Mulkey ducks controversy in Albany
ALBANY — This time, Kim Mulkey was determined not to make news.
Last weekend, the LSU women’s basketball coach made waves with her delivery of a prepared statement, several minutes in length, regarding an upcoming article about her from The Washington Post. Labeling it a “hit piece,” the day between her team’s NCAA Tournament wins against Rice and Middle Tennessee, Mulkey said she’d “hired the best defamation law firm in the country, and I will sue The Washington Post if they publish a false story about me.”
Mostly, Mulkey’s statement seemed to fuel anticipation to read the report, which remained unpublished as of late Friday morning. With her team set to play UCLA in a Sweet 16 game Saturday as part of Albany Regional 2 at MVP Arena, Mulkey was not inclined Friday during a news conference to speak more on the subject of the upcoming story.
“I did make a statement, and that’s all I’ll comment on at this time, because all I am focused on is to try to win another basketball game,” Mulkey said. “Thank you for asking, though.”
A couple follow-up questions generated similar answers — “I’m only here to talk about the next game” — before the news conference moderator interjected to “just remind the members of the media that the questions should be about the upcoming game.”
Winning and controversy has
followed the 61-year-old Mulkey. Last season saw Mulkey lead LSU to a national championship, her first at the school and fourth overall as a head coach after winning three times at Baylor.
Along the way to those championships, Mulkey’s controversies have ranged from her comments regarding COVID-19 testing to a sexual misconduct scandal at Baylor. More recently, Mulkey’s postgame remarks related to an ingame fight between her team and South Carolina — also in Albany this week — were widely criticized.
To a question Friday regarding the NCAA transfer portal, Mulkey reiterated what she’s focusing on this week.
“I just want to focus on Xs and Os, and coaching basketball,” Mulkey said.
Battle of the bigs
When second-seeded UCLA (27-6) and third-seeded LSU (30-5)
meet Saturday at 1 p.m., there will be plenty of size on the court.
Nationally, UCLA and LSU rank Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, in rebounding margin — and it’s easy to see why that’s the case.
The Bruins are built around 6foot-7 center Lauren Betts, a sophomore averaging 14.9 points and 9.0 rebounds per game.
Meanwhile, LSU’S top player is 6-foot-3 Angel Reese, a redshirt junior who was an Associated Press All-america second-team selection this season after she was recognized as the Most Outstanding Player of last year’s NCAA Tournament. Reese averages 18.7 points and 13.3 rebounds per game, and has produced a double-double in each of her past 14 games.
Another top player for LSU is Aneesah Morrow, a 6-foot-1 junior averaging 16.5 points and 10.0 rebounds per game.
Betts said UCLA knows to expect a physical game with the Tigers.
“I think that’s what we’ve been preparing for all week,” Betts said. “I think, obviously, Angel and I are going to be really aggressive inside. I think just not falling into foul trouble is super important in this game.”
Wake-up call
UCLA coach Cori Close was a few minutes late for her Friday news conference, which was scheduled to start at 8:45 a.m.
That was easily forgiven since the Bruins’ flight into the Capital Region landed “two-and-a-half hours late” Thursday night, giving the team from the Pacific time zone — three hours behind Albany’s Eastern time zone — an extra challenge.
“So, I’ve got some red eyes and those kinds of things, but I just think the reality is that we’re playing in the Sweet 16,” Close said. “We’ve got a chance to do amazing things, so I’m not going to let two and a half hours get in the way of that.”
“We didn’t get that much sleep,” UCLA graduate student guard Charisma Osborne said. “Maybe, I would say, I went to sleep at like 12:45, had to be up for breakfast by 7:45. Not that much sleep. Obviously it helps that we have today to sleep and get used to the time change.”