is something in your game that you have to work on? If it’s free throws, if it’s jump shots, if it’s finishing around the basket, those are the things we worked on in our two weeks.”