1 week Ago
LSU’s Last-Tear Poa (13) provides close defense as Murray State's Haven Ford drives down court in the first half of the LSU vs Murray State game Friday in LSU’s Pete Maravich Assembly Center. Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save Things may have felt uneasy. But when the LSU women’s basketball team regrouped at halftime, down nine points to a red-hot Murray State squad, it settled on two key adjustments it could use to wrestle back control of a game that was on track to become an upset.
One was supposed to fatigue the Racers and slow their transition offense. The other was meant in part to take away the space they were finding on the 3-point arc, which Murray State had used Friday to outscore LSU by 20 points in the second quarter. Both modifications worked as intended, helping the No.
7 Tigers build a 23-point advantage across the third and fourth quarters and avoid an upset loss to Murray State. “We haven't really faced any adversity up until this point,” Flau’jae Johnson said, “and I think this is a good way for us to learn and try to come back and do something about the hole that we dug ourselves into.” To climb back into the game, LSU engaged its full-court press and tweaked the way it defended Murray State’s ball screens.
Before they made the switch, the Tigers were asking their post players to stay glued to the screener, while their guards either chased the ballhandler or ducked under the screen. LSU changed that approach in the second half. On defense, the Tigers started to hedge Racer screens, coach Kim Mulkey said, moving their taller, longer post defenders farther out on the perimeter so they could deter Murray State’s guards from driving the lane or stepping into open 3-pointers.
LSU then used the press as a way to ensure that some of the open 3s the Racers did find across the third and fourth quarters would fall short. "We were just trying to use up the clock," Mulkey said about LSU's press, "and we were trying to make them tired so those shots that they were making early in the first half, they would miss them. And they did.
" Murray State attempted 14 3-pointers in each half. In the first, it converted six, and in the second, it made zero. The Racers also scored 11 fast-break points in the first half, then tallied only three in the second.
After shooting 52% from the field and scoring 20 paint points across the first and second quarters, Murray State shot 15% and notched six paint points across the third and fourth. The work LSU did on the defensive end of the floor allowed it to find a better flow on the offensive end. Johnson scored 12 of her 25 points and dished out four of her five assists in the second half, helping LSU punctuate its come-from-behind win.
Transfer point guard Shayeann Day-Wilson also chipped in seven second-half points and four second-half assists. And star forward Aneesah Morrow added nine points and seven rebounds across the third and fourth quarters. On defense, she and Johnson picked up four of the seven steals that LSU tallied in the second half.
“When we went to a hedge with the post in the second half,” Mulkey said, “(Morrow) was up there doing things, just playing hard. And consequently, while she didn't shoot it great, she ends up with a double-double because she found other ways to contribute.” LSU won its first three games of the season by an average margin of 61 points.
Its win over Murray State was a rare close nonconference game. It marked the first time that the Tigers have faced a non-power-conference opponent and won by fewer than 20 points since Dec. 4, 2022, when they defeated Tulane 85-72.
LSU will play two more games before it faces its first power-conference competition of the season on a Thanksgiving trip to The Bahamas. The first contest, a home game against Troy, will tip off at 7 p.m.
Monday..
