After LSU’s blowout victory over Jacksonville (116-58), you would expect Kim Mulkey to focus on player appraisals, but that just isn’t her way of doing things now, is it? Although the LSU coach looked visibly content despite her stern aura, she still chose to highlight the one flaw that bothered her.

“Don’t look at that second quarter, they shot 50-something percentage, didn’t they? 58%? That’s too many points, and I think I said it coming off the floor when the ESPN lady asked me, and I said too many points got to clean that up,” said Mulkey as she addressed the media after the Jacksonville game.

Well, Mulkey has always been a coach who lives by the motto of ‘offense winning games and defense winning championships,’ and it is understandable why she would feel the need to address the defensive lapses in the backcourt. And that was the only quarter in which the Dolphins actually posed a problem for the Tigers.

After establishing a heavy lead in the first quarter, 34-14, the Tigers looked poised for another straight-up no-contest victory, but the Dolphins cut the deficit to 22 points, their best showing of the game. LSU’s offense did not stop; however, the defense wasn’t as foolproof as Kim Mulkey would have liked, which led the coach, her best critic, to engage in self-introspection.

But of course, not everything was bad. While the Tigers dominated every quarter, their most telling performance came from Flau’jae Johnson, whose 20 points led a balanced attack that also saw significant contributions from Mikaylah Williams (18) and Jada Richard (17).

But the star of the show was again Flau’jae Johnson, who, with her 20 points, again showed why she is regarded as one of the best to do it at Baton Rouge. So much has been her influence over the years that even a taskmaster like Kim Mulkey got emotional talking about her.

Mulkey Emotional About Johnson’s Departure From LSU

Four years with the LSU program will finally come to an end for Flau’jae Johnson as she will bid farewell to college basketball at the end of this season. The senior, who had some memorable moments for the Tigers, will be hard to forget for her teammates and, of course, for coach Kim Mulkey, who herself has fond memories of Flau’jae.

“I get emotional because that kid just meant so much to our program. We should sell it out, and not only should we sell it out, but I also don’t want to hear anybody gripe about the cost of a ticket,” said Mulkey, egging on the fans to come and see Flau’jae in action.

While fans have shown aversion to attending games because of the high ticket prices for in-demand games, where prices have reached $70-$100, Mulkey has urged fans to come out and support her star player one last time before she is drafted to the WNBA.

Johnson’s four years at LSU included a national championship for the Tigers in 2023, and she has never looked back since. Four seasons, 139 games, and exactly 2026 pts so far, Johnson has had a legendary career, and Mulkey knows that.

Johnson, too, has nothing but love and respect for LSU and encourages every recruit to come over and join up with the Tigers.

“If you wanna hoop, come to LSU.Coach Mulkey, she really is just like, ‘Go ball.’ This is why people like to come and play at LSU. This is why we get the best transfers and freshmen: they like to play this style of basketball. If you can put the ball in the hoop, if you can run the floor, you’re gonna love playing here. That’s what I love to do. It’s just really fun. We score a lot of buckets,” Flau’jae said, inviting more and more players to come over.

When Kim Mulkey’s best student, Flau’jae, says it, people listen. After all, she has been an in-house program superstar, and that is enough to gain attention. LSU today is on par with UConn, Duke, and South Carolina. It produced one of the biggest basketball stars, Angel Reese, and that helps when marketing your product.