The LSU Tigers star Angel Reese finally made a comeback in a game against Virginia Tech after being sidelined for four straight games because of Kim Mulkey’s ‘coach’s decision’. With Reese back on the team, the Tigers finally found their rhythm and won their most recent match against the McNeese Cowgirls, with a final score of 133-44.

But despite her comeback, head coach Kim Mulkey and her team suffered back-to-back setbacks, with Hailey Van Lith being injured and Kateri Poole being out of the team for good. In a recent post-game interview, coach Mulkey expressed her dissatisfaction with the way time is passing for the Tigers.

Coach Kim Mulkey reflects on LSU’s challenges
The LSU head coach Mulkey recently appeared in a post-game conference after securing a huge win over the Cowgirls. During the interview, coach Mulkey was asked if she was getting to see what she wants to see with the team, with several players missing from the team while also being asked for an update on Van Lith’s comeback.

In her response, Kim Mulkey said, “I don’t know when she’ll be back cause it’s just nagging… She could play tomorrow… sure! The perfect scenario is she doesn’t have the nagging injury or hurt or whatever you want to call it. And then you got everyone out there, you got all your pieces every day working. When it is Christmas break, that may be a time where you do your best teaching and your most teaching because they don’t have class and it’s a grind right now.”

“This is also the time of year where you see a lot of upsets and you’re just focusing on your that but it’s a time where you just have their undivided attention… It’s hard right now, it’s not easy; we’re not just going out there and rolling the ball out and say shoot free throws and shoot some threes and let’s go to the house,” she added.

While the Tigers are winning back-to-back matches, coach Kim Mulkey’s words show the dissatisfaction she is having with the nagging issues that the team is going through. Notably, even with Poole and Van Lith out, the Tiger are still holding their No.1 position.

How have the Tigers performed so far?
The Tigers started the 2023-24 NCAA season with a huge upset as they fell against a No.20 ranked team. But with the guidance of their coach and being one of the best teams in the league, the Tigers jumped right back up, learning from their mistakes, and haven’t lost a single match since then. They have played 11 matches so far out of which they have won ten.
But the ongoing issues with the team suggest that the Tiger’s empire is crumbling from the inside and if the issues aren’t solved quickly, they might come back as a huge sting in the near future.