LSU Needs More Consistency From Its Stars To Make Deep NCAA Tournament Run

By ANDRE CHAMPAGNE, Tiger Rag Staff Reporter

The LSU women’s basketball team’s five losses this season have shown more than just an inability to finish close games. They have also highlighted the need for more productivity from the team’s top players – especially with the postseason on the horizon.

Despite Kim Mulkey having the deepest roster of her tenure in Baton Rouge, LSU’s most reliable players have struggled to put together complete and efficient performances on a consistent basis. If the Tigers hope to win a national championship, ESPN bracketologist Charlie Crème believes that must change.

“This is how the NCAA Tournament and postseason works – your stars got to come out and shine and I think that’s the biggest thing,” Crème said on Tiger Rag on March 3.

In particular, he believes senior guard Flau’jae Johnson and junior guard Mikaylah Williams need to be more reliable moving forward.

“I think to some degree, Flau’jae Johnson’s been a little inconsistent,” Crème said. “Even if you go to the South Carolina game (first matchup), the first half she had was great. The third quarter, she disappeared and she has a tendency to do that sometimes and in the fourth quarter she was great again until those two missed free throws. I think she has to be consistently good. I think Mikaylah Williams has to be consistently good and then they can play with anybody.”

In LSU’s most recent 83-78 loss to South Carolina, the two guards combined for just 20 points on 6-of-20 shooting (30 percent). Even though Williams finished with 14 points, she caught fire too late for it to make a game-changing impact.

"It's really not nice when they both show up like that, you got to pick your poison." – Jennie Baranczyk

Oklahoma HC talking about the one-two punch in LSU's guards Flau'Jae Johnson & Mikaylah Williams.@LSUwbkb @Flaujae @mkwill12_ pic.twitter.com/1kLQXbBn6U

— Chessa Bouche (@chessabouche) January 31, 2025

And it’s not the first time the two have struggled to deliver in big moments. In four of LSU’s five losses, Johnson and Williams have failed to score more than 15 points in the same game. If the Tigers’ most experienced players can find a way to click at the same time on the court, Crème believes the sky is the limit.

“The games that LSU’s lost this year have all really been close, so it’s a play here and a play there quite honestly, but in those games, if those two were consistently better for the full 40 minutes, I think those close games would have gone the other way and we would be talking about them being a surefire or a certain favorite to be a number one seed,” Crème said.

Scoring, however, is not the only way Johnson and Williams can impact games. With the team’s depth, the Tigers are capable of getting big performances from multiple players on any given night. But when shots are not falling, Mulkey said her stars must contribute in other areas.

“Do other things,” Mulkey said after the loss to South Carolina in the SEC Tournament. “When you’re not shooting it well, this game has lots of parts to it, go rebound, defend. Do some other things when your shot’s not falling. You’re not going to have good shooting nights all the time. So go contribute in other ways.”

The formula for winning a national championship is never simple. But if LSU’s veteran leaders can find a way to consistently produce together, the Tigers could make their path through March much easier.