LSU Women’s Basketball tips off new season with first official practice

BATON ROUGE, La. – The LSU women’s basketball team, led by fifth-year head coach Kim Mulkey, took to the main floor of the Pete Maravich Assembly Center Tuesday afternoon to tip off the Tigers’ preparation for the 2025-26 season.

LSU will host two exhibition games which will be open to the public at the end of October. LSU will face Mississippi College on Oct. 23 and Langston on Oct. 30. LSU’s season opener will be Nov. 4 at home against Houston Christian.

On Tuesday, LSU began a four-week stretch of practice before the Tigers put out a product on the floor against an external opponent. Mulkey lauded her squad for narrowing their focus on the important details headed into the first day of official practice.

“I like their disposition,” Coach Mulkey said about her team. “They’re here to play basketball and get an education. They’re all excited, happy, and really focused on basketball and I enjoy that.”

Mulkey enters the season with a 754-124 overall record in her 25 seasons as a Division I head coach. During her time in Baton Rouge, Mulkey has accumulated 122 victories in 142 games. This season, Mulkey and her staff welcomed eight new players (five freshmen, three transfers), which joined five returners including First-Team All-SEC duo Flau’jae Johnson and Mikaylah Williams.

“I’ve watched Mikaylah (Williams) the two years that she’s been at LSU,” Mulkey said. “She was thrown to the wolves as a freshman. She had nobody in front of her, so she learned just by being in the middle of the action. Sometimes that may cost you but, at the same time, it may make you grow up quicker than maybe it would if you had an older player in front of you. I think Mikaylah’s embraced a leadership role. I think she’s very comfortable that she’s earned the right to go lead us. If you put her and Flau’jae (Johnson) together, you’re going to see great leadership from both of them.”

“This is your senior year,” Mulkey said when discussing Johnson’s continued growth from year one. “Go out there and enjoy yourself through all the tough times. Don’t beat yourself up, be a good leader, and she’s going to have fun. But, sometimes she’s hard on herself. I don’t want to see that anymore. Go out in a blaze of glory.”

Other returners to this year’s squad features senior Kailyn Gilbert, sophomore Jada Richard, and senior Izzy Besselman.

Newcomers that joined the LSU program are highlighted by the No. 1 freshmen recruiting class and three transfers that can provide an immediate impact on the floor. The freshmen class of Grace Knox, Bella Hines, Divine Bourrage, ZaKiyah Johnson, and Meghan Yarnevich was unanimously ranked No. 1 by the national recruiting services, while the Tigers added MiLaysia Fulwiley, Kate Koval, and Amiya Joyner from the transfer portal.

“Let’s go to work,” Mulkey said of the freshmen and transfer class. “You know the talent is there. Those kids came in here with quite a reputation but this is a different level. Let’s see how good we can become.”

Fulwiley, a transfer from South Carolina and considered the gem of the transfer portal, has quickly acclimated herself in the short time she has been on the court for LSU. Her ability to change the game as one of the nation’s most creative offensive players adds another layer to Mulkey’s fast-paced offensive scheme, while challenging her in the process.

“(MiLaysia) has beaten me too many times for me to have not taken her into this program,” Mulkey said. “I’m going to challenge her to learn the point guard position, but I’m not going to take away the ability for her to play the off-guard either. She’s fitting in well. Ballers want to play with ballers.”

LSU gets back to work on Wednesday for its second preseason practice.