Too little too late
For the second year in a row, the team that LSU eliminated in the previous NCAA Tournament came back to eliminate them the following season.
No. 1 overall seed UCLA (34-2) got its revenge over LSU (31-6) from last season’s Sweet 16 and beat LSU 72-65 in the Elite 8 to advance to its first ever Final Four in program history. Just like last season, LSU came up one game shy of the program’s seventh Final Four.
Offense was hard to come by for either side. UCLA shot 38 percent from the floor, and LSU wasn’t much better at 37 percent. The biggest difference was UCLA hit 10 three-pointers and were carried by Gabriel Jaquez and Timea Gardiner hitting a combined 9-13.
LSU’s ultimate undoing was how poorly it performed in the second quarter. The Tigers did a good job getting first-team All-American Lauren Betts into foul trouble early in the game. Betts sat the final two minutes of the first quarter and didn’t play a single second in the second quarter, but instead of exploiting her absence LSU was outscored 22-12 and went into halftime trailing 31-25.
It looked like UCLA was about to run away with the game early on in the third quarter, as the Bruins pushed its lead to 14 points but LSU, to their credit, didn’t cave and was able to within five points by the end of the quarter.
Flau’Jae Johnson hit a layup to get LSU as close as three points with about three minutes to play in the fourth quarter, but the Bruins scored six unanswered points to grab a nine-point lead. The dagger came when Jaquez hit her fourth three of the afternoon with less than 90 seconds to play.
In her final collegiate game ever, Aneesah Morrow had 15 points, seven rebounds, and one broken nose. Betts pushed Sa’Myah Smith’s head which crashed into Morrow’s face and busted her nose; ever the competitor, Morrow went back out there as the fourth quarter began.
Flau’Jae Johnson very nearly willed LSU all the way back, finishing with a game-high 28 points and 24 in the second half. Mikaylah Williams had a rough go of things, shooting 4-13 from the floor and Smith, who had been so excellent in this tournament, was quieted to four points. She did grab 10 rebounds and was active defensively with four steals, but clearly Betts’ 6’7” frame made her life difficult in the post.
Turnovers also killed LSU. The Tigers turned it over 15 times, 15 of which came from LSU’s Big Three; and Kailyn Gilbert, who played 25 minutes off the bench, had one point on a brutal 0-7 day shooting.
After the planets perfectly aligned in March of 2023, LSU’s come so close yet so far from the past two Final Fours. They are, clearly, one of the elite programs in women’s college basketball, but it seems they’re just ever so slightly beneath the likes of UCLA, UConn and South Carolina. There’s 300 other programs who would kill to be in LSU’s place, but if the Tigers want to climb the mountain top again, they’ll need a better, deeper roster.
Help appears to be on the way, however as LSU has the No. 1 incoming high school class. They’ve got four five-star players enrolling (Divine Bourrage, Bella Hines, ZaKiyah Johnson, and Grace Knox) and there will of course be work done in the transfer portal.
LSU will bring back the bulk of this team, specifically Johnson, Williams, and Smith, but replacing Morrow will be priority No. 1. Maybe the answer lies in-house and we’ll see Smith and Aalyah Del Rosario be the front court tandem that Morrow and Angel Reece were, or maybe Mulkey and her staff bring in an established star via the portal. Adding some more shooting and a true point guard would also go a long ways toward getting LSU back into the Final Four.