By ANDRE CHAMPAGNE, Tiger Rag Staff Reporter
The LSU women will bring the nation’s No. 1 scoring offense with 111.6 points a game to New Orleans on Saturday to play Louisiana Tech on national ESPNU television.
But that’s a given.
Kim Mulkey, who will be coaching against her alma mater where she became a superstar player and then learned how to coach as an assistant, will be stressing defense like her mentor and former coach – Tech legend and Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame and Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame member Leon Barmore.
Doing anything on Sept. 19? Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss. “Better find a way to fabricate some more security for that game.” … SEC Network’s Cole Cubelic.https://t.co/qdich972G7
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) December 12, 2025
“I don’t have to go out there and tell them anything offensively. They can all score it,” Mulkey said Thursday. “They all know what we’re going to do. We’ll throw some quick hitters, tweak a thing here and there, but our focus right now is defense. Our focus is full-court defense.”
No. 5 LSU (10-0) and Louisiana Tech (5-3) tip off at 5 p.m. Saturday in the Smoothie King Center.
Mulkey has tried not to focus on her time at Louisiana Tech, but that is difficult. She did guide the Lady Techsters as a point guard (1980-84) to two national championships (AIAW in 1981 and NCAA in 1982). Then she was an assistant coach at Tech from 1985 to 2000 and was part of another national title in 1988 before moving on to Baylor in 2000 as head coach and winning three national crowns there (2005, ’12 and ’19). She became LSU’s coach before the 2021-22 season and won the national title with the Tigers in 2023.
“Your memories last forever,” she said. “And the memories I have of my 19 years at Louisiana Tech will never dissolve. So, you just have little flashbacks of all the things that we did at Louisiana Tech for a long period of time.”
The LSU men (8-1) play SMU (9-1) at 7:30 p.m. in the doubleheader nightcap on the SEC Network.
Mulkey, like many of the teams she was associated with, has depth on this LSU team, which may be as good or better than her Tigers’ national champions. But the defense must continue to improve.
“If we’re going to play a lot of players, then we can press,” Mulkey said. “Let’s do it. It’s just that they have to buy in to what we’re doing defensively, and they’re trying. It doesn’t happen overnight. It is an every day process with defense.”
LSU has only the No. 40 scoring defense in the nation at 55.7 points allowed a game. But the Tigers rank No. 6 in turnovers forced per game with 26.
While defensive minded as always, Mulkey likes what she sees on offense, particularly sophomore starting point guard Jada Richard, though she is averaging only 6.6 points and 3.1 assists a game.
“It’s worked. Jada Richard is doing her job,” Mulkey said. “Jada really, of all of them on the team, has the most point guard experience. That’s all she’s ever played. I can move her to the off guard, if need be.”Jada earned the point guard position. Now, that doesn’t mean there won’t be times that you get a feel that maybe I need to make a lineup change. But I anticipate that at all positions with this team.”
Senior forward Amiya Joyner has also caught Mulkey’s eye as she is scoring 11.2 points with 7.3 rebounds a game.
“She can really rebound the ball,” she said. “We just have to make sure she does it on every possession, because we’ve been spoiled. But she’s physically strong. She can finish shots. She has a chance to play at the next level, if she stays healthy and continues to grow and do some things that we need her to do.”
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