By RON HIGGINS, Journal Sports
BATON ROUGE – Alcorn State head coach Nate Kilbert knew there was no way his team was going to come close to upsetting No. 5 LSU on Thursday.
So, he set what he thought were reasonable goals.
“I wanted to keep them under 25 points for one quarter,” Kilbert said. “Not two, just one. We didn’t accomplish that.”
Next?
“Let’s not turn the ball over,” he said. “Can we limit our turnovers? We had 31. We didn’t accomplish that.”
Anything else?
“They (LSU) had scored 100 points in everybody (this season),” Kilbert said. “If we could keep them under 100, we’d really done what we came here to do.”
Final score?
LSU 112, Alcorn State 49 as the 6-0 Tigers set an SEC record for most consecutive 100-point games with six.
Kilbert’s summation of the game?
“The check was nice,” Kilbert said of the $10,000 that LSU paid Alcorn (2-3) to show up and get rocked by 63 points.
The latest beatdown in the opening month of the 2025-26 Tigers’ schedule featured all the elements of fifth-year LSU head coach Kim Mulkey’s uber-talented team, which has eight new players and two returning All-SEC first team honorees.
- Balanced scoring with returning senior Flau’jae Johnson and South Carolina junior transfer MiLaysia Fulwiley hitting 18 points each, returning junior Mikaylah Williams and Notre Dame sophomore transfer Kate Koval scoring 15 each, and freshman Grace Knox with 10.
- A deep bench, featuring Fulwiley and at least four of the five freshmen signees that outscored Alcorn’s reserves 43-15.
- Relentless defense that produced 31 turnovers, including 17 steals keyed by Fulwiley’s five thefts, that led to the Tigers scoring 49 points off turnovers and many of them that produced 30 fast break points.
LSU is averaging a nation-leading 115.2 points with an average victory margin of 60.2 points.
“We have great team chemistry off the court and we share the ball a lot,” said Knox, the 6-2 frosh from Las Vegas who’s averaging 10 points and 4.3 rebounds in just under 18 minutes off the bench.
The Braves, playing the second of five SEC teams on their non-conference schedule, trailed by 10 points with 3:08 left in the first quarter when the Tigers went to work.
An 18-0 LSU run starting the last three minutes of the first quarter and stretching to the 7:14 mark of the second period sent the Tigers toward their 57-21 halftime lead.
Fulwiley scored eight of the Tigers’ last nine points in the first quarter, including a buzzer-beater 3-pointer to close the period.
Koval, who came off the bench for the first time this season because Mulkey was experimenting with her starting lineup, had 7 points and 6 rebounds in the second quarter.
LSU pushed its lead to 86-35 after three quarters. The Tigers reached the 100-point mark with 4:24 left to play on Koval’s three-point play.
Nationally, there’s skepticism about LSU’s early domination because of its underwhelming competition. By the time the Tigers start SEC play on Jan. 1, they will have played just one Power 4 Conference team (at ACC member Duke on Dec. 4) in their 14-game schedule.
There are a couple of reasons why Mulkey has always tread softly in her non-conference scheduling.
“With eight new players, you don’t want to overschedule,” she said. “Also, I don’t bring our players in during the summer. I want summers to be our time with our families. We need a break.
“We basically use the non-conference (games), particularly in November and December, as an evaluation. I’m still looking, I’m still learning, I’m still teaching during these games.
“By the time you get to conference, there are enough people in that league to give you all you want. And at the end of the day, you’re trying to finish in the top half of the league. You’re trying to get a first and second round game here, you’re trying to get a decent seat in the NCAA Tournament.”
In her 25 previous seasons as a head coach (21 at Baylor, 4 at LSU), she’s been to the NCAA Tournament all but one season (not counting the 2020 season when COVID-19 canceled the NCAA tourney).
Her 8-1 record in the Final Four is the highest ever winning percentage by a Final Four coach. She’s won three national titles at Baylor and one at LSU.
“It’s worked for me ever since I’ve been a head coach,” Mulkey said of her scheduling philosophy.
Since she’s been at LSU, Mulkey hasn’t had a recruiting class that’s meshed so quickly with each other.
She knew Fulwiley would be an absolute jolt on both ends of the court, and Koval and East Carolina transfer Amiya Joiner would be solid additions to strengthen LSU’s inside game.
But she didn’t realize her five freshmen signees – undersized starting forward ZaKiyah Johnson and reserves Knox, Bella Hines, Divine Bourrage, and Meghan Yarnevich – would be so good so early.
“Did I see this coming?” Mulkey said. “How many times have you seen great, talented teams on paper, but then they have trouble sharing the ball?
“These kids just work. They just go to work. They take coaching. They do catch on to things quicker than you might imagine.”
Contact Ron at ronhigginsmedia@gmail.com