SPOKANE, Wash. – LSU women's basketball and UCLA meet for the second straight NCAA Tournament , which March Madness games always carry the highest of stakes.
Kim Mulkey and LSU bested the Bruins in the Sweet 16 last season, 78-69, ending their season in Albany, New York. UCLA players talked in detail ahead of this season's clash in the Elite Eight with the Tigers in Spokane, Washington inside Spokane Arena about how the loss has motivated them.
LSU (31-5) is also motivated heading into the game with UCLA (33-2) from last year's game this Sunday (2 p.m. CT, ABC). But it's for a different, off-the-court reason.
Ahead of last year's game, the Los Angeles Times ran a commentary piece that portrayed the LSU women's basketball team as "dirty debutants," "bad for the game," "divisive" and "evil" while labeling UCLA as "sweethearts" and "America's team."
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UCLA's coach Cori Close shared the article on her social media accounts before issuing a statement, apologizing to Mulkey and her players as she claimed she did not read the article, only read the headline before retweeting.
The players in LSU's locker room remember that.
"Well, last year, we were very motivated because of an article that came out and then their coach's affiliation with the article, and re-Tweeting it and stuff like that," LSU star player Flau'jae Johnson said Saturday. "And we were just very motivated by it because it was something that hit below just basketball. You know what I'm saying? It was just 'milk and cookies.' You know what I'm saying? Us being 'Louisiana hot sauce' and them being — they even called us 'dirty debutantes' in the article, and that they were 'America's team.' You know what I'm saying?
"So for us, we took that personal, and I think the core of us who the article was about, we still here. We're 'the big three' or whatever. So we definitely — when we seen them, we was like it could be another matchup."
Mulkey spoke at length after last year's win over UCLA in the postgame press conference about the LA Times commentary, calling the piece disgusting.
Saturday, LSU's coach said that she recalls the off-the-court situation surrounding the LSU-UCLA game last season before she can recount the game itself.
"Yeah, I don't know that we've really thought about that win very much," Mulkey said. "I just remember we won. I can't remember details. I can remember a lot of off-the-court stuff that took place with the media, but I can't remember what specific thing in the game."
As personal as last year's Sweet 16 matchup was, the energy around both squads seems to be carrying plenty of juice into the Elite Eight matchup in Spokane.
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Cory Diaz covers the LSU Tigers for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his Tigers coverage on Twitter: @ByCoryDiaz. Got questions regarding LSU athletics? Send them to Cory Diaz at bdiaz@gannett.com .
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: LSU still motivated by LA Times story ahead of UCLA Elite Eight game
