BATON ROUGE – LSU women's basketball star Flau'jae Johnson, who is out for today's regular season finale against Ole Miss Sunday afternoon, will also sit out the Southeastern Tournament next week.
On the team's pregame radio broadcast, LSU coach Kim Mulkey said Johnson has been battling "shin inflammation" and that the main priority is getting Johnson rest to get her as healthy as possible for the start of the NCAA Tournament.
Johnson was seen on the court wearing a walking boot on her right leg while her teammates warmed up before the Ole Miss game Sunday. LSU (27-3, 12-3 SEC) will be the No. 3 seed in next week's SEC Tournament and will have a double bye before playing its first game next Friday night.
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"We're going to rest her through the SEC Tournament because it doesn't affect us," Mulkey said. "She's dealt with shin inflammation since the Texas game. The doctor and trainer wouldn't shut her down because it's a pain tolerance thing. pain tolerance.
"I don t think Flau'jae's best basketball has come in the last couple of weeks. So let's rest her. It's not worth it."
During her three-year career in Baton Rouge, Johnson has been durable, only missing one game early last season.
But last time out, Johnson scored her lowest point total this season, 6 points, in the overtime loss at No. 20 Alabama, 88-85.
Johnson has been LSU's leading scorer all season, averaging 18.9 points per game, which is good enough for the sixth-best scoring average in the SEC.
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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 women's basketball star Flau'jae Johnson will miss SEC Tournament
