Sad news for LSU Tiger:I wish never to play again
|However, the early outcomes in Baton Rouge have been uneventful. On the first day of the 2023–24 season, LSU lost 92–78 to then-No. 20 Colorado, making history as the first national champion to lose its season opener since 1995. Since then, the Tigers have defeated Queens, Mississippi Valley State, and Kent State by at least thirty points and scored more than 100 points in each contest; however, the narrative has focused more on their weaknesses than their strength.
They trailed early in the third quarter against Kent State, which hasn’t participated in the NCAA tournament in more than 20 years, but they went on a massive second-half run to win easily, mainly thanks to freshman Mikaylah Williams’ outstanding shooting. They led by just two at halftime on Tuesday.
Mulkey appears to be resolving some personnel issues but has been primarily focused on LSU’s defense. In addition to early issues resulting from a lack of chemistry and playing time together, Reese did not play the entire game against Kent State and Kateri Poole, who started toward the end of LSU’s championship run, was benched for the second half of the match. Mulkey explained the absences by saying it was a “coach’s decision.”
We break down everything we’ve learned about LSU so far, including the good and the bad, the promising and the potentially concerning, ahead of the Tigers’ fifth game of the season on Friday (8 p.m. ET, ESPN+) at Southeastern Louisiana, which caused the Tigers problems the previous year.