Kim Mulkey doesn’t know how good her undefeated LSU team is.
The No. 9 Tigers went on the road to face their first ranked opponent of the season in No. 24 Arkansas, and they dominated the Razorbacks in a 69-45 win. The team has “taken grief over” its weak nonconference schedule, as Mulkey mentioned after the game, but handled its first true test.
“I thought we kept the crowd out of the game,” Mulkey said. “I thought we controlled the game. It wasn’t pretty, but I thought we controlled the game from the tip.”
Two Tigers players had double-doubles in the SEC opener: star forward Angel Reese (19 points, 16 rebounds) and freshman Flau’jae Johnson (10 points, 11 rebounds). In total, the team posted 62 rebounds – including 23 offensively – to Arkansas’ 30.
“They are a rebounding team; that is what they emphasize,” Arkansas coach Mike Neighbors said. “They demoralize you [when you] guard them and they just take it back in on you.”
A 24-point Top 25 win on the road to open SEC play 😈 pic.twitter.com/xQLtRFCBHN
— LSU Women's Basketball (@LSUwbkb) December 30, 2022
Still, Mulkey remained critical of her team’s performance, which she felt was not as good offensively as it was defensively. When asked how good she thinks her team is, Mulkey said the Tigers they were going to “flush this game.”
“I don’t know how good we are. When you see each other everyday, sometimes you take for granted what you have,” she said. “I don’t take it for granted, we just go to work. We know what we face. We just know what our goals are. How good we are, comparison, we don’t have time to do that.
“Are we talented? We’re talented. I just can’t gauge how good we are.”
