What they said: LSU WBB after loss to South Carolina

After the deflating 76-70 loss to South Carolina, LSU head coach Kim Mulkey and two of her players spoke with the media about the defeat, what it means for the Tigers moving forward, and what they saw in the game.

Here’s everything they said.

Flau’Jae Johson and Aneesah Morrow

How did y’all ride that adrenaline, and how are you feeling now? 

Flau’Jae Johnson: “Not tired. A little irritated, but not tired. We fought hard, I mean, I think in the first half, we played some great basketball against the number one team in the nation. I’m proud of my teammates. I’m proud of Angel for stepping up and guarding Cardoso big in the first half. I’m proud of Mikaylah for keeping her poise as a freshman. I’m proud of Hailey. She had some mishaps, but overall she hit big shots and she tried to keep us controlled, so I’m proud of everybody.”

Coach in the post-game show said toughness is where you guys were lacking tonight. The ability to finish. You’ve been a part of a couple of different basketball teams. Now, where does this team need to grow still, and what did you prove tonight to yourselves? 

Aneesah Morrow: “Defensively, before I go to offense, because all of us can score the basketball. Defensively, I’ve had to guard some of the top players on each team, and I feel like tonight I feel short for that defensively. So that’s on me, but I feel like as a team, we are coming together and we’re getting to know each other. We are playing together, and this is something that we have to do better as a team.”

When you play in a game like that and it goes down the wire and you just come a little bit short, what’s your feeling walking away from it?

Johnson: “We just got work to do. We got work to do as a team You know our coaches, you know me being a leader I have work to do in those moments I think it’s just gonna be continued playing together I think we needed a game like this where like we had to lead You know what I mean going into the half at the end of each quarter, we gave up threes and we lost by six. So tightening up on things like that. The crowd was loud and into it and we got to be able to communicate better. But like I said, I’m proud like I was a number one team in the nation, a stacked team, you know what I’m saying, but I just felt like we were almost there.”

On South Carolina’s 3-point shooting…

Johnson: “They’re a great team. They got six-seven on the paint. They got 60% shooter from the three in Paopao. They got Bree Hall who’s been playing very well from the three, slashing, driving just a you’re just a great all-around player that can hit big shots and big moments like she did. They really stretched the floor for once and you know our defense is you know five people guarding the ball. It’s hard to do that when you have shooters, so I think in the first half we did a great job helping on Cardoza and getting back to our man. We kind of executed that game plan and down the stretch, they were tougher. They were tougher than us.”

Where did you feel Angel’s absence was missed the most in the last few minutes of the game? 

Morrow: “I would say on the boards. Defensively on the boards, just the presence on the inside, having the experience of her being a senior is a lot.”

Johnson: “Yeah, I’m going to just piggyback off that experience. That was a big hit for us going into the end. We have four minutes left, it’s too much time to not have Angel Reese on the floor. So yeah, the experience. Then we had turnovers, so that’s what you get.”

ESPN brought their full crew to this game. I’m just curious, is that meaningful to you guys? Are you aware of that? Does that elevate this game even beyond playing the number one team in the country? 

Johnson: “I think it’s great that, you know, for women’s basketball, but like me personally, I’ll just focus on the game. Like, I’m going to focus on the game and focus on being in my team. You know, focus on my preparation. But it is great. Look at all of y ‘all in here with all of y ‘all cameras. It’s good to see. But I was just so focused on this game. Like, I wanted this one bad.” 

Morrow: “I would say with everybody being here, it’s a great experience. Never experienced this before. So I’m grateful for that. And like I said, like what Flau’Jae said, I was really locked in on the game and just trying to come out with a win tonight.”

Kim Mulkey

Coach, from your perspective, last couple minutes of the fourth quarter, what went wrong and how did you fall into that hole? 

“When you don’t have Angel Reese on the floor the last four minutes of the game, it takes you out of your rhythm. It takes you out of your confidence zone. I don’t think I put her back in the game too early. She fouled out with four minutes to go, so she would have been in there if I had put her in with five minutes to go. I thought the game came down to exactly what it usually does. It’s just toughness. It’s experience. That was a good basketball game. Our kids fought really hard. And the crowd was outstanding. It was a great atmosphere. And when you don’t have your All -American on the floor to rebound first and to guard Cardozo as well, I thought we battled and did about as well as we could. This game comes down to possessions. At the end of the first quarter, we gave up a three. At the end of the second quarter, we went in too early. They come down, they hit a three. I thought that when we came out in the third quarter, they were tougher than we were. The first five minutes they started rebounding the ball, started taking it right at us. We didn’t get to the foul line. With a team that plays as physical as they do and as tough as they do defensively, you shoot the ball six for 18, we had to get to the foul line and we didn’t do it. They got to the foul line more than we did.” 

Do you feel like you’ve closed thee gap with South Carolina?

“You setting me up because then you have all those South Carolina people jumping on me. That was a good basketball game. There’s a lot of talent on both sides. A possession here, maybe we would have won it a possession there. Maybe we would have won it, but they made the plays to win it and it was just toughness

“We will get in the film room Saturday and get ready for Mississippi State. We will show some of the things. How did we lose the lead? Where did we not help each other on the defensive end? Was that mental fatigue? Was it not communicating? But it was on the far end because we’re on defense down there, so we couldn’t scream and holler at him. There were several possessions on the defensive end where we needed to make stops, and we just didn’t do it.” 

On walking away from this game…

“I’m not into moral victories. Never have been. We had opportunities to win this game and we didn’t. I’m extremely proud of LSU and the atmosphere and what we created here and what we have created here in three years now. It doesn’t get any better than what you experienced tonight.  I’m sure I’ll toss and turn all night. Don’t know if I’ll sleep much, but that’s a personality deal. We’ll learn from it just like we did when we went to South Carolina last year. 

On tonight being a moment for LSU to grow and evolve…

“It’s just a tough pill to swallow. But there are more games to play. Are we a better team tonight and today than we were two weeks ago and three weeks ago? Sure we are. If you’re not getting better, then you’re not doing your job as coaches and as players. And we’re better. We’re better. I think we’re one of the top teams in the country losing to South Carolina the way we did. Send a message that we’re not going away.”

What did you think of your team’s kind of in-game decision making tonight? 

“Better but not polished. Not tough. I thought they really wanted it. I thought they really worked hard. But we just have to clean up some things and we will. 

“How did you see Angel react to the foul trouble and how she fell into in the fourth quarter? 

“I hadn’t really talked to Angel. I know that she was cramping up and asked me to call a timeout right there one time, but I’m not going to talk about fouls. If Angel could do it over again, she wouldn’t have been even near that fifth foul, but that’s. That’s how it goes sometimes.” 

On the overwhelming support the program has received…

“It makes you proud. It reminds me of what I told Holly Rowe before the game. When I had my first press conference here, I said all I want to do is come back to this state and do something positive. Little did I know at that time we would do what we have done in such a short period of time. So now we have probably created a monster. And we have to keep feeding it. And that’s the challenging and hard part. You grind and you grind and you grind. And I’m no spring chicken. How much do you keep grinding or do you just do like Saban did and say, I’ve had enough? Because people forget how hard it is. Do y ‘all realize what we’ve done in three years is ridiculous? But that’s what we do as competitors as coaches type -a personalities. It’s hard and I’m forever grateful to the community at LSU. We will just keep doing what we do.”