LSU women’s basketball coach Kim Mulkey has identified two primary problems with her team despite a 98-59 win over Troy.

The head coach had previously admitted that she was not satisfied with the team taking their foot off the gas and cruising late in the second quarter in Friday’s win over Murray State, narrowing the margin of victory more than she considered acceptable.

After Monday’s game, Mulkey said she identified turnovers and defensive mistakes as key to the underperformance, and added that she will continue to rotate the team’s post players in an effort to ensure the mistakes are not repeated. The No. 7 Tigers got out to a fast start against Troy, with Flau’jae Johnson scoring 15 points in the first 10 minutes.

The second quarter of Friday’s win saw Murray State outscore LSU by a 32-12 margin. Mulkey had previously told reporters that she blamed herself for the Tigers’ shortcomings. LSU make just two of 18 attempts from the field and endured a scoring drought lasting the entire first three minutes of the quarter.

Monday’s win will be a relief for Mulkey as she seeks another national title in charge of LSU. She continued to get solid contributions from Johnson, who finished the game with 27 points, nine rebounds, five assists and three steals.

Mulkey was also handed a boost when senior guard Last-Tear Poa showed why she is a key player for the team, drawing several charges against Troy after failing to do so against Murray State. Mulkey pointed to hustle plays like that as one of the reasons why the Tigers failed to keep up in the first half against Murray State.

Head coach Kim Mulkey of the LSU Tigers during the exhibition game against the Xavier University of Louisiana Gold Nuggets

Head coach Kim Mulkey of the LSU Tigers has attracted another strong recruiting class ( 

Image:

Getty Images)

“I think they got to a lot of loose balls. I think they got more rebounds than we did, and I’m going to have to look at the film to be exactly right [but] our bench got us the lead in the first quarter.

“So why did I not leave them in there,” said Mulkey on Friday during the post-game press conference. “As a coach, [it] might be on me because you usually go with kids that have been in your [starting] system.”

The Tigers return to action on Wednesday with a home game against Tulane. They then travel to the northwest to take on Washington.