Kim Mulkey's Thoughts: LSU Women's Basketball vs. UCLA Bruins in Elite Eight Clash

Kim Mulkey and the No. 3-seeded LSU Tigers will square off against the UCLA Bruins on Sunday afternoon in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament with tip-off set for 2 p.m. CT.

Mulkey and Co. are set to appear in their thirrd consecutive Elite Eight with the program looking to punch their ticket to the Final Four.

Looking Ahead: Mulkey's Take on the Bruins

Q. The challenge of defending Betts and how much better do you feel about that now that Sa'Myah has really kind of come on the last couple of games?

KIM MULKEY: She is so talented. Just watching her from high school until today, it's amazing how good she is. Certainly her height is an advantage and we're not going to grow that tall overnight. But we have to battle and do the best we can.

But she's not all they have. Certainly everything they do goes through her, as it should, but they're talented at a lot of positions.

Q. A follow-up on Betts, you have coached some really dominant post players with size, and I guess where does Betts stack up when you think about great centers in the college game and how does that experience having coached players and seeing different defenses against them maybe help give you an edge in some way to know how to tackle that?

KIM MULKEY: I can't speak for UCLA, their history of post play, but if you're just asking me to compare it to those that I have coached through the years, number one, her height is really an advantage, but it's also her skill level.

She's learning how to really post you deep, and that just comes with experience and age and just probably them working with her every day. She has just improved so much. Every time I watch her play, she does something really, really good, and I go, Hmm, that's a lot of work. She's a special talent.

Q. A lot of UCLA folks up here were talking about how last year's loss to you guys in the Sweet 16 really fuels this season and the mindset that they have had this season. Curious, what do you remember about that game last year and how much has each team changed or grown in the past year?

KIM MULKEY: So they used our loss to fuel their season?

Q. They talked about how --

KIM MULKEY: I would think USC probably fuels their season. You know, that's quite a rivalry.

Yeah, I don't know that we've really thought about that win very much. I'm sure if that was the last game of the season for them, maybe it does fuel them. But I just remember we won. I can't remember details. I can remember a lot of off-the-court stuff that took place with the media, but I can't remember what specific thing in the game.

You know, we had Angel Reese, and they had Osborne. But it's different teams, but they have more of the returning players that are so important for them, and we have some new ones.

Q. You talked about Betts not being all they have. Cori talked about the rest of their team needing to be elite teammates. How do you approach this game? So often we have seen you say in the past, make sure they don't let somebody else get off. Is that kind of the approach again?

KIM MULKEY: Well, that would be for every game, but unfortunately, this game is so good and players are so good, that that's tough to do. We have to take care of the ball.

We have to somehow, some way score with them but also be smart in possessions. If they start just really lighting us up, how do we shorten the possessions.

So you go over plan A, plan B, plan C, but continue to do what you do because they still have to guard us too. So I think it's a game that will be very physical. They play physical and we play physical. I think it's a game where there's a little bit of history, from what you said, from last year.

They are the overall No. 1 seed, and so we recognize what we face, and we'll play hard, and we'll do the best we can and hope that we can make it a good game.

Q. Building off of that idea of the Sweet 16 matchup last year, is there any maybe film watching from last year's game or is it just a completely new team? Is there anything that you have drawn on from that game or is it just the personnel's so different, do you look at UCLA with those returners and see how you played against them or is it just more looking at how their season has been?

KIM MULKEY: You look at as much film as you can. We don't have the same personnel we had last year when we beat them. So you look at sets, you look at how we guarded 'em, maybe things like that. But then you move on to this year and what they're doing better and their personnel. And, yeah, you watch so much film, you forget what all you've watched.

Coach Bob Starkey, he lives in the film room, and he brings me things, and I finally have to just say, Coach, we can't over-coach. Let's go play.

Q. Rebounding is a key thing for your team, obviously, and last night Aneesah, out of the nine offensive rebounds she had, she scored on seven of those. How big is that going to be? And I would assume that Aneesah's got to be a big factor on their scout.

KIM MULKEY: I think we rebound the ball pretty darn good for our size. Nees being an undersized post player, she can get up. Now, we're very cognizant of the fact that Betts is pretty big in there, and whatever offensive board we get, we may not score on it because she can block it.

But just getting an offensive rebound against UCLA would be good. It gives us another chance to try to score the ball. But we're going to rebound. We're going to try our best to rebound with them. They're big, they're big at all positions, they're bigger than we are.

But, you know, I'm an old point guard that was always told how little I was, and I always have a philosophy that you can't measure heart. Go play.

Q. What are you expecting to see from Flau'Jae tomorrow coming off what was not her best game and then having to watch the end of it from the sideline?

KIM MULKEY: She's good to go. She's ready to go. She will bounce back just like All-Americans do. She's an All-American, and she struggled, and we won without her, basically, and now she wants to try to do more on the floor. But I don't anticipate anything.

Flau'Jae's Flau'Jae. She's going to bounce back and beat herself up probably all night. But today's a new day, and she's got that smile on her face and that joyful spirit that makes her Flau'Jae.

Q. People back home said they heard the LSU fans through the TV, and you're obviously 2300 hundred miles from home, you've got a pep rally today and so forth. Even being so far away, how much do the fans and support help you at this time of year?

KIM MULKEY: I wish our fans were here. I know those of us who came from far have great fan bases, and I agree with Geno on everything he said about these super regionals only being in two places. We sold our soul too early.

This game has gotten better. And, man, if you still had four regionals, can you imagine the attendance? I know our fan base. They can't afford to come to Spokane. But they could if it was a little bit closer.

It does matter. It matters a lot. Maybe it doesn't win a game for you, but the reason it matters is you build programs a lot of times, and you can sell to recruit your fan base, your attendance. And I agree with Geno. We need to fix this.

We don't have to wait until the contract's up. Let the people keep their super regionals. Just go add two now. I've never ever been one to believe that you can't work things out if it's better for the game.

Q. Why play Sa'Myah the full 40 minutes last night and how important is she going to be tomorrow defending Betts?

KIM MULKEY: Well, I played her because she was playing good. She wasn't in foul trouble. She's playing with unbelievable confidence, and we needed her to win the game. So that's why she played 40 minutes.

And what was the second part of your question?

Q. Against Betts, how important is she?

KIM MULKEY: She has her hands full. She's going to do the best she can. She understands how we're going to try to guard her, as all of them do.

But if you focus too much on Betts, she will pick you apart and find her open teammates. So do what we do, make a few adjustments, and go have fun and play and see what happens.

Q. Sorry to keep focusing on Betts, like you're talking about, but when you say she gets deep in the paint, from a coaching perspective, is it about heart keeping her out when you are undersized or is there anything else you can tell your players to kind of push her out and keep her away from the rim?

KIM MULKEY: We'll try to do a lot of things. I'm not going to tell you what we're going to do, but we will try to do a lot of things. We have seen so many teams and film do different things. We watch and we study defenses a lot.

Sometimes you can have a great game plan, and they still expose you, and they're still good. She's good. So we're going to try what we can do, and if we don't succeed at that, we'll go to plan B and try that.

And you know, hopefully she will get tired. I think I saw something where she said she was tired. I was like, Woo, I kind of like that (smiling.) She won't get tired. Great players don't get tired. They fight through it.

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