By RON HIGGINS, Journal Sports
BATON ROUGE – Kim Mulkey has had just 15 multiple-game losing streaks in 24 years as a women’s head college basketball coach.
For somebody with four national championships and more than 700 career wins, such occurrences are as rare and unexpected as the Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer suddenly wearing conservative sideline attire.
And while she calmly acts like all problems are fixable in the ebb and flow of seasons, her teams are so allergic to losing they usually stop the bleeding by playing like their hair is on fire (which Mulkey lights with verbally and physically scorching practices).
After back-to-back losses to No. 1 South Carolina and unranked Mississippi State, a relentless 40 minutes of body-banging, floor-diving and maybe even a little Kung Fu fighting Sunday afternoon by Mulkey’s 11th-ranked Tigers produced a 106-66 SEC beatdown of Florida.
With decades of former LSU players on hand to celebrate the program’s Alumni Day as well as a halftime ceremony adding late head coach Sue Gunter’s name to the court already named for former men’s coach Dale Brown, the Tigers (19-4 overall, 6-3 SEC) set school records for most points scored in an SEC game and most 100-point games (7) in a season.
Almost every area that had recently been an LSU deficiency – ineffective point guard play, non-communicative defense, and passionless overall effort with little or no fight – vanished as the determined home team turned the visiting Gators into roadkill.
A monster effort from DePaul junior transfer forward Aneesah Morrow, who bounced off defenders and the hardwood for 18 points and 20 rebounds, served as Exhibit A of the Tigers’ inspiration and perspiration.
“It looked like somebody threw a bowling ball down there,” Mulkey said of one of Morrow’s second-half hustle play collisions. “Three players got knocked down in front of our bench (on one play).
“I saw a team today that was bringing it. They brought fire in their belly defensively, just a toughness.”
LSU had six players score in double figures and almost had seven. The Tigers shot 49.5 percent (37 of 75) from the floor, obliterated Florida 59-24 in rebounding, and outscored the Gators 24-4 in second-chance points.
Besides Morrow, Louisville grad transfer guard Hailey Van Lith and freshman Mikaylah Williams shared top scoring with 21 points each. Junior forward Angel Reese had 14 points, 10 rebounds and a team-high 6 assists, freshman reserve center Aalyah Del Rosario contributed 11 points as well as a team-best 3 blocked shots and sophomore guard Flau’jae Johnson added 10.
The least surprised person in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center crowd of 12,707 concerning LSU’s renewed spirit considering the defending national champs’ consecutive defeats of late was Florida head coach Kelly Rae Finley.
“We expected a more intense team on the defensive end of the floor, and that’s what we got,” said Rae Finley, whose team fell to 11-9 overall and 2-6 in the SEC. “They rotated very well. Their activity (on guarding) the ball was pretty good. They were much more handsy.
“Their guards were very physical, very gritty. They buckled down. They knew they had to play defense to change the game.”
Point guards Van Lith, reserve Last Tear-Poa, and shooting guards Morrow and Johnson allowed Florida few open perimeter looks. Improved communication led to Van Lith and Poa funneling opposing driving guards into defensive inside help.
The result was Florida shooting just 35.3 percent from the field (24 of 68) including less than 30 percent in the first and fourth quarters. Gators’ senior guard Leilani Correa, a St. John’s transfer who’s the SEC’s scoring leader in conference games averaging 25.7 points, was limited to 13 points on just 5 of 11 field goals.
“We focused on defensive effort in practice,” said former Bossier City-Parkway star Williams, who hit a pair of stop-and-pop jumpers in LSU’s 14-0 run in a 3-minute span of the first quarter that sent the Tigers sailing towards leads of 13, 26 and 37 at the end of the first, second and third quarters respectively. “Play hard, play hard, play hard, because if you don’t you come out (of the game). I don’t think anybody wants to sit (on the bench).”
Mulkey did that a few times in the first half, immediately yanking players briefly after one defensive mistake.
Getting a quick hook from Mulkey is something Van Lith has experienced many times this season in her one-year Tigers’ education, but not against the Gators. She was a pest on both ends on the floor, scoring 13 of her career-high LSU points total when Poa entered the game several times at point guard which shifted Van Lith to her natural shooting guard position.
“I’ve been inconsistent and it’s my job to bring it every game,” Van Lith said. “I’ve accepted that responsibility and it’s just time to move forward. It’s the attitude and the competitiveness that I can bring to the table. I have to bring it or we’re not going to reach our potential.
“(We need) competitiveness to fight every game, everyone is going to give us their best shot. Everyone wants to play us. The stands are always going to be packed. The key is us just taking on that challenge and not running from it anymore.”
With upcoming games at Vanderbilt on Thursday and home vs. Alabama next Monday, Mulkey wants to see a repeat of Sunday’s tipoff-to-final horn effort.
“The proudest moment I had today,” Mulkey said, “we’re up 40 in the fourth quarter and Angel went for a loose ball out of bounds and then flipped it in, then Morrow flips it back over her head, it’s knocked around and we’re getting on the floor.
“When you give that kind of effort in the fourth quarter and not (just the) first quarter. I think you’re getting your message through.”
Contact Ron at ronhigginsmedia@gmail.com