LSU takes on Ohio State for chance to advance to the Sweet 16
LSU women’s basketball held Senior Night on Feb. 24 when the Tigers’ five seniors including four starters took a post-game lap around the Pete Maravich Assembly Center's Dale Brown Court following an 8-point win over Alabama.
The Tigers will stage Senior Night Part 2 Monday night at 7 p.m. in the PMAC when they play Ohio State in an NCAA tournament sub-regional second round game. If LSU wins to advance to the Sweet 16 in the Spokane Regional to play No. 2 seed Texas (28-6) Friday night, the seniors might run a victory lap around the entire campus.
“I just know that we just have to go all out,” LSU senior center Faustine Aifuwa said. “It's win or go home and doing it in our home court with our fans for the last time is definitely going to be needed.”
LSU has priced tickets at $20 each – “I think it’s pretty cheap,” Tigers’ coach Kim Mulkey said – in order to provide the third-seeded Tigers (26-5) as big a home court advantage as possible vs. the sixth-seeded Buckeyes (24-6) of the Big Ten Conference.
Both teams won fierce first-round battles Saturday. LSU used a 19-3 run in the final five minutes to rally from a 10-point deficit in an 83-77 win over 14th seeded Jackson State and Ohio State had a 12-4 burst in the last four minutes to subdue 11th seeded Missouri State 63-56.
“It's supposed to be tougher every step of the way, but sometimes it's just the excitement, sometimes for some teams it's nerves and sometimes it's a good matchup,” said LSU's first-year coach Mulkey, who’s trying to reach the Sweet 16 and beyond for the 16th time after doing it 15 times in her previous 21 years coaching Baylor. “I don't know that we're going to play any different than we did yesterday. I don't know that Ohio State is. Everybody's trying to survive and advance.”
The Tigers moved on because grad student guard Khayla Pointer refused to let her team lose. She had a hand in 14 of LSU’s points in its finishing kick with 8 points, 3 assists, 3 rebounds and 2 steals.
“It's March, everybody knows seeding doesn't matter,” said Pointer, who finished with 26 points, 8 assists, 9 rebounds and 4 steals. “We have seen it on the men's side. We've seen it on the women's side. It is about who wants it the most and who is trying to extend their season. And, you know, the game is survive and advance.”
The Tigers, who hadn’t played a game in two weeks prior to facing JSU, feels like the rust and jitters are now gone heading into round two.
Also, LSU is hoping it gets more quality minutes from redshirt junior guard Alexis Morris, who scored 8 points on 8 of 9 free throws in 18:09 playing time off the bench vs. Jackson State including three free throws in the final 23 seconds.
It was the first game for Morris, the Tigers’ second leading scorer on the season, since she sustained strained ligaments on LSU’s first Senior Night just more than four weeks ago.
“She hit all those free throws for us, so that was good,” Mulkey said of Morris. “She's cleared to play, and I think the game will dictate when she goes in and how much she plays.”
Ohio State coach Kevin McGuff personally scouted the LSU-Jackson State and was suitably impressed.
“LSU did what they always do and what Kim's teams always do," McGuff said. “They played incredibly hard. They were physical. They defended at a high level. They were really, really aggressive on the boards. Then, they had a combination of driving the ball and making open shots from their perimeter players who were very, very talented.”
Like LSU, Ohio State has a trio of guards that account for the bulk of the offense.
All-Big Team first-team junior Jacy Sheldon, who had 25 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 5 steals in Saturday’s win over Missouri State, averages a team-leading 19.7 points per game. Senior Taylor Mikesell averages 18.6 points and senior Braxtin Miller averages 6.4 points.
“They definitely shoot the ball really well,” LSU’s Aifuwa said of the Buckeyes’ guards. “They make about eight threes a game. Kind of want to cut that in half and limit them to one shot with our rebounding and defense and not allowing them to get easy shots.”