The LSU women’s basketball team scheduled its third nonconference matchup of the season as a homecoming game for star senior guard Flau’jae Johnson.
At 1 p.m. Sunday (ESPN+), the No. 5 Tigers (2-0) will face Georgia Southern in Statesboro, Georgia — a city that sits just more than 50 miles west of Johnson’s hometown Savannah, Georgia.
“For me, it’s just another game,” Johnson said, “but I’m very excited.”
LSU has played similar contests in each of the past three seasons. In 2023, it faced Coppin State in Angel Reese’s hometown of Baltimore. Then, last year, it played homecoming games for two of its stars — one against Grambling in Bossier City for Mikaylah Williams and another on the road against Illinois-Chicago for Aneesah Morrow.
Now it’s Johnson’s turn.
She’s both the first McDonald’s All-American to sign with LSU after it hired coach Kim Mulkey and the only contributor remaining from the team that took home the program’s first national championship in 2023.
Johnson was a freshman that season. Now she’s a senior who’s hoping to bookend her collegiate career with national titles.
“I remember when I was a player at Louisiana Tech,” Mulkey said. “We (played homecoming games). There’s a lot of things that you take from your background. I just remembered how special it was to each of us to go back and play in front of people that can’t come to all of your games.”
Johnson could have left LSU in the offseason. She was age-eligible to declare for the 2025 WNBA Draft. But she chose to return to the Tigers instead, a move that allowed her to team with Williams and a group of eight newcomers for her fourth and final year of NCAA eligibility.
That season, for LSU, is off to a strong start.
The Tigers defeated Houston Christian by 53 points on Tuesday in their season opener, then smothered Southeastern Louisiana on Thursday, winning 115-26 in one of the two most lopsided games they’ve ever played.
Johnson shot only 3 of 10 from the field in the opener. But against the Lions, she turned in a more efficient 7-of-10 shooting night to pair a game-high 17 points with her five rebounds and five assists.
“My grandpa is going to be able to come to the game,” Johnson said. “He’s never seen me play in college, so that’s going to be really fun, and really just getting to see my whole family. It’s going to be lit out there. They’re crazy, so the tickets sold out in like an hour or something like that, so yeah, it’s very anticipated.”
Georgia Southern finished 11th in the Sun Belt last season — its first under coach Hana Haden — then split its first two games of this year, beating Central Michigan 98-72 on Monday and losing 80-72 to Florida State on Thursday.
Now the Eagles will host LSU in a kind of game Mulkey said she always tries to put on her nonconference schedule.
“And that’s not always possible,” Mulkey said. “We have to have the other team agree to it. But when it’s possible, you try to do it.”
