LSU women ‘grew up’ with second-round NCAA tournament victory over Michigan

Rebuilding a program is another word for growing it and LSU took a major step in that regard with Sunday’s 66-42 victory over Michigan in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

The win advanced LSU into the Sweet 16 against Utah on Friday in the Greenville (South Carolina) 2 Regional. It’s been nine years since a Tiger team has gone that far and 15 since LSU (30-2) last won 30 games.

Those numerical milestones indicate singular achievement. But the kind of growth coach Kim Mulkey is really looking for isn’t so quantifiable. It’s a determination on the court that has to pass her eyeball test.

“I think we grew up a lot in two areas: rebounding and defense,” Mulkey said. “I thought we were tough tonight. We were tough at all positions. It started on the defensive end, and on the boards. I just thought we were tough. If you follow the Big Ten a lot, they are tough. All those teams are just tough-minded people. I thought we accepted the challenge of not just maybe being quicker, but just being tough.”

Part of that toughness is responding to adversity. Michigan tried to punch its way back to start the second half Sunday by cutting LSU’s 15-point lead down to eight. But, after a timeout, the Tigers reasserted control and won going away. Mulkey saw the score separation which didn’t happen in LSU’s Southeastern Conference tournament loss to Tennessee and for which Mulkey has been pleading for weeks.

Michigan struggled against the Tigers’ tight-marking defense, which led to 10 steals among 16 Wolverine turnovers. Two of Michigan’s three top scorers combined for six points, 28 below their combined season average.

LSU had even more of an advantage on the boards. The 46-26 difference included a 22-5 blowout on offensive rebounds, which afforded the Tigers an 18-2 edge in second chance points.

All of that occurred as the teams shot near identical field goal percentages, Michigan 34.8% and LSU 35.3%.

“This was one of our best defensive games in a long time,” said Angel Reese, whose record-setting performance (25 points, 24 rebounds) was bolstered by six blocks and three steals. “Especially on our home court, I think we had a lot of energy.

“We were up 17 against Tennessee and look what happened. We couldn’t get comfortable. We came out for the third quarter pretty slow (against Michigan). I think they were on a 5-0 run. Being able to come into the timeout and (Mulkey) telling us stay poised, stay together. We have to address this right now so this doesn’t happen again, like it happened in SEC. I think we responded really well.”

Along with winning a game, the Tigers won some hearts and minds among the 10,108 in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center, another component of a rebuild. A lot of those fans showed up last year when Mulkey nearly tripled the previous season’s win total at 26-6. She can’t do that again, but the incremental improvement looks bigger when she can point to a Sweet 16 berth that didn’t happen in 2022.

LSU fans can experience true March Madness now, not just winning a game, but savoring the possibility of a run and the weeklong anticipation of the next game.

“You‘d better believe that’s big for us in rebuilding this program,” Mulkey said.