Flau'Jae Johnson, LSU, on what went wrong in loss to SC

LSU was unable to get the home win over the visiting South Carolina Gamecocks, marking another painful loss in this competitive series that has been taken over by the Gamecocks. After the game, head coach Kim Mulkey and her two star players talker with the media about the game and what went wrong. Here’s everything they said.

LSU Players

What went wrong down the stretch?

Flau’Jae Johnson: “I think it boiled down to us not making shots down the stretch. They hit a couple key buckets that pushed their momentum forward.”

What did the team need to do to get this win?

Mikaylah Williams: It’s continuing to focus on the little things and holding each other accountable. In close games, it’s never just one play at the end. It’s an accumulation of things we could do better, and that starts with me and Flau’Jae. We’ll go back to the drawing board and be better.

Johnson: “Some of us have to look in the mirror and stop dropping these close games. We need to handle our business early so it doesn’t come down to two free throws at the end. Taking care of things in the first half keeps us from scrambling late. It’s about focus.”

How do you help your younger teammates compartmentalize this game?

Williams: “It’s tough, but we have a spirited group. We’ve got another hard game coming up, so we have to learn from this. Coach always says never waste a failure. We’re not going to waste this loss. We’ll grow from it. As veterans, we’ll get back in the gym tomorrow and focus. We have to be intentional about these last couple of games heading into the SEC Tournament.”

Kim Mulkey

What did you think of Flau’Jae’s performance?

“The same thing I think every time I get to coach her. What a blessing it is to have her. You’ll focus on those last two free throws, but we missed nine total. That’s the difference in the ballgame. Look at the stat sheet — we scored the same number of field goals and out-rebounded them by nine. They went 14-for-23 from the foul line. That’s where the game was lost.”

What did you see from Bella tonight?

“I saw a kid I need to play more. She needs to take some minutes from others. She guarded Tessa, wasn’t afraid to get up on her, made shots, and played with energy and effort. She has my respect.”

What went into Mikaylah’s performance?

“I’d have to watch the film. I don’t know that she was guarded differently. Raven was on her a lot, she’s an experienced national championship guard who played 36 minutes. Michaela went 5-for-12, Jada was 1-for-10, Lay was 1-for-8, and we still had a chance to win the game. I thought Morrow played one of her finer games. Bella gave us a spark. Now we’ve got to move on and get ready for the next one.”

When you get 18 offensive rebounds, you usually win. What was the difference tonight?

“I liked almost everything we did except how we guarded Tessa. We didn’t do what we were told for three days. Other than free throws, I can’t be too critical. We didn’t turn it over much, we out-rebounded them, and we got to the foul line more. We were 2-for-12 from three and still had a chance to win. With 44 seconds left, we had the lead. Make one defensive stop and we’re celebrating.

This game is tough. When you get that many rebounds, you think you’ll win, but that’s not the only thing that matters. Look at the stat sheet, it’s good. Why’d you lose? Look at the free throws.”