A 53-point blowout win didn’t come quietly for the LSU Tigers on Sunday. Kim Mulkey’s team clinched its second straight W with a mammoth 108-55 win over the Missouri Tigers. However, it was the absence of a regular off-the-bench player, Grace Knox, especially after a hard foul in the Ole Miss game against Cotie McMahon, that was even louder than the reckoning. Now, the LSU head coach herself has cleared the air over the freshman’s sudden absence from the bench.

Speaking at the post-game press conference, Mulkey clarified that Knox is not injured and that the latter’s absence was a technical decision. Additionally, she highlighted that she even initially planned not to play Kate Koval, one of the team’s main defensive players, in the 78-70 win over the Rebels.

“She’s good, just didn’t play her,” Mulkey said. “I guess you can say coach’s decision, yeah, it was. There’s nobody else who makes this decision. So, I just went with Michaela in there, and I wasn’t really going to probably even play Kate anymore, but they talked me into playing some zone and put them there in, so they wouldn’t get exposed having to guard them in the perimeters. So, it was just no need to throw her out there.”

Knox’s absence from the bench was definitely a surprise, given that she has played in 26 of the 28 games so far. Her only absence before the Missouri game was on December 21, when she didn’t play in the Tigers’ final non-conference matchup of the season against Alabama State. While Knox has limited minutes as a bench player, she has made valuable contributions in those minutes.

The LSU freshman also showed immense personality in the game against the Rebels when she didn’t hesitate to have a go against the opposition team’s talisman, McMahon. In the third quarter of the game, Knox defended the rim with an aggressive block on the Ole Miss forward that had the latter on the floor.

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Knox followed it up with a spirited celebration that earned her a foul as well as a technical. While some saw this as her defensive prowess, many also questioned the brutality of the play.

However, Knox’s absence didn’t cost the Tigers much against Missouri on Sunday. With three double-doubles from Mikaylah Williams, MiLaysia Fulwiley, and ZaKiyah Johnson, Kim Mulkey’s team blew past the visitors. LSU scored 54 points alone in the first half, a record so far this season for the Tigers, surpassing the 49 points they scored against Alabama earlier this month.

Additionally, the Tigers recorded 72 rebounds, another LSU record for most boards in a game during the NCAA Championships era. All in all, it was a record-tumbling night for Mulkey’s team against unranked Missouri, and head coach Mulkey believes there is just one crucial factor contributing to it.

How Kim Mulkey’s Depth Is Powering LSU’s Late-Season Push

The LSU Tigers have one of the stacked rosters in the NCAAW circuit right now. Talented players like MiLaysia Fulwiley and Bella Hines, who are possible starters on other teams, come off the bench for them. And Mulkey knows that this comfort of abundant firepower is the biggest positive for her team, and she wasn’t hesitant to accept it in her post-game press conference.

“We’re fortunate enough to have depth on the perimeter and fortunate enough to have a couple of perimeter players that can go inside and defend, ” the LSU head coach said.

So, you never think you can win by that much. You never think you’re going to rebound like that. But it just unfolded today that it happened.”

Mulkey’s assessment made sense, and the numbers from the Missouri truly reflect it. Three players from the bench, including Fulwiley, scored over 10 points in the game. These numbers quietly signify that the LSU head coach has plenty of cards on her hands to call the shots on the court, even when her starters like Mikaylah Williams and Flau’jae Johnson are subbed out.

As Mulkey said, LSU’s output from the perimeters was quite formidable. The team went 12-for-29 from deep, with Fulwiley going 6-for-9. All in all, the Tigers’ head coach was quite impressed with her team’s performance in the game and didn’t hesitate to express it.

“This team never gets too high, it never gets too low. They just keep going better,”  Mulkey said in her presser.

With back-to-back victories over Ole Miss and Missouri, Kim Mulkey’s team has been able to come back from the tough South Carolina loss on February 14. The team is 24-4 and 10-4 in the season, with just two regular games remaining. They face Tennessee next on February 27, followed by an away game against Mississippi State.

What are your expectations from the Tigers for these games? Do let us know in the comments.