Survive and advance?
LSU (4-0) played its worst game of not just the 2024-2025 season, but arguably of the entire Kim Mulkey era and had to earn a 74-60 win over Murray State Friday night in the PMAC.
The Racers ended up leading for a solid portion of the game—20 minutes, 18 seconds to be exact—and outscored LSU 32-12 in the second quarter. Murray State, who came into tonight as a 40-point underdog, grabbed a 29-28 lead with 6:35 to go in the second quarter and would lead for the remainder of the quarter and the entire third quarter; the Racers would lead by as many as 13 points but LSU kept chipping away at the lead until it was a one-point game going into the fourth quarter.
That’s when LSU really put the clamps down on Murray State defensively, limiting the Racers to just six fourth quarter points. LSU went on a 13-1 run to end the game and outscored Murray State 37-14 in the second half.
Flau’Jae Johnson led all players with 25 points, with 10 coming in the fourth quarter. She ended the night with 25 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists.
“I just knew it was the fourth quarter and we can’t lose,” Johnson said. “I had to do whatever I could. Coach Bob (Starkey) told me that we needed my energy and I needed to do what I did.”
Mikaylah Williams had the hot hand early for LSU as she had the first nine Tiger points, but went cold for the remainder of the game. After starting 3-4, Williams would only hit two of her final 13 shots. Williams finished with 15 points on 5-17 shooting, 8 rebounds, and a pair of steals.
The basket wasn’t kind to Aneesah Morrow either, who finished 4-11, but she was able to grab her third double-double of the season with 10 points and 14 rebounds and played 38 minutes Friday night.
“I think Morrow was a warrior for us tonight,” Kim Mulkey said. “She didn’t shoot it particularly well but she did everything else. She was hedging screens and finding other ways to contribute to us winning. There’s a lot of ways to win a ball game.”
Transfer guard Shayeann Day-Wilson had her best game of the season with nine points and an impressive eight assists; Kailyn Gilbert provided some nice energy coming off the bench with seven points, four rebounds, and an assist in 11 minutes.
The biggest win for LSU was finally getting Last Tear-Poa back on the court. Poa missed the first three games and LSU’s two exhibition games because of a complicated situation involving her student visa, NIL, and the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. It’s a messy situation that you can read about here.
They say it’s better to win ugly than lose pretty so LSU avoiding a humiliating loss against Murray State is a good thing. They’ll get a chance to play a more complete game Monday night against Troy.