A loss to Tennessee in the Southeastern Conference tournament is a distant memory. The LSU women’s basketball team’s future is all unicorns and Rainbow Wahine.
The No. 3-seeded Tigers restart their season and their quest in the NCAA tournament Friday when they play host to the No. 14-seeded Hawaii Rainbow Wahine in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
The team gathered in the PMAC for the news, which came early in the ESPN broadcast. Also coming to town is No. 6-seeded Michigan, which faces No. 11 UNLV, champion of the Mountain West. Times will be announced later in the week.
If LSU can win both games it will advance to the Greeville, South Carolina, regional site.
Asked what was going through her mind Sunday night, second-year LSU coach Kim Mulkey replied:
“Happy. This is the most exciting time of a college program’s year. I never want it to become old, or lose the excitement. If I do, I need to retire.”
Hawaii comes into the tournament on a five-game winning streak, including a 61-59 victory against UC Santa Barbara in the Big West Tournament final — a game Mulkey said she watched the night before. Daejah Phillips made a three-point play in the final seconds to secure the win.
Mulkey talked extensively about her team’s chances, and that the team’s goal is to win one more game than last year and proceed from there. The Tigers hosted the first two rounds last spring but lost the second game to Ohio State.
“We have the components to win one more game than last year,” Mulkey said. “Will that happen? I don’t know. We have a little more depth — individuals who a little more talented than last year at certain positions. What we don’t have is longevity — players who have been together three, four, five years. That matters.
“You can’t set those goals until you achieve what you didn’t do last year.”
LSU’s first goal was securing the host site, something well in the bag before the loss to Tennessee. Mulkey said the team is healthy after getting rest during a week-long layoff, and the Tigers reviewed tape of the second-half meltdown against the Lady Vols. LSU led by as many as 17 points but lost 69-67.
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