LSU coach Kim Mulkey breaks down the challenge of Texas A&M’s defense

Tiger women’s basketball has quite the matchup coming up Thursday evening. Tonight, Texas A&M will make their way to Baton Rouge to face off against LSU coach Kim Mulkey and the purple in gold in what should be quite the battle between elite offense and stellar defense.

LSU coach Kim Mulkey talks Tiger offense vs. Texas A&M defense

It’s not often you get the chance to witness the best offense in women’s basketball face off against the top defense, but that’s exactly what we get the chance to see tonight.

On Thursday evening, the Tigers will welcome Texas A&M to the PMAC in what should be a hard-fought SEC battle. While it’s never easy to win a game in this conference, tonight’s game has a particularly interesting storyline heading in.

As of Thursday afternoon, LSU coach Kim Mulkey has led her team to the No. 1 overall scoring offense in the country. Ranking No. 7 nationally, the purple and gold are averaging 94.2 points per game, thanks to big-time stars like freshman Mikaylah Williams and junior Aneesah Morrow.

MK TAKEOVER 😈😈

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— LSU Women’s Basketball (@LSUwbkb) January 7, 2024

While typically, those kinds of numbers would be good enough to get you an easy win, Texas A&M poses a unique challenge. To completely contrast the Tigers, the Aggies currently rank No. 1 in scoring defense, allowing just 48.9 points per game.

These are stats that LSU coach Kim Mulkey is largely aware of, and in turn, you can expect it to be a point of emphasis heading in. On Wednesday, the Tiger women’s basketball head coach broke down what makes her most concerned about coach Joni Taylor’s team.

“I think any time you lead the country in field goal percentage defense, I don’t care who you play,” coach Mulkey began. “You’re very active. When I say active, I don’t necessarily mean speed and quickness. I just mean concepts, philosophy, and to do it with that many transfers this quickly, that tells you they’re working on it everyday.

Ahead of the 2023-24 season, Texas A&M brought in four transfer additions, including three guards (senior Aicha Coulibaly, sophomore Kyndall Hunter, senior Endyia Rogers) and one center (junior Lauren Ware).

“I thought Ole Miss was outstanding, and now we’re fixing to face a team that is ranked higher than Ole Miss on the defensive end of the floor.”

The Tiger head coach also explained that she doesn’t expect too many new looks from the Aggies. They’re an elite defense and she doesn’t necessarily view change as being necessary for them.

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— Texas A&M Women’s Basketball (@AggieWBB) January 7, 2024

“We expect A&M to do what they do. They play you man-to-man, they’ll throw a little 1-2-2 halfcourt at you, but when you’re trying to build a program and you have a decent team, and they’re really good on the defensive end, why are you gonna change anything for any other team. They may tweak a little thing here or there defensively, but your identity pretty much is what it is by now.”

Regardless of what defense Texas A&M rolls out against LSU, we’ll soon know how well it works at slowing down their offensive onslaught. The matchup is set to tip-off tonight at 7:00 p.m. CST and will be broadcast live on SEC Network+.

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