By the time No. 3 seed LSU takes the Pete Maravich Assembly Center court Friday afternoon at 4:30. for its NCAA tournament first-round game vs. No. 14 seed Hawaii, it will be almost two weeks since the Lady Tigers lost to Tennessee in the SEC tourney semifinals.
LSU blew a 17-point lead and failed to execute a play in the final seconds as designed by second-year head coach Kim Mulkey that may have prevented a 69-68 loss.
Since it was just the second defeat of the season for the 28-2 Lady Tigers, Mulkey acted as if she thought the loss wouldn’t hurt LSU’s chances at getting at least a No. 2 NCAA tourney seed.
Despite LSU’s weak non-conference schedule, Mulkey believed an SEC regular season second place finish with 15-1 league record (the lone loss at No. 1 South Carolina) and eight consecutive weeks of being ranked in the top five in the pools was enough street cred with the NCAA selection committee.
But apparently it wasn’t. The Lady Tigers have been tabbed as a No. 3 seed for the second straight season and talking heads on the ESPN and SEC Networks are still questioning LSU’s collapse vs. Tennessee and basically discounting the rest of LSU’s consistently successful season.
“I don't think we've gotten any disrespect, but then again I don't read social media,” Mulkey said in Thursday’s press conferences. “I don't pay much attention to people's opinions.”
LSU players certainly have. And unlike last season with an almost-entirely different roster when the Lady Tigers had to rally from a 10-point deficit with five minutes left to avoid an NCAA first-round upset in the PMAC in an 83-77 win over 14th seed Jackson State, LSU is giving 18-14 Hawaii full respect.
“Good team, you just can't sleep on them,” said LSU sophomore forward Angel Reese, the SEC’s leading scorer and rebounder who was named first-team All-American Wednesday by the AP and the USBWA. “You can't sleep on anybody going into the tournament. They are not going to give up.
“You saw in the Tennessee game we were up 17 at one point and we laid down. Just making sure we put our foot on the pedal from the first quarter to the fourth quarter and take care of business.”
Mulkey said the end of the Tennessee game has injected even more passion and effort into Reese’s game.
“After showing them the film and her being a part of that last play against Tennessee when she didn't do what she was supposed to do, I think it gnaws at her,” Mulkey said. “And she's had very good practices. Not that she doesn't, but I have been able to say to the staff that she's on another level again right now.”
LSU All-SEC first-team senior guard Alexis Morris has personal motivation also. She sprained a knee late in the regular season a year ago and was less than full speed (averaging 5.5 points and 16 minutes going 1 of 9 from the field) in the Lady Tigers’ two NCAA tourney games including the season-ending loss to Ohio State.
“It hit me this morning that I was injured last year,” Morris said. “I'm just happy to be here. I just want to survive and advance and get to the Final Four.”
Hawaii has won 10 of its last 12 games including a 61-59 win last Saturday over UC Santa Barbara to repeat as Big West Conferece champions.
“This is a huge opportunity to play against the best of the best,” said Hawaii guard Lily Wahinekapu, who leads the team averaging 12.6 points. “I guess just playing hard and giving everything you have and taking advantage of this opportunity that we get.”
The winner of the LSU-Hawaii game advances to Sunday’s second round against the winner of Friday’s first game between No. 6 seed Michigan (22-9) vs. No. 11 seed UNLV (31-2).
