The word “alarming” about LSU’s defense doesn’t quite add up on paper. After all, the Tigers entered the UNO game ranked among the nation’s best in points allowed per possession. But that picture shifts once you factor in the schedule. Duke is the only high-major team they’ve faced, and the Blue Devils hung 77 points on them, their highest total against a power-conference opponent this season. And that’s exactly where Mulkey’s concern starts to feel real.

Despite the 126–62 blowout win over the New Orleans Privateers on Sunday, the coach made it clear that dominating on the scoreboard doesn’t erase defensive issues.

“Certainly, UNO exposed us and did some of that to us tonight, but we’re a work in progress defensively. We understand that, but I think the effort is there. I thought we got better in spurts tonight, but it’s hard because everybody’s playing, everybody’s subbing in and out,” Kim Mulkey said in a post-game interview, according to LSU Wire.

And her comments didn’t come out of nowhere. While the Tigers controlled the boards with 57 rebounds (22 offensive, 35 defensive), the Privateers outshot Mulkey’s team by shooting 31% from the 3PT line, whereas LSU only shot 29%. It’s not that the Privateers shouldn’t have scored at all, but when an unranked, winless team beats a championship contender from the arc, it is bound to expose cracks.

Given that this game allowed Kim Mulkey to get every player on the roster into the game and on the scoreboard, the Privateers still secured 11 offensive rebounds, giving them second-chance opportunities that the Tigers’ rotation should have limited. While this may not have affected their winning probability here, when LSU faces stronger opponents, cracks like these in an empire can prove fatal, and the head coach knows that.

She further said, “Our second and third line of defense, we’re not standing there helping. We’re not helping each other. It’s kind of like one-on-one basketball, defensively. When you have games where it’s a score like it is, you tend to kind of get lazy.”

Since the season began, Kim Mulkey has constantly highlighted her dissatisfaction with the team’s defense. Even in their last game against the Duke Blue Devils, LSU turned the ball over six times and took only three shots in the first few minutes of the game, falling behind 17–5. While they ultimately won the game (93-77), small gaps like this ended their one-of-a-kind NCAA record, where they were scoring more than 100 points in every game.

And as mentioned earlier, those 77 points were revealing. For context, South Carolina kept Duke to 66 points on 39% shooting, while UCLA held them to 65 on 34%. Baylor limited them to 52 on 29% shooting, and even an unranked team like West Virginia allowed just 49 on 38%. When you line those games up, the takeaway is clearer.

This stretch of numbers reflects more about LSU’s defense right now than it does about Duke’s scoring ability. Duke ended up shooting 50% from the field against the Tigers, good enough to be their season-high.

Of course, Mulkey’s coaching history suggests LSU will sort these problems out. Even so, everyone will be watching to see how the Tigers actually respond in the weeks ahead.

What’s next for the Kim Mulkey-led Tigers?

With a perfect 10-0 record, the Tigers currently sit at the No.5 position in the league and at No.1 in the SEC. The team is currently being led by junior guard MiLaysia Fulwiley, as the top scorer (16.3) with the most steals (4.0) and assists per game (3.4). However, in their game against the Privateers, it was Notre Dame transfer Kate Koval who led the team by going 9-9 from the field and dropping 22 points, which even had the head coach in awe.

“She’s a big presence in there for us. She played good against Duke. I think her confidence is really, really high right now, not that she wasn’t confident, but she’s finishing shots that make us better,” Kim Mulkey said.

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With players on whom the coach can count and look for defensive consistency, the Tigers will play their next game against the Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters on December 13th. Following this, the team will play:

• Against the Morgan State Lady Bears on December 16th.
• Against the UT Arlington Mavericks on December 21st.
• Against the Alabama State Lady Hornets on December 28th.

Then, the SEC play will begin against Kentucky, and we will have a much truer sense of where the Tigers stand.