GREENVILLE, S.C. — Arrived.
For two years, through every winning streak, through every new and encouraging accomplishment, LSU women’s basketball coach Kim Mulkey urged her growing legions of fans to tap the brakes. Be patient. Realize that LSU hadn’t won any championships yet. That glory was coming. Oh yes, it surely was, but that it would take time.
That narrative changed Sunday night.
LSU beat Miami 54-42 in the Elite Eight to win the NCAA Greenville 2 regional, advancing to their first Women’s Final Four since 2008.
From nothing special to cutting down nets.
From going nowhere as a program with just nine victories two seasons ago to Destination Dallas, site of this year’s Final Four.
“That LSU?” an AP voter covering UConn asked derisively on Twitter during the season when the Tigers moved to No. 3 in the poll ahead of the Huskies.
Yes, that LSU. And UConn, by the way, is staying home this year.
It hasn’t always been a smooth trip for the Tigers, especially offensively. The Tigers have struggled with their outside shooting since the second half of their Southeastern Conference tournament semifinal loss to Tennessee here in the same Bon Secours Wellness Arena where they won this regional.
But defense has carried the Tigers in March. The kind of defense that Mulkey demands. The kind of defense she learned from her first mentor, former Louisiana Tech coach Leon Barmore, when they won national championships together in Ruston.
Barmore must have been proud watching his prized pupil’s team defend Miami, though the offense might have turned his stomach a little.
The Tigers stuck to the Hurricanes like they were a coat of fresh paint. LSU’s formula worked game after game after game after game on this regional championship run: deny second-chance points, rebound the heck out of the ball and disrupt with deflections.
LSU may have shot 30.2% from the field against Miami. All-American forward Angel Reese didn’t make her first field goal until the second half (she was 0-for-9 in the first 20 minutes), but defense carried the load. The Tigers crushed the Hurricanes in rebounding 49-35, held them to 31.6% shooting and had a dozen steals. Miami was 0-for-16 from 3-point range, missing some open looks, sure, but the Tigers’ pressure and physicality wore on the Hurricanes. By the fourth quarter, they looked weary.
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