Kim Mulkey's Take: LSU Women's Basketball Eyeing Major Win Over Duke Blue Devils

Kim Mulkey and the LSU Tigers will return to action on Friday night in Sacramento with a Sweet 16 matchup against the Duke Blue Devils up next on the docket.

In what has been an impressive start to NCAA Tournament play for LSU after wins over both Jacksonville and Texas Tech, the stakes have increased dramatically with a berth to the Elite Eight on the line.

Mulkey took the podium on Friday afternoon to evaluate the Friday night matchup. What did LSU's shot-caller have to say?

Kim Mulkey's Take: Sweet 16 Edition

Q. You guys played Duke, obviously, a while ago. How much do you take from that game, if anything, to get ready for the game tomorrow? Do you watch any of the film? Do you focus on what's happened in the last couple of weeks versus three months ago?

KIM MULKEY: Certainly you look at that, but you understand, they're better today than they were in that game. And I think we're better today than that game. But you certainly look at every bit of film you can find.

So, yeah, we looked at it and kind of looked at things they did well and things that we did well and what we didn't do well. You do. You go back and look. But they're so much better today than they were then. But I think we are too.

Q. Before the first and second round, we talked about your big three playing together all at the same time. You guys have played your best basketball here recently. Flau'Jae talked about being locked in and focused. What have you seen that's been different over the last two games for your team?

KIM MULKEY: I think the loss in the SEC Tournament shook them a little bit. I think it was a lot of petty stuff going on in the huddles. And they were not real happy about how it was perceived. And I think they fixed it.

And we've been playing good basketball. I like, as I'm sure most coaches that are at this level, Sweet 16 now, like their teams and how they're playing or they wouldn't have made it to the Sweet 16.

LSU Tigers Women's Basketball: Gary Redus. — Courtesy of Gary Redus via X.

Q. When you talk about that, the, I guess, what the kids may have gotten out of that loss or just how this group has developed, can you give us a little bit more insight on that? This team has got a lot of experience, but they've also had to evolve during the course of the season.

KIM MULKEY: I don't know that I would say our team has a lot of experience. When I categorize "a lot," I think of, like, UCLA, six seniors. I have some returning players that have been to this level, and just one that has won a national championship.

Eight new players. It takes a while for all of them to get on the same page. You look at our five losses, we don't have bad losses. We were in every game. And that's unusual when you have that many new players. But you learn, why did we lose that game, and you try to fix it, and you try to get better.

It's a season that, not a lot of drama. Didn't have to deal with anything but coaching this year. When you have that many personalities on the same team, that's unusual, but it's also a pleasure.

Q. Haven't seen Divine Bourrage in a couple games.

KIM MULKEY: Concussion protocol. She hit her head really bad. She stayed in the game. And I think she scored a free throw. And then the next day, she came to practice with a headache and it never got better. So she's in concussion protocol.

Q. Do you think she could play this weekend, possibly?

KIM MULKEY: She's not here. They wouldn't even let her fly. That's a four-hour flight. I don't think you're going to put them on a plane if you're in a concussion protocol for that many hours.

Q. Question about Flau'Jae. You said after you played Duke the first time that you had to rebuild her confidence from her experience over the summer with Team USA. What did that game do for her, her performance in that one do for her confidence --

KIM MULKEY: Well, that game didn't -- you know, that happened this summer. I think that question was asked about her experience playing with USA Basketball. I just answered it honestly.

I don't even know if Flau'Jae even thinks about it anymore. We certainly haven't talked about it. We didn't talk about it before we played Duke. I was just asked that question after the game.

Q. Your offense this year has been so dynamic, right, multiple hundred-point games. What is it about this group that has allowed them to be so electric on that side of the ball offensively in putting up these high-scoring games?

KIM MULKEY: Talent. You look at the talent. You added Fulwiley, who can score the ball. You added Mama, who was the leading scorer at East Carolina; Kate Koval, who was kind of on the bench at Notre Dame but has been so valuable to us. Just a lot of people who can score the ball.

It's not just one player that we rely on. Our offense doesn't run through one player to make everybody else better. We run a style of play that allows all of them a little freedom to score.

LSU Tigers Basketball. — Courtesy of LSU Tigers Women's Basketball.

Q. A little outside of the game tomorrow night, but looks like Will Wade is making his way back to Baton Rouge. Just wanted to get your thoughts on Will making his way back?

KIM MULKEY: I'm just going to focus on my team.

Q. Obviously your fashion choices have been a lot of fun for women's basketball. But it looks like your assistants have kind of got their own style as well. I'm curious what it's like for you to see your assistants have fun in that way, and if there is a best-dressed assistant on your staff?

KIM MULKEY: I'm not a fashionista. So I couldn't tell you what they wear. I couldn't tell you, gosh, anything that they wear.

I do good to be talked into wearing what I wear. That was a thing that happened when I first got to Baton Rouge, got talked into doing it. And it's just kind of taken off.

But I'm not a fashion person. So I really don't know. I'm glad you think they all dress good. I hope you think they dress professional. But yeah, I love my assistants, but I don't pay attention to what any of them wear.

Q. I spoke with you back in November about Flau'Jae and how entering her senior year, we were reflecting on how you've seen her grow over the last four years and become the true leader of this team. So over the last however many months since the start of the season, just how have you continued to see her grow, especially now as she's finished her career in Baton Rouge, still obviously games left, but how have you seen her approach these last couple of months?

KIM MULKEY: Flau'Jae, she won the national championship her freshman year, and, boy, she was on a team with some really outstanding older players. So I'm sure she learned a lot from those players.

She's never really wanted to embrace being a leader. She just kind of wants to do good and be a good player and a good person. And sometimes you have to be a leader. And I think she's embraced it this year.

I think that she's more comfortable being a leader because being a leader is not always when things go good. You have to be a leader when you're not playing good or when you're struggling or you're having a bad day.

I think she and Mikaylah Williams have really embraced being leaders of our team this year. And they're both captains. And it's good to see Flau'Jae do that. I think that's probably more so than the things that she does, scoring the ball or anything with basketball, is just watching her become a better leader.

Q. We were talking about the loss that you guys had in the SEC Tournament and how it was a gut check, right, for your group. You mentioned how Flau'Jae has embraced being a leader. Was there anything -- you don't have to disclose the conversations -- but that she did after that loss to kind of help get this team where it is now and how it's playing in this NCAA Tournament?

KIM MULKEY: I don't know about after that loss. I can tell you, after the loss where she missed the two free throws to beat South Carolina in the regular season, do you remember that? After she was initially in shock that she missed both of them, I remember in the locker room, in the film room the next day, how she stood up and she didn't apologize because you don't apologize in athletics.

She wanted to make those two free throws. But I remember what she said: Coach us hard, Coach Mulkey. That's all I remember is that she realized that we have a special team, and that we had that right in our grasp. And all she said was, coach us hard, Coach Mulkey.

Q. When you were saying earlier about -- I want to make sure I got this right -- that they were not happy with the way the huddles were perceived, was that what you said?

KIM MULKEY: They were bickering. When you're in the heat of the moment, you might say something to a teammate that's not received the right way and they come back at you, stuff like that.

Q. As a coach, is there anything -- do you sort of just let that -- they have to figure that out?

KIM MULKEY: No, first of all, I don't know it's going on. I didn't know until after the fact. I'm in the middle of drawing stuff up and talking, and it's stuff going on. Then when you see it, you address it as a coach. And then you let them work it out. If it's something I need to get involved in.

But it was never anything where they were angry at each other, they don't like each other. It was just the heat of the moment, just like sisters. I'm going to get the last word.

Q. What did you see in your bigs in the last two games? What do you need to see here in California?

KIM MULKEY: I thought they were very productive. I thought the two bigs had the double-doubles. I thought the last time we played Duke, the two bigs played together on the floor. Duke has two bigs.

It's a good match-up for me to have both bigs on the floor against Duke. Do what you've been doing all year. We throw it in there, finish, defend, run the floor, get back in transition defense. But they're playing with a lot of confidence.

Q. You just said they're playing with a lot of confidence. When you look at what Duke has done recently, where have they been better now than they were back when you played them in late November, early December?

KIM MULKEY: I think their confidence is out of the roof too. They won the league. They didn't change anything. Their identity and our identity is the same as it was last time we played. You just perfect what you do.

And I think that they just do things better now than they did then, whether it's defense, whether it's executing things on the offensive end. And all that's because of playing games and playing more games together and having success.

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