Kim Mulkey Jokingly Requests Dawn Staley's Bench Depth After South Carolina-LSU Game

LSU Tigers coach Kim Mulkey made it clear that she wants some of Dawn Staley's roster depth after South Carolina's January 24 win.

Jan 24, 2025; Columbia, South Carolina, USA; LSU Lady Tigers head coach Kim Mulkey directs her team against the South Carolina Gamecocks in the first half at Colonial Life Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Blake-Imagn Images | Jeff Blake-Imagn Images

Kim Mulkey's LSU Tigers suffered their first defeat of the 2024-25 NCAA season on Friday after losing to Dawn Staley and the South Carolina Gamecocks by a score of 66-56.

While the Tigers put forth a solid effort on South Carolina's home court, the superior depth that the defending National Champions have is what ultimately helped them pull away with the victory.

This is proven by the staggering contrast in bench production between the two teams. The Gamecocks had 31 of their 66 points come from their bench while the Tigers only managed 2 points from theirs.

Mulkey alluded to Staley having the upper hand in terms of roster depth multiple times during her postgame press conference.

"Well you've got 10 McDonald's All-Americans. Flip a coin, y'all can play any of them you want," Mulkey said when asked about Staley having eight players who played at least 15 minutes, per the LSU Tigers on TigerBait YouTube channel. "I don't have that. I've got to go with what I have, what I feel in my gut... You've got that many, who you gonna stop? Pick your poison."

A bit later on in the presser, Mulkey was asked if she thinks she needs to be able to rely on more than three players if she's going to defeat South Carolina in the future.

"Well sure you'd like to have more," Mulkey said. "But our bench was not very productive tonight, and it has been very good all year. But yeah, you'd like to have more than those three.

"I'mma call Dawn and tell her to send me some of those she doesn't play," Mulkey added. "I don't think she'll do it though."

“Imma call Dawn and ask her to send me some of those she doesn’t play … I don’t think she’ll do it though.”

LSU coach Kim Mulkey talking about the discrepancy between bench player production between the Tigers and the #Gamecocks @abc_columbia

— Noah Chast (@NoahChastTV) January 25, 2025

Mulkey surely isn't along in that regard, as every single other women's college basketball coach in the country would prefer to have the sort of depth Staley's roster boasts.