By RON HIGGINS, Journal Sports
STARKVILLE, Miss. – Most teams in any sport aren’t the same as in the first month of a season.
They grow, progress, realize their deficiencies, and either find a way to correct or disguise them.
For only the second time in Kim Mulkey’s three seasons as LSU’s head coach, the No. 9-rankedTigers suffered a second consecutive loss, on the heels of last Thursday’s stretch-run struggles in a narrow defeat to No. 1 South Carolina.
Why? Because Mulkey no longer can hide her team’s weaknesses such as a slow-footed backcourt, no bench depth and zero leadership when things go awry, all of which underdog and unranked Mississippi State feasted on in a 77-73 SEC victory Monday night before a Humphrey Coliseum sellout crowd of 9,121.
MSU senior Jerkaila Jordan, a former Miss Basketball in Louisiana as a high school senior in 2020 at John Curtis in metro New Orleans, stuck the dagger deep into her home state’s defending national champs.
She scored 12 of her game-high 24 points in the third quarter when the Bulldogs (17-5, 4-3 SEC) scored 28 on 11 of 13 field goal accuracy to erase a 40-35 halftime deficit and give MSU a six-point advantage heading into the final quarter.
“She (Jordan) came to me and said `I live for this moment, I want this moment’,” said MSU head coach Sam Purcell, who recorded his first-ever win over a top 10-ranked team. “She was poised. I told her we were going to ride her coattails.”
The Tigers (18-4, 5-3 SEC) employed a full-court defense in the fourth period that caused seven Bulldogs’ turnovers. But that was offset by LSU committing six turnovers simultaneously and failing to stop guard Darrione Rogers (a former DePaul teammate of LSU’s Aneesah Morrow) from scoring 9 of MSU’s 14 fourth-quarter points.
For the game, the Bulldogs outshot the Lady Tigers from the field 52.6 percent (30 of 57) to 44.6 percent (29 of 65). MSU nailed 9 of 17 3-pointers (52.9 percent) to LSU’s 3 of 14 (21.4 percent). LSU barely won the rebounding battle 35-33 and had one fewer turnover (21 to 22) than MSU.
“We can’t seem to defensively get stops with this team,” Mulkey said. “We don’t have the fleet-of-foot guards out there that can make up things when they get beat off the dribble. All their (MSU’s) scoring came from the perimeter.”
Starting LSU point guard Hailey Van Lith and backup Last Tear-Poa had a combined 6 points on 2 of 8 shooting and 7 turnovers. Freshman guard Mikaylah Williams had 11 points on 5 of 8 field goal attempts, but also committed 5 turnovers.
Because the Tigers lost two key bench players before the start of SEC play – center Sa’Myah Smith (knee surgery) and guard Kateri Poole (dismissed from the team) – Mulkey doesn’t trust anyone coming off the bench but Poa and freshman center Aalyah Del Rosario.
“We had great depth going into the season, but we don’t now,” Mulkey said “So, usually when you have somebody struggling out there, you can sub for them. We really don’t have that so they have to play through it.”
In Monday’s loss, the Bulldogs’ five-player bench keyed by Rogers (19 points) and freshman Mjracle Sheppard (12 points) outscored Poa, Del Rosario and freshman guard Janae Kent 35-6. Four of LSU’s five starters played 35 or more minutes, including forwards Angel Reese and Morrow and guard Flau’jae Johnson.
Reese finished with 20 points and 18 rebounds. Johnson had 18 points and Morrow 14 points. That trio scored 11 of LSU’s 16 points in the final quarter with just a combined 5 points from Reese and Morrow.
“When you deal with that (the lack of depth) through the season, you got to you got to keep on keepin’ on and make them (her players) believe,” Mulkey said. “Fatigue may be some of it, but you gotta be tougher when you’re fatigued. You gotta be tougher when the game’s on the line.
“I really think that’s where experience plays a big, big role. Those that have been in a system or been in your program a long time don’t get rattled.”
In LSU’s seven-player rotation, Reese, Johnson and Poa are in their second season in Mulkey’s system. Van Lith and Morrow, although starting for multiple seasons for Louisville and DePaul, are newbies under Mulkey as are freshmen Williams and Del Rosario.
“We’re going have to live through these moments, and you have to allow them to grow,” Mulkey said. “And the next year we’ll be better, the next year after that we’ll be better. I think we were just going through some of that right now.
“I don’t know that I can tell you that it’s unexpected. The unexpected would be dealing with the issues we had to deal with injury and people no longer on the team.”
LSU is off until Sunday when it hosts Arkansas.
Contact Ron at ronhigginsmedia@gmail.com