BATON ROUGE – Kim Mulkey became the quickest basketball coach – men’s or women’s – in LSU history to reach 100 wins on Sunday with a 131-44 victory over N.C. Central in the PMAC, scoring the second most points in program history – two shy of the record.
“Throughout my career I’ve been blessed to coach players who believe in our system and believe in what we do,” Coach Mulkey said. “Coming to LSU is not any different than when I was at Baylor for 20-plus years. The kids have to believe in you, they have to let you coach them, and all of those wins belong to them.”
LSU had a balanced scoring attack as nine Tigers scored in double figures. Flau’Jae Johnson paced the team with 22 points with four blocks and Kailyn Gilbert had a season-high 19 points with 4 steals. Aneesah Morrow posted her seventh consecutive double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds with three steals and three assists. Sa’Myah Smith had 13 points and 9 rebounds.
Mikaylah Williams, Jersey Wolfenbarger, Jada Richard and Mjracle Sheppard all finished with 10 points. Sheppard also had a team-high 7 steals
“I was always taught that defense wins championships,” Sheppard said. “Defense is just fun to me and my whole deal is to make it fun for everybody. If you can get a deflection, it’s a steal for somebody else. So, it’s just a team effort, it’s your willingness, it’s your determination to want to get a stop on defense.”
The Tigers forced 33 turnovers, including 23 steals, which led to 53 points. LSU finished with a staggering 78 points in the paint. After the Eagle scored 18 in the first quarter LSU held them scoreless in the second quarter, the second time doing so during Coach Mulkey’s time at LSU. The other was in the second quarter against McNeese when LSU set the program record with 133 points, the only larger mark than Sunday in program history.
Morgan Callahan was the only N.C. Central player to finish in double figures with 13 points and she led the team with 8 rebounds.
The Tangipahoa Parish native Mulkey is in her fourth season back home in Louisiana and captured her 100th victory as LSU’s head coach in her 114th game. Sue Gunter was previously the quickest to reach 100 wins at LSU, doing so in 129 games.
LSU’s win last season against Virginia Tech was Mulkey’s 700th of her head coaching career. She reached 700 faster than any coach – men’s or women’s – in DI history. Mulkey has won at least 20 games every year throughout her head coaching career which started in 2000. She is the only men’s or women’s coach with National Championships at multiple programs. In her 25th season as a head coach, she holds a 732-118 record.
In her first season as LSU’s head coach, Mulkey led the greatest turnaround by a first-year SEC coach in conference history. The Tigers went 26-6 during that 2021-22 season and hosted first- and second-round NCAA Tournament games, setting the stage for them to capture their first national championship during Mulkey’s second season in Baton Rouge with a 34-2 record. LSU reached the Elite Eight last season with a 31-6 record. LSU is off to a 9-0 record this season to give Mulkey 100 wins at LSU.
LSU will host Stanford on Thursday at 8 p.m. CT on ESPN2 for the SEC/ACC Challenge.
LSU jumped out to an early 8-0 advantage over N.C. Central behind Morrow’s early offensive efforts. The Tigers were extremely effective from the field to begin the game, and Morrow started the contest off strong with 8 points on her first 4 shots. The Tigers led the Eagles 16-10 at the first media timeout in the quarter. N.C. Central came out of the timeout strong, and responded to LSU’s lead with back-to-back buckets to cut the Tiger lead to 2. LSU’s offense was able to regain a considerable lead late in the quarter, as Last-Tear Poa and Kailyn Gilbert got points on the board in quick succession. At the end of the first quarter, LSU held a 26-18 lead over N.C. Central. Morrow scored 8 points on 4-4 shooting to pace LSU in the first 10 minutes and tacked on 3 rebounds and 2 assists in just 5 minutes.
Johnson led an offensive barrage for LSU to start the second quarter, as the standout junior scored 9 points on 3 attempts in only 2 minutes to give LSU a 35-18 lead. The Tigers continued to stay aggressive on both ends of the floor, and held the Eagles to an 0-5 shooting mark entering the media timeout. Offensively, LSU was 7-11 from the field in the first 6 minutes of the quarter and increased their lead to 43-18. The Tigers were relentless on the defensive end, and forced N.C. Central into 12 turnovers in the second quarter alone. The Eagles did not score in the second quarter, and LSU led 64-18 at the half after a 36-0 scoring run. Johnson recorded 11 points on 4-5 shooting in the second quarter, and six other Tigers scored 4 points in the quarter to support the remarkable scoring run.
Johnson got LSU in the groove with an and-1 layup early in the quarter. Morrow brought down her 10th rebound of the contest to secure her 8th double-double of the season and 7th consecutive. LSU maintained steady production on both sides of the ball, as Williams scored a three pointer and converted a steal-and-score to pump the Tiger lead to 83-24. Jada Richard exploded into action to end the third quarter, and scored two impressive buckets in quick succession to boost the energy in the PMAC. At the end of the third quarter, LSU led N.C. Central 98-33 with 10 turnovers forced.
Johnson dropped an and-1 three point shot to start off the fourth quarter for the Tigers. LSU kept the pressure on N.C. Central throughout the entirety of the fourth quarter, and went on an 8-0 run in the final quarter to extend the lead in the triumphant victory. Miracle Sheppard recorded her best game since her injury earlier in the season, and added 6 steals on the defensive end to help LSU seal an impressive victory.
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