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LSU women's basketball knows earlier win vs NC State doesn't matter ahead of Sweet 16
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- LSU women's basketball knows earlier win vs NC State doesn't matter ahead of Sweet 16
SPOKANE, Wash. — Sitting in a tiny, cramped locker room in the underbelly of Spokane Arena, LSU women's basketball players were quick to dispel any notions of comfort in playing a team in the Sweet 16 it had already beaten earlier in the season.
"In fact, I think this is the easiest one to get you beat knowing that you beat the team already," LSU junior guard Kailyn Gilbert quipped.
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LSU and NC State meet in the Sweet 16 on Friday night (6:30 p.m. CT. ESPN) for a spot in the Elite 8.
In November at the Baha Mar Pink Flamingo Championship in The Bahamas, the Tigers took down NC State 82-65 . It was a comfortable margin for Kim Mulkey and LSU (30-5) but mistakes were made by both squads.
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And while the names and faces are the same, what the team looks like and how it's playing isn't. The Wolfpack (28-6) has gone 24-4 since the loss to LSU, including a nine-game win streak that featured ranked wins over Duke and Florida State . NC State also closed the season with a ranked victory against rival North Carolina in the ACC Tournament, which it went on to play for the championship.
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"I think we're a much different team," Wolfpack junior guard Saniya Rivers said Thursday. "At the beginning of the season we were still trying to get a feel of each other, get a grasp. Obviously, we had a lot of returners, but I feel like with the freshmen coming in and people playing out of position, we just weren't very comfortable and confident.
"As the season went along, and we started putting pieces together, I would say we're a much different team. So even though we lost to LSU early, I hope people don't look at that because we're a different team, and we're ready to compete tomorrow."
To that end, what can LSU glean from the first meeting with NC State four months ago? The simple answer is not much of the overall identity Wes Moore's team has changed since November.
"I wouldn't say the style of play is any different," LSU coach Kim Mulkey said. "We're not going to create new players. I think both teams are obviously better, and we just have a lot of respect. We don't look at the previous game. We just think that we're both trying to advance to an Elite 8, and we don't really even think about that game.
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"We talked about it once or twice. We've looked at some film. But they're better, we're better, they're ACC champs, we finished third in the SEC, they're supposed to win, they're the 2 seed, we're the 3 seed."
Heading into the game with the Wolfpack for LSU, the lesson is more about its own growth than anything it would see on the old film. A second win over NC State would require a different version of the LSU team that won that game all those months ago.
"It's all in the little things," Tigers sophomore Jersey Wolfenbarger said. "They're shooting better than they did in The Bahamas, but so are we. It comes down to a game of who can get stops and who can take all the little things personal.
"I don't want it to be a drop off from the starters to bench or whatever. I think that's something our coaches are instilling in us, too. They brought us here for a reason and whatever that reason is, we have to go out there and execute it to the best of our abilities. It's about all the little things at this point. You have to be willing to do a little bit more than the other team."
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LSU expects NC State to want to avenge the loss. There's only one way to counter that.
"We had a lot of turnovers the first time we played them. And we beat them around 17 points," Gilbert said. "Imagine if we clean that up. That's definitely a point of emphasis this next game.
"They can come back and beat us, we can't let them want this game more than us."
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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 know previous win v NC State doesn't matter before Sweet 16
