Takeaways from LSU WBB's 76-68 win over Tennessee

No. 3 LSU faced its toughest challenge of the season on Monday night in front of a record crowd in the PMAC against an extremely talented Tennessee team. The game lived up to the hype as Kim Mulkey’s team was pushed early and often by the Lady Volunteers (16-8, 8-1), but pulled out the 76-68 win. 

The Tigers improved to 21-0 on the season and 9-0 in SEC play with the win, silencing any concerns moving into the final month of the regular season.

“I didn’t see an empty seat,” Mulkey said. “It was everything young people need to experience in college and thank you to all of the people that made that happen. [Tennessee] should be ranked in the top 25. That’s the best offensive rebounding team we’ve played this year by far. Going into halftime we were down seven on the boards and we finished plus seven. We have not played the schedule they have so let’s go see if we’re any good. Next game up, that’s just how we approached it.”

Here are my takeaways from the win.

Alexis Morris delivers

The senior guard has been inconsistent at times this year, entering the night just third on the team in scoring. It felt as though she was picking her spots throughout the season and trying to create for others more, but on Monday night, LSU needed her to score and she was fantastic.

Morris ended the night with 31 points on 11 of 23 shooting, but even more important than her efficiency was her ability to control the pace of the game. Tennessee continued to change defenses and Morris was often the answer. Tennessee swarmed the Tigers’ forward and the result was Morris delivering her best game of the season.

If that’s the Alexis Morris this team gets in games against quality opponents, that significantly raises the ceiling of this team come March.

Flau’jae’s incredible defense

The true freshman stared down one of the best players in the SEC and shut her down. Flau’jae Johnson was on Jordan Horston for a majority of the game and held the Tennessee star to two points on 1-of-11 shooting through three quarters. Even in the fourth, when Horston scored nine points in an effort to come back, everything was difficult.

There were even times Johnson was on Rickea Jackson, Tennessee’s other star scorer, and held her own. Morris was awesome, but the game ball for me would go to Johnson for her rebounding (eight boards) and defense in 34 minutes.

“What Flau’jae did tonight on Horston, she won’t realize it tonight, but she will tomorrow. What a freshman did guarding a first round draft pick. That’s when you get better,” Mulkey said. “You listen, you observe and you see you did contribute, playing 34 minutes and guarded a first round pick. I was so proud of her tonight, in more ways than I’ve been in any game she played this year. Boy, did she grow up tonight.”

As a team, I thought it was a really strong defensive showing. The active hands, helpside defense activity, transition defense, and forcing bad shooters to take 3-pointers all played a part in holding the Lady Volunteers to 41 percent shooting with 16 turnovers.

Adjusting to the adjustments

Tennessee came out of the gates and attacked LSU on the glass. The Tigers took the punch in the first half, allowing 12 offensive boards as the Lady Vols’ size and athleticism posed a real problem.

In the second half, though, LSU allowed only two offensive boards and consistently was in better positions to fight for the loose balls. 

The next adjustment was to break Tennessee’s press in the second half. The tigers had rarely faced a press all season and were clearly bothered when Tennessee went to it in order to get back into the game. Eventually, Morris took control and was able to dribble through the crowds and attack.

The late game offense wasn’t perfect, but whether it was man, zone, or press, LSU responded well. Credit to Mulkey and her veteran point guard.

What this means moving forward

LSU slid up to No. 3 in the AP Poll earlier on Monday afternoon and with this win, I think further cemented itself as national title contenders in the country. Tennessee was unranked, but anyone who knows the women’s game knows how talented and capable it is.

The win perfectly sets up the clash with South Carolina on Feb. 12. The Tigers have two more games, one against Texas A&M and one against Georgia, two winnable games, before the high-level clash.

The win answers a lot of questions of this team’s defense, rebounding, and offense in tight games, but there’s plenty to work on if this squad wants to take down South Carolina in two weeks and close in on a perfect regular season.

Fans are bought in. The team knows what it’s capable of. 

LSU has a national title contender on its hands.