Everything Kim Mulkey said after LSU picks up 19th-straight loss to South Carolina women’s basketball

LSU head coach Kim Mulkey spoke with the media after the Tigers’ loss to South Carolina on Saturday in the SEC Tournament semifinals.

Here is everything she had to say.

NEW! Message board for South Carolina Women’s Basketball! 🏀

Coach, with 45 seconds left, you were trailing by 5. What was the decision not to foul there?

“We were supposed to. We had two fouls to give. It was not that decision, I can tell you. We were going to go trap. We didn’t do it. There’s just a small margin of error that you can have to beat elite teams. We think we’re an elite team, but we’re not there to win those close games against the South Carolinas [and] the UCONNs. That margin of error is little things like that. We had two fouls to give, and, man, we were going to go for a steal right there, a quick trap. You don’t get it, use one of the fouls.”

“We just, I don’t want to say lose our composure, but we just don’t do it. So that’s why you stay in a locker room tonight. Not to teach. You guys that were on the floor, tell me why we didn’t do that, okay? Tell me why, when you come out of that timeout, we didn’t run this play. Just teaching moments on a big, big stage like this.”

Where do you think those mental lapses come from? You have talent there. You have veterans.

“Maybe just being in that moment numerous times. Experience. I don’t really know because you’ve got seniors in that timeout. You’ve got juniors in that timeout. You’ve got sophomores, and you’ve got new players, freshmen. They all just have those lapses like that. I don’t know.”

Follow-up to that, obviously, not having beaten South Carolina since you’ve been here, when you are talking about just trying to get those little things right, what is the frustration level from you knowing you do have the talent?

“How long has Dawn been at South Carolina? Do you know?”

 18 years.

“18 years. I was at Baylor [for] 21 years. It takes time to lay that foundation. Man, has she laid it and, man, are they good.”

“I’ve been at LSU [for] five years. We’ve won a National Championship, right? We’ve been in numerous Elite Eights. It takes time. And, man, we are just clawing and trying our best. I think we’re doing pretty good. We’re so close. We’re so close.”

Coach, today’s game was probably one of the best women’s college games this year. I know you didn’t get the results that you wanted, but what can you take from today’s game?

“I thought our game in Baton Rouge was good. Did you see that one? Both games we’ve had have been really good. What I’ve taken from it is, on the national scene, people go, ‘Ooh, Lord. That SEC’s special. Ooh, look at all those fans.’ That’s what I hope the country sees.”

“For me and our team, just what I’m telling you. Look at the stat sheet, how similar. Look at the stat sheet. So what are those little things, maybe that one last tough rebound. Maybe that one last tough defensive presence.”

“Those are things that don’t show up on the stat sheet, but those are the things that 18 years of being at South Carolina. And Raven’s a senior. Latson is a senior. Is Okot a senior? That’s what you’re talking about, because they have that experience. They have that toughness. They don’t get rattled. That comes with time.”

“What’s the negative? Today’s college athletic world? You don’t know who you’re going to coach next year. Man, you don’t know who’s transferring, who’s staying, who’s going. So it’s kind of tougher now than it was 10 or 15 years ago. But, yeah, just get that one rebound. The beginning of the third quarter, just, like, what are we doing? Missing shots, jacking up shots. What are we doing? Yeah.”

Yesterday, you talked about how Jada Richard was your quarterback on the court. She had a monster game, kept you guys in this ball game, especially in the second half. What did you see out of her tonight?

“What I know Jada can do, Jada can shoot the basketball. So I put her on the wing. South Carolina played a lot of zone today and didn’t want Jada at the top. She’s easier to guard in the zone than putting her at the wing and let [MiLaysia Fulwiley] penetrate, find the shooters, and Jada was knocking down the shots.”

Do you feel like you guys got out of the game plan? I feel like the first half, you guys were going inside and really putting pressure on them, and you kind of got away from that.

“I’d have to look at a film to see. Did we really get away from it? Or did they take it away from us? They started playing a lot of zone, and that takes away some things in there. So give South Carolina credit. They didn’t stay in man. And so maybe that changed it a little bit.”

-After today’s game, Raven Johnson is shooting 40 percent from 3-point range. When she’s being that efficient from deep and willing to take six three-pointers in a game, how much more difficult is it to guard South Carolina when she’s scoring like that?

“It’s very difficult. She’s their leader. She not only scored from the 3, but she had eight assists to one turnover. She’s a Defensive Player of the Year in this league. That’s what you want. You want leaders like that, and she makes everybody else better.”

“She doesn’t come down and jack up a shot. She will shoot it if left open. She’ll definitely shoot it if the shot clock is winding down. That’s what she did today. Nothing that surprises me. I think each year she’s been at South Carolina, her role has stayed the same. What she has to do on the court changes somewhat, depending on her personnel.”

Flau’jae Johnson seemed out of her game. Was it something South Carolina did tonight that caused her to not be as consistent as we’ve seen from her?

“She was not shooting it well. What was she, one-for-eight? One-for-eight, made her free throws. Do other things. When you’re not shooting it well, this game has lots of parts to it, go rebound, defend. Do some other things when your shot’s not falling. You’re not going to have good shooting nights all the time. So go contribute in other ways.”

Do you feel like, with all the highly ranked teams in this tournament this year, that maybe this is the toughest SEC conference tournament you’ve ever played in?

“Well, it’s definitely the toughest I’ve ever played in, but I’ve only been in this league five years. You’d have to ask who’s been in it longer, Dawn, and y’all help me. Who’s been in this league longer? I’ve never, and I was in the Big 12 for 21 years, telling y’all how old I am.,I’ve never seen anything this brutal. And that’s a good thing. That’s a great thing. It’s great because in the SEC, you’ve got good coaches. You’ve got commitments from administrators. And wow. It’s tough.”

MiLaysia had a big game. She always seems to play her best basketball here. What did you see out of her today?

“Someone asked the question about her being home. Of course, that question goes without saying. It would be like any kid who goes back home to play. She wants to do good. The little added sugar to it is she’s playing against the team she left. So she wants to do good, and I thought she played her heart out. MiLaysia’s game is such that she’s going to do something you’ve never seen before on the floor. So don’t blink. Then she’s going to make you pull your hair out the next time.”

“I didn’t think she had just ‘pull your hair out’ moments tonight. She shot it, I’d say, ‘Okay.’ And then when I looked at the box, she is, what, 21 shots. Okay. Get her in the open floor, and she’s very, very difficult. She just has unbelievable speed and quickness. But she doesn’t really care about that tonight. What she cares about is she lost. She cares about her team losing and how good she played here. What does that really mean if you lose?”

Kim, a few coaches last year talked about just the fact that this tournament’s in Greenville. Chatter last year, chatter this year. What do you think about the context of this being in Greenville, close to South Carolina?

“I think it’s great attendance. I think Greenville is a wonderful town. I think they’re committed to women’s basketball. Am I supposed to say something negative? I don’t like losing.”