By RON HIGGINS, Journal Sports
SPOKANE, Wash. – When advancing in the NCAA Tournament, stars usually play like stars.
Yet, it’s role players who often make the difference for their teams living to fight another day or packing away the equipment until next season.
LSU’s Big Three All-SEC first team trio of junior guard Flau’Jae Johnson, senior forward Aneesah Morrow and sophomore guard Mikaylah Williams of Parkway High School averages a combined 54.7 points and 23.5 rebounds.
That’s 64 percent of the Tigers’ scoring and 52 percent of the rebounding.
LSU head coach Kim Mulkey has pushed all season for a player to step up and take some of the scoring and rebounding load from the Big Three. And heading into tonight’s 6:30 p.m. NCAA Spokane 1 Regional semifinal between the Tigers (30-5 overall) and North Carolina State (28-6), she may have finally found the `X’ factor in her starting five.
Sophomore redshirt center Sa’Myah Smith exploded for a season-high 20 points and had 12 rebounds and six assists in LSU’s 101-71 Baton Rouge Regional second-round blowout of Florida State on Sunday.
Smith went 9 for 9 from the field, 2 of 3 from the free throw line and demonstrated an undeniable chemistry with Morrow, who had 26 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists with five passes to Smith.
“My best game of the season,” said the 6-2 Smith, who’s averaging 6.2 points and 6.2 rebounds. “I felt comfortable.”
It has been a long time coming.
After being named to the All-SEC freshman team two seasons ago when she averaged 4 points and 4.6 rebounds coming off the bench for the Tigers’ national championship, Smith was poised to take her game to the next level last season as a sophomore.
She became a starter, scored 21 points twice and snatched 12 rebounds twice in the first seven games. But in game eight in November 2023 in the first five minutes in LSU’s win over Niagara, she tore her anterior cruciate ligament tear, medial collateral ligament and meniscus in her right knee.
The Tigers eventually finished 31-6 and lost in the NCAA Albany Regional finals to Iowa. There was the lingering feeling during the season that Smith was the missing piece to bolster LSU’s front line who could have advanced the team to the Final Four for the second consecutive season.
Smith’s development this year has seemed cautious at times. But Morrow, the nation’s leading rebounder despite being undersized at 6-1, has continued to push her younger teammate.
“I challenge her every day in practice,” Morrow said. “We might talk a little crazy to each other, but I looked at that as siblings. You hold your sister to a certain standard, and she comes with that standard. She wants it. She works as hard as she can every night.”
Johnson said Smith finally realizes her capabilities.
“I think she understands how much we need her,” Johnson said. “She now feels more confident, and that’s where we need her. We don’t have to say nothing else to her. She knows what she can do. We just keep pouring confidence into her.”
Mulkey credits Smith’s determination to overcome her knee injury and her teammates’ lifting her.
“The players around Sa’Myah or (little-used center) Aalyah (Del Rosario) can make them better more than a coach can,” Mulkey said. “Give them the ball in positions to be successful. Don’t ask them to do things they’re not capable of doing. You saw in the last couple of games just the sharing of the ball, the confidence that everybody has in each other.”
The Tigers will need all hands on deck against Atlantic Coast Conference champion North Carolina State. Though LSU beat the Wolfpack 82-65 on Nov. 27 in the finals of the Baha Mar Hoops Pink Flamingo Championship, both teams have improved.
While LSU is expected to start the same lineup it used in its earlier victory over N.C. State – Johnson, Morrow, Williams, Smith and Last Tear-Poa, the Wolfpack has slightly tweaked its starting five.
Center Tilda Trygger, a 6-6 freshman forward, joins a lineup with three veteran guards Aziaha Jones, Madison Hayes and Saniya Rivers, who average a combined 41 points and 13.8 rebounds.
The trio has started in a combined 255 college games and the heart of an offense that averages 21 3-point attempts per game.
N.C. State started the season 4-3 before winning its last 24 of 27 games.
“It’s just a combination of things, maybe some of the freshmen stepping up, our veteran guards getting their mojo going and taking on leadership roles and things like that,” Wolfpack head coach Wes Moore said of his team’s turnaround.
No. 3 seed LSU (30-5) vs. No. 2 seed North Carolina State (28-6), tonight, 6:30 pm. CT (ESPN)
LSU
NCAA Tournament appearances and record: 30, 55-28 (66.3 percent).
How the Tigers got here: Beat No. 14 seed San Diego State 103-48 in Saturday’s Baton Rouge Regional first round and No. 6 seed Florida State 101-71 in Monday’s second round.
Head coach: Kim Mulkey (753-123 in 25 seasons overall, 121-19 in four seasons at LSU), 65-18 in the NCAA tourney (53-16 in 19 appearances at Baylor, 12-2 in 4 appearances at LSU).
Starting lineup: G Flau’Jae Johnson, 5-10, Jr. (18.8 ppg, 5.7 rpg), G Mikaylah Williams 6-0, So. (17.4 ppg, 4.3 rpg), G Last Tear-Poa, 5-11, Sr. (2.0 ppg, 1 rpg)., F Aneesah Morrow, 6-1, Sr. (18.5 ppg, 13.5 rpg), F Sa’Maya Smith, 6-2, RS sophomore (6.2 ppg, 6.2 RPG).
Top reserves: G Shayeann Day-Wilson 5-6, Sr. (3.7 ppg, 2.o rpg), G Kailyn Gilbert, 5-8, Jr. (9.3 ppg, 2.8 rpg), G Mjracle Sheppard, 5-10, So. (4.2 ppg, 2.5 rpg), F Jersey Wolfenbarger, 6-5, Jr. (4.8 ppg, 3.5 rpg), G Jada Richard, 5-7, Fr. (3 ppg, o.5 RPG).
National stat rankings: Scoring offense (4th) 85.5 ppg, scoring defense (200th) 65.3, rebounding (3rd) 45.97, turnovers (89th) 14.6, field goal percentage (28th) 46.02, field goal percentage defense (29th) 37.0, 3-point percentage (62nd) 34.19, 3-point percentage defense (9th) 26.6, free throw percentage (108th ) 73.44.
NORTH CAROLINA STATE
NCAA Tournament appearances and record: 30, 35-29 (54.6 percent).
How the Wolfpack got here: Beat No. 15 seed Vermont 75-55 in Saturday’s Raleigh Regional first round and No. 7 Michigan State 83-49 in Monday’s second round.
Head coach: Wes Moore (859-263 in 36 seasons overall, 145-56 in 12 seasons at N.C. State), 17-16 in NCAA tourney (1-9 at Chattanooga in 9 appearances, 16-7 at N.C. State in 9 appearances).
Starting lineup: G Aziaha Jones, 5-10, Sr. (18.1 ppg, 4.9 rpg), G Madison Hayes, 6-0, Grad. (11 ppg, 2.3 rpg), G Saniya Rivers, 6-1, Sr. (11.9 ppg, 6.6 rpg), G Zoe Brooks, 5-10, So. (14 ppg, 4.8 rpg), F Tilda Trygger, 6-6, Fr. (6.9 ppg, 4.9 rpg).
Top reserves: G Zamareya Jones, 5-7, Fr. (6.9 ppg, 1.5 rpg), G Deryn Quigley, 5-11, Fr. (2.6 ppg, 1.3 rpg), C Lorena Anou, 6-5, Fr. (3.3 ppg, 2.5 rpg).
National stat rankings: Scoring offense (26th) 77 ppg), scoring defense (186th) 64.6, rebounding (16th) 41 rpg, turnovers (8th) 11.6, field goal percentage (45th) 44.90, field goal percentage defense (72nd) 38.4, 3-point percentage (98th) 33.24, 3-point percentage defense (133rd) 30.1, free throw percentage (275th) 68.37.
Contact Ron at ronhigginsmedia@gmail.com