GREENVILLE, S.C. — Midway through the fourth quarter of No. 3 LSU’s clunky 54-42 win against No. 9 Miami, Tigers coach Kim Mulkey said the quiet part out loud on a television interview with ESPN.
“Look at the scoreboard,” Mulkey said. “If I was watching this game, I’d turn it off.”
The Tigers and Hurricanes won’t be remembered for the offense they showed Sunday night at Bon Secours Wellness Arena, where LSU earned its first trip to the Final Four since 2008 and first under Mulkey since she returned to her home state last season.
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Miami shot 31.6 percent from the field and made zero 3s, missing all 15 attempts from beyond the arc. LSU shot 30.2 percent from the field and 8.3 percent from 3, making just 1 of 12 attempts from deep — and not until the fourth quarter.
LSU sophomore guard Kateri Poole, who made the game’s lone 3-pointer, said that the Tigers are simply in a funk with their long-range shooting, something they’ll need to work through before the Final Four in Dallas where they’ll play the winner of Monday’s matchup between Virginia Tech and Ohio State.
But it’s at least possible there was an external factor at play Sunday night contributing to both teams’ abysmal numbers on offense.
“They need to take some air out of the ball. It’s too much and I think everyone’s shot has been off lately. Everyone in the tournament,” Poole said. “And I’m not trying to make excuses regardless, but throwing the ball off the backboard, it sounds like it’s gonna pop.”
LSU guard Alexis Morris shared a similar sentiment.
“They’re too aired up and they’re too bouncy and they’re just horrible. They’re slippery, bouncy, hard,” she said. “I’m not the complaining type because I’ve played basketball in the park and (in) many different environments. I play with basketballs with the leather pulling off. I feel like it’s affecting our shooting percentage right now.”
LSU entered the tournament shooting 47.2 percent from the field. The Tigers shot 43.6 percent against Hawaii in Round 1, 35.3 percent against Michigan in Round 2 and 41.4 percent against Utah in the Sweet 16 before barely scraping the 30-percent mark against the Hurricanes.
Morris said she first noticed issues with the balls back in Baton Rouge, La., when the Tigers hosted their opening rounds. Mulkey said Sunday night that during nearly every timeout against Miami, Morris — who scored 21 points — mentioned the ball to her.
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“You see so many layups just hit the rim, bounce off,” Morris said. “That’s because the balls were so bouncy and hard.”
The NCAA announced in June of 2021 that starting with the 2021-22 season, both the men’s and women’s championships would be playing with Wilson Sporting Goods Co.’s EVO NXT ball. In its press release at the time, the NCAA wrote that the ball’s Micro-Touch cover helps with grip, “moisture management” and feel. It was designed to be “easier to shoot from long-range.”
But Poole said Sunday that the ball was so hard that it hurt LSU guard Flau’jae Johnson’s finger and split one of Morris’ nails. Asked about Johnson’s finger, an LSU media relations staffer deferred to one of the Tigers’ student athletic trainers. The trainer said she was not authorized to speak about potential injuries. An NCAA spokesperson also declined comment about LSU’s claims.
“Usually you will adjust to the basketball over time, but it’s just so hard to adjust to these basketballs,” Morris said. “For me to get accustomed to basketballs, every time we play a team that plays with different brands, I always put in extra work, do extra ballhandling drills, catching, hand-eye coordination to get used to the basketball. It was just — it’s hard. It’s tough.”
The men’s tournament also had teams complain similarly about the balls — something Mulkey acknowledged after her game. She lightheartedly joked about Morris complaining during timeouts, but then took a more serious tone.
“We need to check those balls out because it’s not even fun for me to watch the men play. I mean, knockdown shots is normal for men and they’re just rattling all over the rim,” she said.
“It’s happening to both teams, so it’s not like one team has an advantage. But I know Alexis Morris’ ballhandling skills and she’d bring the ball up, and all of a sudden you’d see that thing just jump off the floor.”
(Photo of Flau’jae Johnson: Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)
