Angel Reese did not play in the second half of LSU’s 109-79 win over Kent State on Tuesday due to what head coach Kim Mulkey called a “coach’s decision.”

Reese had 11 points and 5 rebounds against Kent State in the first two quarters, and the Tigers held a narrow 39-37 lead at halftime. Mulkey sat Reese in favor of transfer Aneesah Morrow, who finished the game with 17 points and 8 rebounds.

“I could, but I won’t,” Mulkey said when asked to expand on her decision to sit Reese, who played 14 minutes. “It was just a coach’s decision.”

LSU started the season at No. 1 in the AP Top 25, but the Tigers had a rough first week, losing their opener against Colorado and dropping to No. 7 in the rankings. In that game, Reese had 15 points and 12 rebounds. She had two more double-doubles in LSU’s next two games against Queens and Mississippi Valley State, both of which were double-digit wins for the Tigers.

Freshman Mikaylah Williams was the standout performer in Tuesday’s win with 42 points, a record for an LSU freshman in the NCAA era. LSU next plays Southeast Louisiana on Friday.

Kim Mulkey didn’t hold back after top-ranked LSU basketball lost its season opener to No. 20 Colorado, citing players’ lack of leadership in the 92-78 loss.

“I’m disappointed and surprised in some individual players that I thought would just be tougher and have a little fight and leadership about them,” Mulkey said. “But I knew what we faced. When you have that many kids that played that many minutes together [as Colorado], we had our hands full. Colorado did exactly what I thought they would do.”

Some of the Tigers issues are ones Mulkey can “live with,” such as poor shooting, which led to a “tough night offensively,” the head coach said.

“What I don’t live with is just guts and fight and physical play [not being there],” she continued. “You got that dog in you. I just didn’t think we had that tonight.”

LSU freshman Mikaylah Williams (17 points) and sophomore Sa’Myah Smith (16) led the team in scoring. The pair “did all they could,” according to Mulkey.

“You’re talking about a true freshman and a true sophomore. We need more than just them to have a little bit of fight,” she continued, noting that the team’s second line of defense was “nonexistent.” Still, she notes that these things are “fixable,” though she doesn’t know how long it will take.

“We’re not the same team today we were when we won it all,” she said. “I don’t know if anything that went on this summer [with new players transferring in] has anything whatsoever to do with [our] locker room. I think [our] locker room is affected by Colorado being a very good team.”

Angel Reese set an NCAA single-season record with 34 double-doubles last season, and she picked up where she left off, with 15 points and 12 rebounds. Star transfer Hailey Van Lith added 14 points and 7 assists, while fellow transfer Aneesah Morrow had 6 points and 4 rebounds.

Angel Reese is taking her coach in her all-time starting five.

LSU basketball is tipping off its title defense against Colorado on Nov. 6 as part of the 2023 Hall of Fame Series. The four-game showcase, presented by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, is being held at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Ahead of the season opener, several Tigers stars shared their dream starting lineups, pulled from the illustrious list of Hall of Fame members.

“I’m starting strong with Lisa Leslie,” Reese said, before also naming Cheryl Miller, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal to her roster. She pondered her fifth choice before opting for her head coach: “I need a shooter. I’m going with Kim Mulkey.”

Mulkey, 61, was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2020. She won three national titles as the head coach of the Baylor Bears, in 2005, 2012 and 2019, and she won her fourth career title with the LSU Tigers in April.

Flau’jae Johnson joined Reese in naming Mulkey to her lineup, and she added O’Neal, Dwyane Wade, Tim Duncan and Allen Iverson.

Hailey Van Lith, meanwhile, put Las Vegas Aces head coach Becky Hammon in her starting five, while also naming Leslie, Bryant, Kevin Garnett and Michael Jordan.

“That’s a tough starting five, right there,” Van Lith said. “Mad tough.”

Star transfer Hailey Van Lith is going to be tasked with a number of jobs for LSU basketball this season.

The 22-year-old senior will be playing both guard positions, according to Tigers head coach Kim Mulkey. While Van Lith traditionally has been a shooting guard, she’s also learning to be a point guard, Mulkey told Baton Rouge’s WBRZ.

“I’ve got returning players that played point last year with Alexis Morris,” Mulkey said, noting that it was actually Van Lith who wanted to learn to play the point.

“What Hailey wanted when she came here was for me to teach her the point guard position and for her to be able to do both,” Mulkey said. “Now as the season progresses, if she ends up being the true point guard and that’s where she stays then so be it. But right now I need Hailey to do both. I need her to play the point but I also need her to go back to what she’s been doing on the wing a lot because she’s a natural at that position.”

Of course, the No. 1-ranked Tigers are stacked in both guard slots. Flau’jae Johnson leads the contingent, alongside Last-Tear Poa and Kateri Poole, who are versatile guards in their own right. They also added Aneesah Morrow in the offseason, and are bringing on top prospects in Mikaylah Williams and Angelica Velez.

Still, the flexibility will be beneficial for Van Lith as she moves on to her professional career, which both she and Mulkey know. And at LSU, Van Lith is learning to not take as many shots.

“She’s a kid that shot a lot [at Louisville] because she needed to,” Mulkey said. “I think she’s quickly learning ‘I don’t have to take as many shots when I’m surrounded with these many kids that are around me that can score the ball as well.’”

To Mulkey, there are two types of point guards: those that are game managers and those that score. Van Lith, she says, is one of those that will likely be a scoring point guard.

“I think Hailey, when she is at the point, will be a scoring point guard because you don’t want to take that away from her,” she said. “But teaching her the little things, transition defense being one of them, she’s got to now change her mindset that, ‘I don’t pick up the ball in the back court. I’ve got to be the one back directing traffic like a center fielder.’ Those are the little things with playing point that the average person doesn’t understand.”

Kim Mulkey welcomes the target on the backs of her LSU Tigers.

For the first time in program history, LSU basketball is ranked No. 1 in the AP Top 25 preseason poll. With the Tigers entering the season as the defending national champions, that was somewhat expected. But the pressure doesn’t bother them.

“We understand that with a championship and with the preseason ranking that we really have a target on our back,” Mulkey told Baton Rouge’s WBRZ. “We get that, we welcome it to an extent in that we keep it in perspective.”

The 61-year-old head coach called it “great recognition” for LSU and for the program. The No. 1 ranking is something to be celebrated, but the team isn’t putting to much stock into it.

For Mulkey’s part, she doesn’t talk much to her teams about being ranked, saying it’s the next game that matters most. Rankings make headlines, but championships make the history books.

So even though the Tigers enter the season with a loaded roster, including Angel Reese and star transfers Hailey Van Lith and Aneesah Morrow, they still need to put in the work to live up to their sky-high expectations, Mulkey said.

“I’ve got some talent and that talent is not going to win championships unless we all get on the same page and we all pull for each other and so far it’s been great,” she said. “The deeper you dig the prettier the fruit and we know that people are going to know that that’s the defending national champions and we’re going to get their best shot.”

LSU home games are going to be a special environment this season.

The Tigers have officially sold out their season tickets for the 2023-24 campaign, and to celebrate, coach Kim Mulkey brought a cookie cake to the team’s ticket department that read “SOLD OUT.”

LSU plays its home games at the 13,215-seat Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge. After winning the NCAA championship in April, and returning star forward Angel Reese, the Tigers have become a popular ticket.

The successful sales come despite the LSU Board of Supervisors approving a price hike for the season, with ticket prices increased between $25 to $75, depending on the level. The athletic department told the board it anticipates the increased revenue will total around $320,000.

A lot of money is floating around the program. After the championship, LSU signed Mulkey to a 10-year, $32 million contract extension, making her the highest-paid women’s college basketball coach ever. And Reese has a NIL valuation of $1.7 million, according to On3, the second highest among women athletes and seventh most in all.

The Tigers open the season Nov. 6 against Colorado in Las Vegas as part of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame series. They then host Queens on Nov. 9 in their first home game of the season.

Aneesah Morrow seems to be fitting right in at LSU. And a big part of that is Tigers coach Kim Mulkey.

Morrow, who transferred to the Tigers from DePaul, lavished praise on her new coach while addressing the media this week.

“You have to have tough skin as a player, and Mulkey is going to keep it real with you,” Morrow said. “She’s not going to sugarcoat it, she’s going to tell you what it is. She just, honestly, wants you to come in here every day and give 100 percent.

“Everybody needs a Kim Mulkey in their lives.”

Morrow comes to LSU after two terrific seasons at DePaul. Last season she averaged 25.7 points and 12.2 rebounds per game, after averaging 21.9 points and 13.8 rebounds per game as a freshman in 2021-22.

She’ll team up with LSU star Angel Reese as the Tigers look to defend their 2023 NCAA National Championship. The Tigers open the season Nov. 6 against Colorado in Las Vegas as part of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Series.

“I’m super excited to join. I just know how hard I work. Every day, my stats showed that I was very consistent every game, I was a double-double last year at DePaul and the year before would be a national freshman of the year,” Morrow said on Haley Jones’ “Sometimes I Hoop” podcast in August. “So I try to stay as consistent as I possibly can. But I also want to be challenged by my teammates and my coaching staff. I want them to have my back and I felt like LSU was the best fit for that.”

When Kim Mulkey left Baylor for LSU, she kept the reason for the move to herself. And it will remain under wraps, at least for now.

“Why did I leave Baylor? Someday I’ll tell the real reason why I left Baylor, but it serves no purpose now,” she said during a recent interview on “The Trey Gowdy Podcast.”

The legendary basketball coach won three national titles in 21 seasons with the Bears, but she departed for LSU ahead of the 2021-22 season. She won the fourth NCAA tournament championship of her career in her second season with the Tigers.

Mulkey, 61, grew up in Tickfaw, Louisiana, and played college basketball at Louisiana Tech, so coaching for LSU has served as a homecoming. While she alluded to deeper reasons for the change, she declined to delve into them. But she did make one thing clear: Her move was not based on money.

“My former players at Baylor, the majority of them were at that national championship game this past year in the locker room with us,” she said. “They know Coach Mulkey usually makes a decision based upon something where she puts a lot of thought into it.

“But I can tell you what it was not: It was not more money. I did not come to LSU because they gave me more money than Baylor. Baylor took care of me financially. It was just a feeling in my gut that said, you need to go help your state. And I came back to LSU and, goodness gracious, what we have done in two years is nuts.”

When asked about whether she would be honored with a statue on the Baylor campus, an honor she recently received from her alma mater, she again referenced a distance from her former program, though she also expressed a desire for its success.

“You know good and well there’s nothing on that campus, and I don’t ever expect there to be anything,” she said of Baylor. “I want that program to continue to do good things. I want it to represent all the previous players that I got to coach there and continue to do good things. … Every place I’ve been, I’ve loved.”

And, after signing a new 10-year, $32 million deal with LSU, she is loving life with the Tigers, with no thought toward retirement.

“When I’m not putting a product on that floor that’s competitive, or I’m not able to give what I know needs to given, that’s when you retire,” she said. “And right now, I don’t see that happening anytime soon.”

In the aftermath of LSU basketball’s title-clinching win over Iowa in the 2023 NCAA championship game, Angel Reese achieved celebrity status.

So entering the 2023-24 season, Tigers head coach Kim Mulkey asked: Would her star player come into the new year with the same drive to win?

“Your concern is: Is Angel Reese hungry?” Mulkey said. “She’s making money like crazy. Is she gonna be hungry for another ring? You get a feel for that in your first individual meetings.”

Her first meeting with Reese put to rest any concerns.

“When I sat down with Angel and talked with her about her summer, and then we talked about her being here, she said, ‘Coach, I’m tired. I’m so glad to be back. I’m ready to play basketball,'” Mulkey said Monday after LSU’s first official practice of the season.

Reese did have a busy offseason, which included winning the ESPY award for Best Breakthrough Athlete, modeling for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue, launching her own nonprofit foundation and more. She also grew her personal brand, with her NIL valuation reaching $1.7 million, according to On3.

Still, Mulkey knows Reese is ready for her senior season, with her eyes set on another national championship — and the 2024 WNBA Draft.

“I was looking to hear that and I didn’t have to pull it out of her,” Mulkey said. “She understands that she had the most unbelievable year of her college career and it was fun. You’re not entitled to that again. She’s working. She’s done her obligations.”

The LSU head coach enters the new season after a health scare. Mulkey, 61, underwent a potentially life-saving heart procedure in June to unclog one of her coronary arteries, which was almost completely blocked. But she too is ready to dive into the title defense with Reese, star transfers Hailey Van Lith and Aneesah Morrow and the rest of the Tigers.

The defending champions open their season against Colorado on Nov. 6 in Las Vegas as part of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Series. The game will provide an early test, as the Buffaloes ranked in the top 25 at the end of the 2022-23 season.

Angel Reese is eying the 2024 WNBA Draft. But the LSU basketball star is not happy with ESPN’s latest mock draft, which projects her as the No. 8 overall pick.

“That was an insult to her,” LSU head coach Kim Mulkey said. “We talked about the thing she needs to work on. Whether she gets picked higher than that or not, it still motivates her. She gets motivated in practice with someone going head-to-head with her or talking trash back at her. She’s a competitor.”

Reese and the Tigers are embarking on an NCAA title defense this season after winning the program’s first national championship in April. In the aftermath of the win, Reese’s national profile skyrocketed, on and off the court.

During the 2022-23 season, her first with LSU after transferring from Maryland, she finished with a single-season record 34 double-doubles. She averaged 23.0 points and 15.4 rebounds for the season.

While Reese, 21, has one year of eligibility remaining due to the COVID-19 pandemic, she is looking forward to taking her career to the next level, she said in a conversation with WNBA legend Lisa Leslie. Leslie spoke with Reese for Glamour magazine, which named Reese one of their 2023 College Women of the Year.

“This is my senior year, and I have the opportunity to declare for the WNBA this year if I choose to,” Reese told Leslie.

Yet while she has her eyes on the ultimate NCAA prize (another national championship), she also is keeping her individual goals in mind.

“Personally, I aspire to make it to the WNBA,” Reese said. “While I do have the option for another year, I do want to get out of college, start life outside of school, and pursue my WNBA dreams. It’s been a challenging but rewarding four years, and I’m excited to continue improving at LSU and beyond.”