Kim Mulkey has so far managed to lead LSU entirely undefeated. But there’s a twist- the last two wins have been so narrow that fans are worried about the unbeaten team’s record. After the last matchup against Vanderbilt, Mulkey opened up about the strengths and vulnerabilities of her victorious roster.

“If you look at each quarter, we did not shoot the ball bad each quarter. We shot the ball significantly more than they did,” said the 62-year-old coach. The competitive game between LSU and Vanderbilt ended at 83-77. Still, the Commodores still outplayed LSU in terms of free throws and three-pointers. However, the LSU team outrebounded the Vanderbilts by a significant margin.

Mulkey did acknowledge Vanderbilt’s offensive acumen. “They just had efficient offense,” said the coach. Vanderbilt managed to get 9 steals while LSU got 8 and kept themselves competitive at 16 turnovers against LSU’s 17. Mulkey went on to defend her team’s performance. “It’s really kind of a strange game for me to sit here and tell you this is what we did poorly until I go back and look at the film,” added the coach.

Mulkey also acknowledged that her unbeaten team needs to work on fouls. “Fouling for sure, [we are] getting in foul trouble”, said the LSU coach. LSU had 20 personal fouls in the last game which seems a little concerning to Mulkey. Hopefully, the head coach will be working to develop a team that can look at the challenging roster ahead without such narrow margins.

However, the game between the two was a heart-stopper for fans of both sides. Let’s take a deeper look at what caused the fans to worry about LSU’s so far unbeaten season.

Mulkey’s LSU barely survives the Vanderbilt Commodores

The SEC home bout with Vanderbilt on Monday night in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center was a nail-biter. When LSU was trailing by three points with about 9 minutes remaining, it was Flau’jae Johnson’s time to shine. She did her best in the last few minutes of the heart-stopper game which made all the difference in the final scoreboard.

While Mikaylah Williams and Aneesah Morrow did their best to keep LSU competitive, it was Johnson’s scoring perfection that led to the win in the last minutes. She assumed the front line in the fourth quarter to make points after points, contributing enough to beat the Commodores at 83-77. Johnson ended the game at 25 points on 10-of-21 shooting — she went 5 of 7 from the floor with 11 points in the fourth quarter— to lead the Tigers to the triumph.

The LSU Tigers do not seem to be stopping anytime soon. Let’s see if they continue their unbeaten journey in the challenging schedule that lies ahead for the SEC team. For now, we will be watching them take on Florida this weekend.