LSU women’s basketball got it done on Thursday night.
Going on the road in the SEC to face a ranked Tennessee team, LSU needed a score in the final seconds. The Tigers got the bucket from transfer guard Kailyn Gilbert.
It was Gilbert’s second time playing the hero role this year after she did the same thing vs. Washington in November.
A ranked win on the road goes a long way toward building a tournament resume. LSU has its sights set on a No. 1 overall seed in March.
LSU is now 18-0 on the year and 3-0 in conference play. Next up for LSU is a home meeting with a good Vanderbilt team on Monday.
The SEC looks tough this year. LSU is awaiting its showdown with South Carolina on Jan. 23, but the Tigers can’t get caught looking ahead. That’s unlikely for a Kim Mulkey-coached team, though.
Here’s what Mulkey said after the massive win at Tennessee.
On Gilbert’s game-winner
“She’s made several of those shots through the course of the games this year. She made one like that against Washington to win it for us. She was the one we wanted the last shot for. We used up the shot clock there at the end and wanted to make sure that she didn’t go in there too early. And that’s Kailyn’s shots. People look at it and go that’s a luck shot. I can assure you it wasn’t. That’s how she shoots the ball.”
On the game plan
Mulkey said LSU established the early lead by overcoming Tennessee’s press. If you beat the press, you can find layups at ease.
“I think we got 60 paint points. Told them that. You take care of the ball, you’re going to get every shot you want in the paint. And we did,” Mulkey said.
“I think for us on the defensive end, we held them to 30 paint points. So, you doubled up the paint points and they’re bigger than we are. I went with an unconventional lineup tonight. I went very, very small and I think it was very effective.”
On the critics
“I don’t care about critics. It doesn’t faze me. We’ve got critics in this room. All I care about are those kids, teaching them how to play the game, teaching them how to win, and represent LSU. Even if we would have gone home with a loss, we still competed. We just happened to score two more points than they did.”