BATON ROUGE – After playing the last few games depleted, LSU women's basketball should be fully healthy by the start of Women's March Madness this weekend.
LSU coach Kim Mulke y told media members following the NCAA Selection Show on Selection Sunday that both star players Flau'jae Johnson and Aneesah Morrow will be "good to go" for the start of the NCAA Tournament.
The No. 3 seed in the Spokane 1 Region, the Tigers open up play in the first round of the NCAA Tourney against No. 14 San Diego State (25-9) inside the Pete Maravich Assembly Saturday.
"Good to go," Mulkey quipped when asked about the statuses of Morrow and Johnson. "I think Morrow and Johnson are in a boot – I don't know why they're still in it. But I guess they just keep them in it."
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Johnson, LSU's leading scorer at 18.9 points per game, hasn't played since the overtime loss at Alabama more than three weeks ago. She scored a season-low 6 points in that game and come to find out, she has been battling shin inflammation since the game at Texas back on Feb. 16.
Morrow, in that same game against Texas sprained her left foot and against Texas again in the SEC Tournament semifinals last week, got stepped on, re-aggravating the mid-foot sprain.
After some much-needed rest for both players, both appear ready and able to play.
Mulkey said there's concern of rust for Morrow and Johnson after the long layoffs. They'll both go full contact in practice this week ahead of the March Madness opener against San Diego State, she said.
"You watch what your trainers are doing with them to make sure that they stay in sync, whether it's shooting, whether it's whatever. A shin and foot injury, so you can't just be up and down on the floor with them but you can get some shots up and do some things," Mulkey said. "You always worry about that. You get the rust off when you can, sub them in and out. Let them get back in the flow."
"We'll have a good week here and they'll be with the team this week. They've been with the team but they'll do full contact stuff this week."
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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 stars will be back for 2025 NCAA Tournament, Kim Mulkey says
