LSU women's basketball at Tennessee: Score prediction, scouting report for big SEC matchup

BATON ROUGE — LSU women’s basketball is staring down its first real road test this week.

The No. 15-ranked Tennessee Lady Vols (13-1, 1-1 SEC) await the No. 4-ranked Tigers (17-0, 2-0), who are one of the last five undefeated teams remaining in women’s college basketball, for a highly anticipated Southeastern Conference matchup Thursday night (5:30 p.m., SEC Network+).

Since Kim Mulkey has taken over at LSU, her teams have not lost in Knoxville, going 2-0. Overall, LSU is 3-1 against Tennessee the past four seasons, with the one loss coming in the 2023 SEC Tournament semifinal.

This is coach Kim Caldwell’s first season with the Lady Vols, who started the season unranked. Caldwell has coached the team into the top 25 rankings in her first dozen games.

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Expect plenty of points between LSU women’s basketball, Tennessee

Tennessee has the top scoring offense in the country, averaging 97 points per game. LSU ranks third, posting 92 points on average led by junior guard Flau’jae Johnson (19.7), senior forward Aneesah Morrow (18.1) and sophomore Mikaylah Williams (15.9).

For the Lady Volts, it’s offensive onslaught is rooted in Caldwell’s system which features all-out running and few breaks on either end of the floor. South Carolina transfer Talaysia Cooper paces Tennessee at 17.8 points per game and in total, five Lady Vols average at least 10 points.

“Tennessee is very good,” Mulkey said Tuesday before the team’s trip to Knoxville. “They’ve got a ton of new players, like 10. Their style of play is like nothing I’ve ever seen.

“They score a lot of points and they make you play fast with their press. It’s going to be quite a challenge to keep them from scoring in the 90s. That seems to be their magic number.”

LSU limiting its turnovers will be key against Lady Vols

Through the first half of the season, the Lady Vols boast the best turnover margin at plus-12.6 per game. Tennessee forces the second most turnovers per game in the SEC behind Texas and that is a huge part of the offense it generates each game.

For much of this season so far, LSU has struggled with taking care of the basketball as Mulkey continues to look for a point guard that’ll take hold of the position. Shayeann Day-WIlson, Last-Tear Poa and Jada Richard make it the set rotation but WIlliams and Kailyn Gilbert have played minutes at the position.

“You can’t turn the ball over against their press. It’s more of a run-and-jump press with a lot of length coming at you,” Mulkey said. “Tennessee gets to the paint, gets a lot in the paint as well but they also average 12 3s a game. We’re going to have to focus and try our best to defend that.”

Lady Vols coach Kim Caldwell due to have baby any moment. Kim Mulkey jokingly offers delivery help

In September, Caldwell and her husband, Justin, announced they were expecting a child. Recently, it’s been reported the due date for Caldwell is Jan. 20, which is a week-and-a-half following the LSU-Lady Vols matchup.

If the game between the two SEC powerhouses gets too exciting, Mulkey jokingly offered up her services in helping Caldwell delivery her baby if she goes into labor in the middle of the game.

“I know any moment now I was told she should have a baby, so I hope she had it right there in the middle of the game,” Mulkey laughed Tuesday. “I hope that game gets so exciting, I’ll go down there and help deliver it. Pat Summitt had quite a story about when she had her baby. She had to land that plane out of recruiting.

“If Kim goes into labor during our game, listen I have lots of experience, I have two. Come find me and I’ll be there to hold your hand with your husband and whomever else you’d let into the room.”