By RON HIGGINS, Journal Sports
ALBANY, N.Y. – UCLA head women’s basketball coach Cory Close coached against LSU head coach Kim Mulkey three times when Mulkey coached Baylor.
“There’s a lot of familiarity,” said Close, who’s 1-2 vs. Mulkey.
UCLA starters Lauren Betts and Charisma Osborne were teammates of LSU’s Angel Reese on the USA silver-medal-winning AmeriCup team last July.
“I’m really excited to play against her,” Betts said of Reese. “We went at each other (in practice). It was always very intense. We’re both great posts.”
And Close left nothing to chance in preparing for Saturday’s Albany Regional II Sweet 16 semifinal at 12 noon between No. 2 seed UCLA (27-6) and the No. 3 seed LSU (30-5) in MVP Arena.
“I told our guys scout team this week to talk as much trash as you want in practice,” said Close, wanting to simulate the lippy Tigers. “We want to play in our personality, and if they (LSU) want to play in theirs, so be it.
“Our job is to get ready to play our best, and that may look different than LSU. But we’re not letting anything they do take us out of the mental focus of playing our best the way we like to do it.”
The defending national champs have been aware since game 1 this season that every opponent wants the victory notch on its gun belt.
“When you win the national championship or you get to a Final Four, there are expectations, fair or not, that you’re supposed to do it again,” Mulkey said. “I don’t know if it can be done again. Certainly, that’s a goal of ours, and we do have the talent to do it. But it takes a lot of things to go right to do it.
“You have to be playing your best basketball. You’ve got to stay away from injuries. You’ve got to have just a tiny bit of luck on the way, some play that goes your way.
“I know we’ll play hard. I know whatever happens we’re going to go down fighting. That’s just how we are. We just fight for every loose ball. We fight for every rebound. We fight for just the tip-off. We fight for the jump ball.
“If you do that, you can live with whatever happens.”
LSU and UCLA had to rally from deficits last weekend to score second-round wins over Middle Tennessee and Creighton, respectively.
The Tigers trailed by 9 points one minute into the second half before a hailstorm of LSU points off turnovers and fastbreaks resulted in an 83-56 win in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
Four of five LSU starters scored in double figures, led by guard Flau’jae Johnson’s 21 points and double-doubles from forward Angel Reese (20 points, 10 rebounds) and guard/forward Aneesah Morrow (19 points, 13 rebounds).
There’s no doubt the Tigers play with such fire and emotion at times, it appears there’s team in-fighting. Reese said that’s just she and her teammates keeping it real.
“Being able to hold each other accountable is something I love about this team,” said Reese, the SEC’s Player of the Year. “Nobody takes it personally. Just being able to get on each other and correct each other. Even if it’s tough player coaching, we will come on the sideline and say, `That was my bad for saying it like that. But you know what I mean?’”
UCLA trailed at home to Creighton by 10 points in the first two minutes of the second half before battling back for a 67-63 win.
Sophomore guard Kiki Rice scored 17 of her game-high 24 points in the final two quarters. Betts, a 6-7 sophomore who missed the Bruins’ NCAA tourney first-round game with an ankle injury, added 20 points and 10 rebounds.
Rice said she and her teammates are excited for the chance to take down the defending national champions.
“I don’t think there’s any intimidation,” Rice said. “It’s an opportunity to show the talent and ability we have that we’ve put together throughout this season.
“It’s going to come down to a few possessions. Every possession matters.”
LSU must have all hands on deck in the rebounding department, and not place most of the load on Reese and Morrow. Saturday’s game matches the No. 1 (UCLA at 14.2) and No. 2 LSU (at 13.1) teams nationally in rebound margin.
For 13-year UCLA head coach Close, it’s her sixth trip to the Sweet 16, advancing just once to the Elite Eight in 2018. Last season, the 27-10 Bruins lost 59-43 to No. 1 South Carolina in the Sweet 16.
“We’ll be ready to play,” Close said. “Playing in the Pac 12, which has four teams in the Sweet 16, has been an incredible confidence-building experience. It’s not just how good the league is. It’s a varied style of play. It prepares you for so many different levels.”
Mulkey is in the Sweet 16 for the 17th time in her 24 years (21 at Baylor, 3 as a head coach) and has advanced to the Final Four five times (four national titles) and as far as the Elite Eight on five occasions.
“There’s so many times people take getting to a Sweet 16 for granted,” Mulkey said. “Do you know how many coaches have probably never done that in their careers? I’ve always, always acknowledged that it’s hard to do.”
No. 3 seed LSU (30-5) vs. No. 2 seed UCLA (27-6), Albany Regional II semifinal
WHEN, WHERE: Saturday 12 p.m. CT, MVP Arena, Albany, N.Y.
TV-RADIO: ABC, LSU radio network which is streamed on LSUsports.com
SERIES: LSU has won 4 of 6 games against UCLA, including twice when the Bruins were ranked (73-72 vs. No. 14 UCLA in 1979-80, 55-53 over No. 9 UCLA in 55-53). The Tigers have never played UCLA in the NCAA tourney. LSU is 9-6 in Sweet 16 game, winning the last 8 of 10.
PROJECTED STARTING LINEUPS
LSU
G – Hailey Van Lith, Gr. 5-7, 11.8 ppg, 2.5 apg
G – Mikaylah Williams, Fr., 6-0, 14.5 ppg, 4.8 rpg
G – Flau’jae Johnson, So., 5-10, 14.4 ppg, 5.3 rpg
F – Angel Reese, Jr., 6-3, 18.7 ppg, 13.2 rpg
F-G – Aneesah Morrow, Jr., 6-1, 16.5 ppg, 10 RPG
UCLA
G – Kiki Rice, So., 5-11, 13.2 ppg, 5.8 rpg
G – Charisma Osborne, Gr., 5-9, 14.1 ppg, 5.2 rpg
G – Londynn Jones, So., 5-4, 11.8 ppg, 2 apg
F – Angela Dugalic, Sr., 6-4, 8.9 ppg, 6.4 rpg
C – Lauren Betts, So., 6-7, 14.9 ppg, 9 RPG
TALE OF THE TAPE
(National ranking in parenthesis)
LSU/UCLA
Scoring offense
86.1 (3) 77.6 (22)
Scoring defense
62.3 (121) 60.6 (85)
Scoring margin
23.8 (3) 16.9 (12)
Rebounds PG
46.24 (4) 43.58 (8)
Rebound margin
13.1 (2) 14.2 (1)
FG pct.
46.54 (10) 44.87 (36)
FG pct. Defense
36.6 (22) 32.4 (250)
3-pt. pct.
32.61 (99) 32.49 (104)
FT pct.
74.63 (75) 74.78 (77)
Turnover margin
+4.40 (26) -0.06 (191)
Contact Ron at ronhigginsmedia@gmail.com