On Monday night in Las Vegas, the Colorado Buffaloes pulled off a stunning victory over the top-ranked and reigning champion LSU, winning 92-78. This marks the first time since UConn’s upset against Louisiana Tech in the 1995-96 season that the defending champions lost their first game. LSU, known for its transfer potential, boasts an incredible lineup including the second-ranked recruit in 2023. Looking at their star-studded team, one can’t help but wonder who can possibly stop them.

Well, allow the Buffaloes to step in. Their game plan was to outscore the top-ranked Tigers in a fast-paced West Coast showdown in Las Vegas, with a focus on their perimeter players known for their smooth shooting skills.

Angel Reese’s deliberate expression of defeat

The defending champions mounted a heap of disappointment for their fans after they lost to Colorado when Angel Reese’s arch-enemy Caitlin Clark was pinning her resume down with back-to-back victories. The opening loss of media favorite LSU received unfriendly reviews for their poor performance.

In the post-game presser with Queens, Angel Reese flushed out all her true feelings about the loss they suffered with Colorado: “It’s a tough night to sleep, looking at the game over and over and over again, trying to figure out why.” The impact of the defeat was so clear to her, as she stumbled when expressing the root cause of their mistakes in the Instagram posts. She however assured dominant gameplay.

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The Lady Tigers are now trying to figure out the team chemistry and trying to fit in. But coach Kim Mulkey seems to think that the defeat was already predictable.

Coach Kim Mulkey on the opening loss

Coach Mulkey expressed her lack of surprise that her No. 1-rated and reigning national champion LSU Tigers dropped their season opener. “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. Columbia did exactly what I thought they would do,” she said to ESPN.

But the defending champions bounced back swiftly to their momentum after they established their power. On a historic evening at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center, when the Tigers scored the third-most points in school history on the same night they hoisted a banner for the 2023 National Championship and received their rings, No. 1 LSU defeated Queens, 112-55.

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“It’s an interesting game,” head coach Kim Mulkey declared.