When LSU women’s basketball finds itself in the early stages of blowout wins over mid-major opponents, coach Kim Mulkey tries to find small sources of motivation for her team.
Otherwise, those games could begin to feel a tad monotonous. Mulkey doesn’t want the Tigers to look at the score and lose their focus. She wants to see sharp possessions throughout the contest instead, especially on the defensive end of the floor.
“Just challenge them throughout a game like this,” Mulkey said on Wednesday after a 58-point win over Charlotte. “Give them little goals in the timeout. Give them little things to try to accomplish. That’s what you try to do.”
Here’s something Mulkey can pull out of her back pocket if LSU takes a large lead over Tulane in Fogelman Arena (6 p.m., ESPNU) on Monday: Because the No. 5 Tigers (4-0) have scored at least 100 points in each of their first four games, they can now match a streak that only one SEC team has ever built before if they hit the century mark again in their matchup with the Green Wave (2-1).
That group, coincidentally, is also an LSU squad. The Tigers notched at least 100 points in each of their first five games of their national championship 2022-2023 campaign. According to Basketball Reference data, no other SEC team has ever hit that mark in that many consecutive contests — at any point of a season.
But this LSU team, Mulkey’s fifth, has a chance.
The Tigers scored 108 points on 53% shooting in their season-opening rout of Houston Christian, and they still haven’t cooled off.
Their offensive numbers, in fact, have only improved since then.
LSU has scored at least 115 points seven times in program history. Three of those outings have come in just the past 10 days — in drummings of Southeastern Louisiana, Georgia Southern and Charlotte.
The Tigers have picked up four wins by an average margin of 62 points. They’re also shooting an efficient 56% from the field and a blistering 48% from 3-point range.
Tulane has already hung with an SEC team this season. On Nov. 6, when it lost at home to Missouri, the Green Wave held the Tigers to 77 points on 39% shooting.
But LSU is on a different level. And it usually rolls past its nonconference opponents.
Since the 2021-2022 season, Mulkey’s first in Baton Rouge, no Division I team has more 100-point games than the Tigers (25), according to Basketball Reference data. Texas is the second SEC program on that list, and it’s hit the century mark only 13 times across those five seasons.
“We can score the ball,” Mulkey said. “We can score the ball at all positions.”
This LSU team has a few things in common with the one that took home the 2023 national title. That group, for instance, had nine newcomers. This one has eight. Both teams — through the first four games of their respective seasons — were also scoring at least 110 points per game and winning by an average margin of at least 60 points.
The 2025 Tigers, however, have so far received 83 more points from their bench than the 2022 Tigers did across their first four contests.
The LSU reserves scored an average of only 16 points per game across the past three seasons, years in which the Tigers ranked 229th, 283rd and 94th among Division I teams in bench points per contest.
This season, LSU’s bench is chipping in 57 points per game — the most in the country.
“I’ve been doing this almost 40 years,” Mulkey said. “I can’t even think about if I’ve ever had balance like that. I probably have never confidently substituted like this, even in nonconference, and what has dictated that is what goes on in practice every day.
“Like I said, we can score the ball. Let’s just get better defensively.”
