No coach ever wants their team to lose. But Kim Mulkey knows how to hold her players and herself accountable and ensure the mistakes are not repeated. Her journey with the University since 2021 is short but already led to the 2023 NCAA Division I National Championship. Not to mention her strong bonds with the current Lady Tigers roster and the WNBA star Angel Reese. Having said that, the former Baylor coach is not against criticisms as evident in this latest postgame presser.

This is about her media scrum after winning 85-74 over Tulane Green Wave, which was a narrow escape in the fourth quarter. While the team maintained the season’s supremacy unbeaten 6-0, the player performance left the Head Coach with a 4x NCAA National Championship to turn against her girls!

In her postgame press conference, the Coach gave her take on what let Tulane loose. Picking words tight with a heavy heart, she said, “I thought we just became very complacent, jacking up shots, one pass one shot, one pass one shot.” While agreeing with making shots when open, she turned critical: “Okay, well, five of you on the perimeter went 4 for 23.” 

Mulkey also raised the need for retrospection if something like that repeats. “I believe if I miss some of those, I’d do something different. I’d take them off the dribble, I’d reverse the ball and get that shot maybe on the fourth or fifth pass. That just comes with teaching them the game. That comes with them playing together more,” says the Coach who boasts an 86% efficiency.

She also didn’t hesitate to call out the defensive end and signal a wake-up call. Mulkey added, “Then you turn around and go down on the defensive end. Did we even have a foul? The first five minutes of the fourth quarter? Well that’s telling. Why didn’t we have a foul? They taking you off the dribble, I believe I’d foul them on the floor before they ever got up for a shot. So, is that fatigue? What is that? But I think that is exactly what happened in the fourth quarter.” While she blows the whistle, you might appreciate the trigger for this response. 

If you look at it, LSU scored a solid 25 points in the first three quarters, only coming close in the second when Tulane dropped a 22. They led with 20 entering into the fourth quarter when Tulane caught up, outscoring the Lady Tigers 19-10, dragging down LSU’s lead to 11. Comparing the field goal %, the season leads were only 5.5% ahead of an opponent with 37%. This comes from a team that scored a season total of 479 points, which is 200 more than Tulane’s 278. 

Wonder where to find the traces of this ‘Complacency’? 

Tracing Loopholes carved by the Lady Tigers

LSU is continuing its 2024-25 campaign quite confidently after winning 6 of 6 games already. However, while the final score has always read 100% for the purple and gold, Mulkey has pointed out flaws in the locker room where she wants to improve. Previously, when LSU got the better of Charleston Southern in a 117-44 sweep, the Hall of Famer head coach pointed fingers at the former 5-star recruit Aalyah Del Rosario for picking up a clumsy foul in a “tight game.”

Mulkey has also not hidden her wihs to get more out of Flau’jae Johnson as a leader. A closer look at ‘Lady Tigers’ from the last game with Troy Trojans winning by 98-59 gives a similar picture. Yes, it does, zooming at the 32 points that came from the foul line. LSU’s lead scorer Flau’jae Johnson with 27 points made 9 of her 11 free throws.

This time, even with 82.4% free throw efficiency which is nearly 10% more compared to the last game with 72.7%. In both cases, the opponent’s FT% hovered over 50. However, many may disagree on banking on a rival’s failure. 

Such figures hint at seemingly lacunae within the team since the last game. Whether it is over-confidence or fatigue as noted by Coach Mulkey regarding their foul in the first five minutes, requires thorough digging from the leadership. 

On the flip side, this opinion could be the ‘complacency’ projecting. The fourth quarter performance from Tulane could signal a rising star as Mulkey herself said: “We had a 20-point lead on them and they never went away. If they play like that going forward in their conference, I think they will win a lot of basketball games.”  

With this confession on the table, the LSU Tigers on their way to the Bahamas for the Baha Mar Hoops Pink Flamingo championship for the Monday game could have some retrospection.