BATON ROUGE — LSU (29-2) will be in PMAC for the last time this season at 6:30 p.m. CT on ESPN Sunday when the Tigers take on Michigan (23-9), with a berth in the sweet sixteen on the line is.
LSU is looking to advance to the Sweet Sixteen in Greenville, South Carolina for the first time since 2014. Tickets for Sunday’s game are still available.
The game will air prime time on ESPN with Kevin Fitzgerald and Andrea Lloyd. Patrick Wright and Shaeeta Williams will broadcast the game on LSU Sports Radio Network, 100.7 FM in Baton Rouge.
Coach Mulkey, who will coach her 800th career game as head coach on Sunday, wants to bring LSU to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since arriving in Baton Rouge. LSU reached the second round of the NCAA tournament last year, but the Tigers were eliminated from the championship fight by a loss to Ohio State.
“We’re going in the right direction,” said Coach Mulkey. “This would be just another stepping stone that we stepped on.”
LSU defeated Hawaii 73-50 in the first round on Friday. Angel Reese had her 29th double-double of the season with 34 points, 15 rebounds, 3 steals, 3 blocks and 2 assists. She was the first SEC player this century with at least 30 points and 15 rebounds in an NCAA tournament game. Her 34 points equaled Marie Ferdinand’s LSU record for points in an NCAA tournament game.
Reese moved up to third on LSU’s single-season rebounding list on Friday and currently has 479 boards a year, behind only Maree Jackson, who had 539 in the 1977-78 season and 493 in the 1976-77 season. The first-team All-American ranks fifth for most rebounds in a season by an SEC player.
Coach Mulkey famously plays Michigan in the postseason. While at Baylor, she defeated Michigan in the second round of the 2018 and 2021 tournament in the Sweet Sixteen.
Michigan defeated UNLV 71-59 in Friday’s PMAC to advance to Sunday’s second round. The Wolverines had three players score in double figures during the win.
“It’s just going to be a very, very good duel,” said Coach Mulkey. “The difference is maybe we have a little bit more speed, they have more altitude. what will it take It will only take loops.”
The Wolverine roster is consistent in size at all positions, with just two players under 5-11 and a high of 6-4. There is also a high level group that has good experience and chemistry playing with each other.
“They’ve been together for a while and play like this,” Coach Mulkey said. “They know every move that each of them makes and as a coach you just notice that they just move a little bit more smoothly.”
Michigan is the only team in the country with three players to score over 16 points in a game: Leigha Brown (18.0 ppg), Laila Phelia (16.5 ppg) and Emily Kiser (16.3 ppg). Michigan is attempting to make its third straight sweet sixteen.
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