The 7th ranked LSU women’s basketball team’s 16-game winning streak ended yesterday with a 67-62 defeat to unranked Auburn. It was a back-and-forth game that saw 17 lead changes and seven ties, but LSU shot just 42% from the field. Coach Kim Mulkey says Auburn’s defense was disruptive.
“We knew Auburn would get into passing lanes and pressure you and make it very difficult to just make a pass and we didn’t handle that very well,” said Mulkey. “I thought energy, enthusiasm, they just came at us.”
The loss drops LSU’s record to 16-2, 3-and-1 in the SEC. It was the first conference win of the year for Auburn.
After the game, Mulkey spent a long time in the locker room with her team. She says they talked about what they could have done better…
“Just accountability, it’s just not with the players, it starts with me, I made a decision to let them to come to the men’s game last night, I’m going to regret that all the way home that was out of our routine, I don’t regret supporting our men, but we are creatures of habit, so did that disrupt your mindset, I don’t know if it did or didn’t, but when you have kids holding themselves accountable, you got to hold yourself accountable,” said Mulkey.
Mulkey’s team will be back in Alabama on Thursday night, this time taking on the Crimson Tide.
The LSU men’s basketball team also lost in Auburn this past weekend as the Bayou Bengals trailed by as many as 28 points in the second half before falling to the 16th-ranked team in the country 93-78 on Saturday. Coach Matt McMahon says Auburn is an elite team with no weaknesses.
“Their ability to turn us over obviously dug us into a huge hole there, we had 17 turnovers, they do a great job of turning people over, but when 16 of the 17 turnovers are steals, that means you are in big trouble in transition,” said McMahon.
The Tigers shot just 42% from the field. Trae Hannibal came off the bench and scored 18 points in a losing effort.
“Myself and a couple of other guys come off the bench, we are supposed to come in and provide that spark and energy, simply too many turnovers, their pressure caused that and we got to learn from that,” said Hannibal.
Jordan Wright also had 18 points. LSU’s second-leading scorer, Jalen Cook, was held to seven points. Will Baker had a double-double 13 points and 10 boards.
LSU hosts Ole Miss on Wednesday.
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