GREENVILLE, S.C. — Arrived.
For two years, through every winning streak, through every new and encouraging accomplishment, LSU women’s basketball coach Kim Mulkey urged her growing legions of fans to tap the brakes. Be patient. Realize that LSU hadn’t won any championships yet. That glory was coming — oh yes, it surely was — but it would take time.
That narrative changed Sunday night.
LSU beat Miami 54-42 in the Elite Eight to win the NCAA Greenville 2 regional championship, advancing to its first Women’s Final Four since 2008.
From nothing special to cutting down nets.
From going nowhere as a program with just nine victories two seasons ago to Destination Dallas, site of this year’s Final Four.
“That LSU” an AP voter covering UConn groused on Twitter during the season when the Tigers moved to No. 3 in the poll ahead of the Huskies.
Yes, that LSU. And UConn, by the way, has already packed the gear for the summer.
It hasn’t always been a smooth trip for the Tigers, especially on offense. LSU struggled with its outside shooting since the second half of the Southeastern Conference tournament semifinal loss to Tennessee here in the same Bon Secours Wellness Arena where the Tigers won this regional.
But defense has carried LSU in March. The kind of defense Mulkey demands. The kind of defense she learned from her first mentor, former Louisiana Tech coach Leon Barmore, when they won national championships together in Ruston.
Barmore must have been proud watching his prized pupil’s team defend Miami, though the offense might have turned his stomach a little.
The Tigers stuck to the Hurricanes like a coat of fresh paint. LSU’s formula worked game after game after game after game on this regional run: deny second-chance points, rebound the heck out of the ball and disrupt with deflections.
LSU may have shot 30.2% from the field against Miami. All-American forward Angel Reese didn’t make her first field goal until the second half (she was 0-for-9 in the first 20 minutes). This was the first time the Tigers scored in the 50s all season. But defense filled the void. The Tigers crushed the Hurricanes in rebounding 49-35, held them to 31.6% shooting and had a dozen steals. Miami was 0-for-16 from 3-point range, missing some open looks, sure, but the Tigers’ pressure and physicality drained the Hurricanes. By the fourth quarter, they looked weary.
“I mean, we didn't shoot the ball well,” Reese said. “We haven't been shooting the ball well in our last two games. But only thing we can control is our defense and our effort. And that's what we did tonight. We let that dictate our game.”
While Reese recorded her SEC record 32nd double-double, The U was this close to a Final Four double-double of its own. The Miami men are going to the other big dance in Houston after beating Texas on Sunday. A Miami women’s team had never been this far before, and credit to the Hurricanes for beating three higher-seeded opponents, including regional No. 1 Indiana on its home floor, to get within one more upset of Dallas.
But this ninth-seeded Cinderella could dance no further. The clock struck midnight here, her glass slippers glued to the floor by an LSU defense that will stalk their dreams.
“I’ve got to credit LSU’s defense,” said Miami coach Katie Meier, a former Tulane assistant. “I know we were exhausted because we were pouring our heart and soul into the defensive end and the rebounding effort.
“So, on the offensive end, unfortunately you get a little bit of, ‘Oh, my God, I can rest a little,’ and I think that got to us a little bit. That’s all credit to LSU for being so hard to guard inside and for taking our legs out so much.”
How trendy a pick will LSU be in Dallas? South Carolina, which plays Maryland here Monday night for the Greenville 1 regional title, is and will remain the heavy favorite assuming it avoids a massive upset against Reese’s former team.
LSU will face the winner of Monday’s other Elite Eight game in Seattle between a top-seeded Virginia Tech team and Ohio State. Yes, that Ohio State. The one that eliminated LSU from last year’s NCAA tournament. Both have talent, and the Buckeyes play a fearsome full-court press, but neither has any Final Four tradition.
That’s a concern for another day. For LSU this was a night to celebrate, to put on hats and cut up nets, and I think maybe I saw Angel Reese make a confetti angel at center court.
“Enjoy this,” Mulkey told Reese and Morris as they left the postgame podium.
No doubt they will. LSU women’s basketball has arrived. And the future looks quite different from the Tigers' recent past.