Illinois-Chicago women’s basketball averages around 500 fans per home game.
With Chicago’s very own Aneesah Morrow making her triumphant return to the Windy City with LSU women’s basketball, the number of tickets sold and attendance saw a record spike inside Credit Union 1 Arena on Thursday night.
And that record crowd of 4,322 fans were treated to an unexpectedly competitive game for a half. No. 3 LSU, which is the first ranked opponent UIC has hosted in recent memory, couldn’t stretch things out until it opened the second half with a 13-2 run. The Tigers went on to win 91-73 but Kim Mulkey’s team played sloppy in the early going and the Flames took advantage when they could.
The Tigers (14-0) now break for the holidays and return to action for one final nonconference game at home against Albany on Dec. 29 before SEC play begins after the New Year.
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Morrow requested 40 tickets for close family and friends to come watch her play in her hometown for the first time since she transferred from DePaul to LSU.
As the crowd cheered just as loudly for her and LSU as it did for UIC, the home team, Morrow gave the fans plenty to applaud, handling things on both ends of the floor.
The nation’s leader in double-doubles, Morrow snatched down five rebounds in the first quarter alone. She knocked down two 3-pointers for the second straight game, seemingly finding her outside shot just in time for the arrival of SEC play in a couple of weeks.
Morrow ended the night with 19 points and 12 boards to tally her 12th double-double in 14 games this season, along with four steals, three assists and two blocks. Her 86 career double-doubles now rank fifth all-time has she passed former Stanford great Chiney Ogwumike on Thursday.
Defensive lapses for LSU women’s basketball vs UIC cause for concern
Coming into the game, UIC averaged around four 3s per game. Against LSU’s porous 3-point defense, the Flames surpassed their average before halftime. The Flames finished 5 of 11 from behind the arc.
Not only were the Tigers susceptible to the deep shot but their on-ball defense on dribble and drive opportunities were nearly nonresistant, as Illinois-Chicago, led by guard Arin Freeman who scored 19 points, was able to get by LSU defenders to the rim for layups.
While UIC didn’t shoot the ball well overall at 38%, how it was able to score the buckets it did early is alarming as LSU has one final nonconference before entering Southeastern Conference play following the New Year.
Flau’jae Johnson extends scoring streak
There were some shooting woes for LSU for much of the game in Chicago. While it scored plenty of points off UIC turnovers, LSU settled for too many jump shots and 3s. When it did get inside, it went 6 of 10 on layups.
An early bright spot was when junior star guard Flau’jae Johnson started to get hot, scoring 10 first-half points. Her game-high 23 points marks the 23rd straight time Johnson has scored in double figures dating back to last season.
She has scored at least 10 points in 40 of her past 41 games. Johnson also recorded her third double-double of the season and eighth of her career, as she finished the UIC game with 10 boards.
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Cory Diaz covers the LSU Tigers for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY. Follow his Tigers coverage on Twitter: @ByCoryDiaz. Got questions regarding LSU athletics? Send them to Cory Diaz at bdiaz@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Aneesah Morrow returns home, leads LSU women’s basketball past UIC
