Takeaways from LSU WBB's 69-60 win over Ole Miss

LSU knew it was in for a grinding game on Thursday night against Ole Miss, the No. 4 team in the SEC. Coming off of the South Carolina game, the emphasis was to find a way to win the game, no matter how it looked, and the Tigers accomplished that. LSU improved to 24-1 and 12-1 in the SEC with a 69-60 win in the PMAC over a Rebels team that refused to go away.

“I told you it would be a grind. They’re all going to be a grind,” Mulkey said. “Angel responded on the boards and that’s what I’m most pleased with. Ole Miss crashed the boards at all positions and it was a grind. We got our hands on a lot of balls and forced steals and that was a big part of the scouting report as well.

“You want everyone to do well, but it’s a grind. We won. I can’t sit here and be negative at this time of the year. We’re tired. Everybody is tired but you gotta fight through it. You’ll get your second wind when we get to March.”

Here are my takeaways from the win.

Angel Reese rebounds

Reese ended the game with 36 points and 20 rebounds, single-handedly saving this LSU offense with eight offensive rebounds and an efficient 12-of-21 shooting performance to go with a 12-of-14 outing at the free throw line. Reese’s relentless energy really showed up in the third quarter when the Tigers were scrambling for answers offensively. A pair of and-one buckets in the second half helped LSU pull away. 

Reese talked about letting her team down against South Carolina and her outing successfully carried her team back into the win column and made up for the last performance. If Reese was not dominant, we would be talking about a two-game losing skid for this team.

It was also her first 30-point and 20-rebound performance of the year.

More struggles on offense

LSU associate head coach Bob Starkey called Ole Miss one of the best defensive teams in the SEC and the Rebels proved why, with impressive athleticism and activity on the perimeter. The Tigers did a great job taking care of the ball with only 11 turnovers and got to the line 30 times, making 24, but they ended the game shooting just 32.8 percent from the field.

Outside of Reese, the rest of the LSU roster shot just 10-of-46 in the win. Jasmine Carson and Flau’jae Johnson have continued to struggle offensively against these stingy defenses, while Alexis Morris ended with 15 points, but was 3-of-18 from the field after her stellar outing against South Carolina.

The Tigers also had zero points off the bench between Last-Tear Poa, Kateri Poole, and S’Myah Smith. We know what we’re getting from Angel Reese and Alexis Morris, but the final three games will be about getting the rest of the team ready for a postseason run on offense. These were really good tests for Mulkey’s team, facing the top two defenses in the SEC in back-to-back games.

What’s next?

The final three games on the schedule are Florida (3-10 in SEC) on the road on Sunday, then Vanderbilt (2-11), and Mississippi State (7-6), a much easier slate for LSU to close the season than what the Tigers faced the past month over the past seven games. Still, this team continues to find ways to win.

Our concerns early in the conference season was that this team was not being challenged and would not be ready for tight games in the postseason, well five of the last seven games were decided by single digits and another was a 24-point loss to South Carolina. I feel a lot better about this team now, after seeing them overcome some adversity.

If LSU can win these final three games and end the regular season 26-1, then they could be a few wins in the conference tournament away from a No.1 seed. Mulkey believes the non-conference schedule will be too much to overcome for a one-seed, but we’ll have to see how the rest of the country ends the season.