No. 5 LSU moves to 20-0 with 80-63 win at Florida

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – No. 5 LSU (20-0, 5-0 SEC) remained unbeaten Sunday in Gainesville against Florida (11-9, 1-3 SEC), 80-63, as the Tigers had two players score 20+ points for the 11th time this season. This is the second time over the past three seasons and in program history LSU has been 20-0.

“Any victory on the road in our league is an accomplishment, but we know what we face next, a tremendous challenge to play the defending champions, and do it at their place,” Coach Kim Mulkey said.

LSU will return to the court on Thursday as it travels to Columbia to take on the No. 2 South Carolina Gamecocks. LSU’s matchup against the defending national championship will tip off at 7 p.m. CT on ESPN. Thursday will mark ESPN’s first women’s basketball College Gameday show of the season which will begin one hour before tip.

Aneesah Morrow once again recorded a double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds. It was her 10th consecutive double-double and the 92nd of her career (in her 123rd career game) which is tied for the second most in NCAA DI history with Oregon’s Jillian Alleyne. Although Morrow will not be able to set the record, she has the opportunity to become the second player ever with 100 career double-doubles. Courtney Paris holds the record with 128 during her career at Oklahoma.

Mikaylah Williams had a game-high 22 points with 8 rebounds, and Flau’jae Johnson finished with 19 points and four rebounds. Five LSU players finished with two assists.

The Gators were led by Liv McGill, who finished with 20 points and 6 assists. Laila Reynolds contributed with 16 points and 4 boards. 

Mulkey has won at least 20 games in all 25 seasons of her head coaching career. 

Although Florida outrebounded LSU by six, LSU’s defensive pressure forced 24 Florida turnovers that helped give the Tigers an edge in the game. The Tigers only committed nine turnovers and outscored the Gators 25-9 in points off turnovers. 

After three consecutive games of not doing so, LSU met its defensive goal of limiting opponents to shoot below 40-percent from the field. The Gators were at 38-percent on Sunday.

“We’ve got to continue to get better defensively,” Coach Mulkey said. “We have got to learn to trust each other. Sometimes we leave each other on an island.”

LSU came out the gates hot and went up 7-0 through the first three possessions, but after a quick Florida timeout, the Gators responded with a 9-0 run of their own. The Gators won the quarter by a score of 21-15, while Williams had a team-high 6 points in the first quarter off of two threes.

Once again in the second quarter LSU started strong with a 7-0 run to regain the lead as the Tigers’ defense tightened up. The Tigers were able to outscore the Gators 22-10 in the second period. The first half ended with LSU holding a 37-33 lead. 

LSU started the third quarter on a 16-5 run as the Tigers built their lead to double figures. The Tigers’ stout defense to start the period paid off, as they were able to take their largest lead of the game via back to back buckets from Williams to push the advantage to 13. The third quarter ended with LSU leading the Gators, 59-48. 

The fourth and final period saw the Tigers extend their lead to as much as 20 points, as the team put the finishing touches on their 20th win overall and 5th win in the SEC this season. LSU was able to hold the Gators scoreless in the first 5:47 of the final period, allowing the Tigers to further extend the lead as the clock winded down with a 17-0 run. The game ended in favor of the Tigers, 80-63.

*LSU press release

Kim Mulkey quotes

On facing South Carolina next

“I can’t even think about South Carolina. I’ve got to think about snow and ice when I get home, so we’re gonna enjoy this victory today. Any victory on the road in our league is is an accomplishment. We know what we face next and it’s a tremendous challenge to play the defending champions and do it at their place.”

What was the difference?

I’d have to go back and look. I want it might have been uh turnovers, it might have been uh just better defense, given them one shot at it, rebounding the ball and explod to the other end of the floor. I’d have to go, uh, just look at ahem and nail it down, but off the top of my head, I think we just came out, went on that 17-0 run in the fourth floor, but we did that when the game started too, on a 7-0 run, then it was a battle for a while. How did they keep it close in my opinion? I thought they rebounded with us. In fact, they ended up out rebounding us, but listen, when you can empty your bench and play everybody on your team with five minutes to go in the game and you’re up 28, knowing what we face next, that’s a good day.”

On the offensive performance…

“Just off the top of my head, we we took care of the ball. We didn’t have a lot of turnovers today. We didn’t do good in the first half rebounding. 
A lot of long rebounds — our guards have to help us rebound even when we go to the small lineup, which I did in the first half. I would say taking care of the ball and we didn’t have any what I would just say bad forced shots. We we we took care of the ball and got good looks.”