The hype train for LSU women’s basketball grew all off-season long. The Tigers were preseason No. 1 and consensus national title favorites.
The additions of [autotag]Hailey Van Lith[/autotag], [autotag]Annesah Morrow[/autotag] and [autotag]Mikaylah Williams[/autotag] along with the return of [autotag]Angel Reese[/autotag] led this group to be dubbed as a “dream team.”
So when LSU opened the year against No. 20 Colorado on Monday night, the Tigers were supposed to pick back up right where they left off last year, rolling through opponents on the way to a national title.
Long story short, that’s not what happened. A Colorado team that returned its top five scorers from last year came out firing. LSU got outplayed from the first quarter on to the tune of a 14-point loss. At one point, Colorado led by as much as 22.
Kim Mulkey sums up tonight’s opening season loss to No. 20 Colorado.
“You just got that dog in you.” -Mulkey@LSUwbkb #LSU pic.twitter.com/rFQ1CNb78D
— Chessa Bouche (@chessabouche) November 7, 2023
After the game, [autotag]Kim Mulkey[/autotag] said she can live with shots not falling. There’s always going to be nights like that, but she wanted to see more fight from her team. Lack of effort is something you don’t live with, Mulkey said.
When the next poll drops on Monday, LSU won’t be in that No. 1 spot. This is a wake-up call for an LSU team that was the darling of the sport all summer.
It’s a stark contrast from last year, when LSU raced out to a 23-0 start. The nonconference slate tests Mulkey’s group in ways last year’s didn’t. It began with Colorado and later this month, LSU will face Virginia and Virginia Tech.
These games aren’t meaningless, either. When the committee sits down to seed the tournament, they’re going to look at what a team did in the non-con.
The good news: LSU has time to figure it out. The Tigers don’t face a top 100 opponent until that Virginia game.
This was a team that didn’t hit its stride until March last year, and maybe, that’s all that matters. But there’s too much talent here for what happened on Monday night.
It’s not fair to say all that hype got to their head. If these players were derailed by hype and attention, it would have happened already.
But Mulkey wants to see more from her stars. After the loss, Mulkey went out of her way to acknowledge the efforts of [autotag]Mikaylah Williams[/autotag] and [autotag]Sa’Myah Smith[/autotag], but said she needed more than just them.
That wasn’t a direct shot at anyone, but it was a call to arms for the leaders of this team to live up to expectations.
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