BATON ROUGE – LSU (25-1, 13-1 SEC)  remained at No. 5 in Wednesday’s latest AP Poll as the Tigers enter the final week of the regular season.

With two regular season games remaining, LSU will travel to Nashville to square off at Vanderbilt on Thursday before hosting Mississippi State Sunday for the season finale.

LSU has already secured a top four seed in the SEC Tournament next week, but with two wins this week the Tigers would clinch to No. 2 seed for the second year in a row.

CARSON, REESE SPARK LSU WOMEN

Jasmine Carson’s career-high 25 points and was backed by Angel Reese’s 25 points and 16 rebounds to lead the No. 5 LSU (25-1, 13-1 SEC) to a 90-79 victory over the Florida Gators (14-12, 3-10 SEC).

The Extactech Arena crowd of 3,498 was Florida’s largest home crowd of the season as many LSU fans came out to support the Tigers.

“I thought we controlled the game,” Coach Kim Mulkey said. “I felt very good about what we did the entire game. I think you’re gonna get everybody’s best shot. We’re not a hidden commodity any more. We’re relevant. I’ve got kids all over social media that these young people come on the road to see. I think that’s reflected in their attendance today.”

To get her career-high, Carson nailed seven three-pointers, the most by a LSU player since Pietra Gay also had seven in 1997. Reese notched her 25th double-double through 26 games this season within the first half on Sunday afternoon and she finished with 25 points, 16 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 blocks and 2 steals. 

LaDazhia Williams recorded her third double-double of the season as she added 15 points and brought down 10 boards. Flau’jae Johnson scored 12, including 10 in the final quarter, and Alexis Morris led the way with 6 assists.

Kirsten Deans led Florida 30 points on 10-20 shooting and 5 three-pointers. Ra Shaya Kyle and Jordyn Merritt were the other Gators in double figures both scoring 12 points. 

Up next the Tigers will stay on the road this week for a Thursday night matchup at Vanderbilt. Tip-Off is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.CT and will be streamed live on the SEC Network +.  

Florida jumped out to a 6-point 13-7 lead early on but the Tigers battled back to knot things up at 15 for the first media timeout. Morris and Johnson both picked up two quick fouls in the first, forcing them onto the bench early in the game. Carson and Reese led the way with 8 points a piece in the first quarter. Reese went 4-4 and had five rebounds and Carson hit two from deep to help LSU earn a 27-23 lead after the opening ten minutes. 

The first quarter included five lead changes and five ties. LSU’s 27 first quarter points were the most in the opening quarter of any game this season inside conference play. 

Last-Tear Poa hit a deep three on the wing to open the second quarter and push the LSU lead to seven. Poa’s three started a 10-0 run that gave the Tigers their largest lead of the night, jumping ahead by 14 without letting Florida score in the first four minutes of the second. Carson hit back to back threes within 32 seconds of each other to total a career high 5 three-pointers within the half. LSU went into the break with a 47-31 lead after holding the Gators to just 8 second quarter points. 

The Tigers were on fire in the first-half, making 56–percent of their shot attempts (67-percent from beyond the arc) to jump out to the 16-point lead. Carson set a career-high before halftime with five made threes as her and Reese combined for 31 first half points. Coming off a 36 point and 20 rebound game Thursday against Texas A&M, Reese kept it rolling and finished the first half with 14 points and 13 rebounds, her ninth first half double-double of the season.

Through the first five minutes of third quarter action Florida held the Tigers scoreless and to cut the lead to 9 after putting together a 9-0 run. A technical foul on Nina Rickards sent Morris to the foul line who went 2-2 to snap the Florida run and give LSU its first points of the quarter. Carson continued her career performance from deep as she hit a three to total 20 points and bring the LSU lead back to double figures. 

The Gators outscored LSU 19-12 in the third and trailed by nine as they headed into the final quarter. The Tigers shot only 26.7-percent in the quarter and were unable to get their desired post touches as the Gators made a dent in the LSU lead.

Johnson scored 10 in the fourth quarter on 4-4 shooting to reach double figures. Reese scored 11 more and both Williams and Carson had 5 in the final quarter. Florida’s Deans dropped 13 in the fourth but it was not enough to get past the deficit. Florida earned 7 points off of free throws and only had two boards. The Tigers held its lead and finished the night with a 11-point win for LSU’s 25th victory of the season. 

SEC MEN’S BASKETBALL ROUNDUP

· SEC Player of the Week – Texas A&M guard Wade Taylor IV, a 6-foot, 185-pound sophomore from Dallas, Texas, averaged 19.5 points, five assists, 3.5 rebounds, and two steals in wins over Arkansas and at Missouri. Taylor connected on 60 percent (6-of-9) of his 3-point tries and over 45 percent (10-of-22) of his field goal attempts. His pesky style of defense also produced a pair of steals in both games as the Aggies limited the Razorbacks and Tigers to more than 10 points below their overall and SEC scoring averages. The SEC leader in free throw percentage, Taylor made 13-of-15 free throws in the victories, including a perfect 10-of-10 effort in the Aggies’ road victory over Mizzou.

· SEC Freshman of the Week – Kentucky forward Chris Livingston, a 6-foot-6, 220-pound freshman from Akron, Ohio, averaged 12.5 points and 7.5 rebounds in wins at Mississippi State and over No. 10 Tennessee. He scored all 13 of his points against the Bulldogs in the second half and notched his first career double-double (12 points, 10 rebounds) in the win over the Volunteers.

·   Six teams are receiving mention in the February 20 Associated Press Top 25 highlighted by Alabama (2nd), Tennessee (11th), and Texas A&M (25th). Kentucky, Arkansas, and Missouri are among the teams receiving votes.

·   Two teams rank in the Top Five of the NCAA’s NET rankings (1st nationally), and nine are in the Top 60 (t-1st nationally).

·   Six SEC teams are rated among the top 25 defensive teams in the nation according to KenPom: Tennessee 1st, Alabama 3rd, Mississippi State 5th, Arkansas 12th, Auburn 13th, and Florida 21st.

·   Five SEC players were named the USBWA’s Oscar Robertson Trophy Midseason Watch List: Kobe Brown (MO), Ricky Council IV (AR), Brandon Miller (UA), Oscar Tshiebwe (UK), and KJ Williams (LS).

·   LSU’s KJ Williams became the 123rd player in NCAA history to score 2,000 points and have 1,000 rebounds on Jan. 21.

·   Alabama’s Brandon Miller leads all freshmen nationally with 18.7 points per game.

·   Kentucky’s Oscar Tshiebwe had 37 points and 24 rebounds against Georgia on Jan. 17. It was the first 30/20 game by an SEC player since South Carolina’s Sindarius Thornwell had 44 points and 21 rebounds against Alabama on Feb. 7, 2017.

·   Four SEC coaches rank among the winningest active Division I coaches in the nation: John Calipari (4th with 785 wins), Rick Barnes (6th with 774 wins), Bruce Pearl (15th with 632 wins) and Kermit Davis (29th with 477 wins).

·   Alabama is the fourth different SEC school to be ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press Poll since the 2018-19 season (Auburn 2022, Kentucky 2020, and Tennessee 2019).

·   Alabama became the first team since the 1965-66 season to beat two teams ranked No. 1 (North Carolina on Nov. 27 and Houston on Dec. 10) before New Year’s Day.

·   Tennessee has won five straight games against Associated Press Top five opponents.

·   The SEC, ACC, and ESPN announced on Nov. 28 the formation of the SEC/ACC Challenge for men’s and women’s basketball, which will begin as part of the 2023-24 season.

SCHEDULE

Wednesday, February 22

*Kentucky at Florida                                                ESPN       7:00 pm

*Vanderbilt at LSU                                                   SECN       7:00 pm

*#2 Alabama at South Carolina       ESPN2     9:00 pm

*Ole Miss at Auburn                                                SECN       9:00 pm

Saturday, February 25

*Missouri at Georgia                                               SECN       1:00 pm

*Arkansas at #2 Alabama       ESPN/2                                                               2:00 pm

*#25 Texas A&M at Mississippi State                    SECN       3:30 pm

*Auburn at Kentucky                                               CBS       4:00 pm

*Florida at Vanderbilt       ESPN2/U                                                            6:00 pm

*South Carolina at #11 Tennessee                         SECN       6:00 pm

*LSU at Ole Miss                                                      SECN       8:30 pm