By RON HIGGINS, Journal Sports
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Phases one and three of LSU’s SEC schedule have the Tigers playing eight of 10 games against ranked teams.
Phase two – three league contests against teams with a combined SEC record of 2-14 – started predictably for the nation’s 6th-ranked team here Thursday night.
Suffocating defense, dominating rebounding, unselfish passing and strong bench play led to LSU’s 98-54 SEC road blowout of Texas A&M here in Reed Arena.
The Tigers (18-2 overall, 4-2 SEC) scored 41 points off 23 Aggies’ turnovers, 23 points off 20 offensive rebounds, had 22 assists leading to 36 field goals and scored 47 bench points.
The bulk of the bench boost came from South Carolina junior transfer guard MiLaysia Fulwiley, who had a game-high 23 points along with 4 assists and 5 steals.
In LSU’s 37-point third quarter that included a 22-3 run, Fulwiley had 7 points, 2 steals and 2 assists, extending the Tigers’ 41-22 halftime lead to 78-41 entering the final quarter.
“We’re the team that just gets the ball and runs,” Fulwiley said. “We do great in transition, so we try to get a lot of transition plays.”
The victory was reminiscent of the formula that carried to 14 straight non-conference wins before LSU opened SEC play with losses to then-No. 12 Kentucky and then-No. 11 Vanderbilt.
Since then, the Tigers have ripped off four straight wins over Georgia, then-No. 2 Texas, then-No. 13 Oklahoma and now Texas A&M.
It wasn’t a perfect victory over the Aggies. LSU had 17 turnovers against A&M’s 2-3 zone defense. The Tigers also attempted a season-high 22 3-pointers (making 6), including 17 in the first half.
“That’s not who we are,” LSU head coach Kim Mulkey said. “We’ll shoot it, but you have got to have post touches. If you look at the final stats, we got post touches late.”
The Tigers got points from unlikely sources.
Senior guard Flau’Jae Johnson and junior guard Mikaylah Williams, who rank first and third on the team in scoring, had just 6 and 4 points respectively.
Yet Williams, the former Bossier City Parkway star, had 8 rebounds and a career-high 9 assists. She was largely responsible for freshman Grace Knox’s 19-point performance (7 for 7 field goals), feeding her in the low post.
Notre Dame sophomore transfer forward Katie Koval came off the bench and scored 9 of her 15 points in the fourth quarter.
Starting sophomore starting point guard Jada Richard had 11 points and starting East Carolina transfer forward Amiya Joiner contributed 11 points and 11 rebounds.
LSU hit 20 of 20 free throws, tying the school record set in 1988 vs. Tennessee.
Texas A&M (8-7, 1-6 SEC) was led by Fatmata Janneh, who had 14 points and 6 rebounds.
“We’ve got to make sure we keep air in our balloon when we miss shots we think we should make,” Texas A&M head coach Joni Taylor said. “It deflates us a bit. Instead of turning back and sprinting to get our defense set, we hesitate. They’re (LSU) really elite in transition.”
The Tigers led just 9-8 when Fulwiley entered the game with 4:42 left in the first quarter. She nailed three straight 3-pointers in 92 seconds to start a 12-4 run to close the period with a 21-12 LSU lead.
“She’s going to always give you a spark,” Mulkey said of Fulwiley. “God blessed her with unbelievable speed and quickness. If you are going to be on the floor with her, you’d better be ready to get up and go.”
The Tigers were prepared during the week by associate head coach Bob Starkey. Mulkey left the team following Sunday’s win at Oklahoma to be with her daughter and 7-year-old grandson Kannon. He was hospitalized in Texas following surgery for a ruptured appendix.
“My family comes first, but I never doubted that he would have our team ready to play,” Mulkey said of Starkey. “But who makes it really work are my players. I told them what was going on (after the Oklahoma game), hugged every one of them and told them if things go accordingly, I’ll see them at A&M, and it did.”
The Tigers return home to start a three-game homestand with 7 p.m. games on Monday vs. Florida and Thursday vs. Florida.
Next Sunday’s 11 a.m. home game against No. 23 Alabama begins another run of four ranked opponents in five games.
Included are a rematch at now-No. 4 Texas, home against No. 2 South Carolina and a road date at No. 18 Ole Miss.
The SEC regular-season race got a seismic shock Thursday night when No. 16 Oklahoma snapped a three-game losing streak with a 94-82 home overtime victory over No. 2 South Carolina.
No. 5 Vanderbilt (20-0, 6-0 SEC) and No. 17 Tennessee (14-3, 6-0) lead the league. South Carolina (19-2, 5-1) is a game behind the Commodores and Vols. LSU, Texas (19-2, 4-2) and Ole Miss (17-4, 4-2) are two games off the lead.
Vanderbilt has eight remaining SEC games vs. ranked teams starting at South Carolina on Sunday. Tennessee, Texas and Ole Miss have six league contests left each vs. ranked teams and LSU has five.
“Let’s see what happens down the stretch,” Mulkey said. “Every game is important.”
Contact Ron at ronhigginsmedia@gmail.com