BATON ROUGE — LSU women's basketball is bandaged but it survived a physical end to the regular season and SEC Tournament.
The Tigers (28-5) have come out on the other side of a tough stretch in which they've lost three of their past four games as a No. 3 seed in Women's March Madness. LSU will host the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament, facing San Diego State (25-9) first and should it win that game, Kim Mulkey's squad will play the winner of Florida State and George Mason.
Flau'jae Johnson has missed LSU's past three games with shin inflammation, an injury only rest can help. And she's been able to get it with the way the schedule has been for the Tigers — Johnson hasn't played since Feb. 27, which will be three full weeks by the first-round contest tips.
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Fellow LSU star player Aneesah Morrow re-aggravated a mid-foot sprain against Texas at the SEC Tournament last week, an injury she's been contending with since the regular season Texas game back on Feb. 16.
Mulkey is adamant both Morrow and Johnson will be cleared and ready to play for the Tigers to start the NCAA Tournament.
LSU 81, San Diego State 66: LSU hasn't been healthy in three weeks. But against the Aztecs, LSU could advance without its full complement of players as it possesses more athleticism and has been on this stage more often.
The Tigers will face San Diego State in the first round of March Madness on Saturday. Game time will be announced later tonight.
LSU versus San Diego State will be broadcast live on ESPN, which is available to anyone with a TV or streaming service that has access to the ESPN family of networks. That includes Fubo, which offers a free trial to new subscribers.
Tickets for the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament in Baton Rouge can be purchased through StubHub here .
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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 vs San Diego State prediction: Women's March Madness bracket pick
