"Many people said don't take Angel Reese, she's a cancer in the locker room": Kim Mulkey on ignoring public opinion while recruiting Kailyn Gilbert

LSU coach Kim Mulkey revealed that she ignored public opinion when recruiting Kailyn Gilbert, as she did with Angel Reese and Flau'jae Johnson. Gilbert joined the Lady Tigers this summer after spending her first two college seasons at Arizona.

In the postgame press conference following LSU's 73-63 win over Auburn on Sunday, the junior guard hinted at facing criticism about her character and personality during the recruiting process.

"Ultimately, I just want to prove that I’m a coachable player," Kailyn said. "A lot of people threw out negative things about me in the portal, and it was very frustrating. But I don’t think I’m anything that they were saying in the portal ... just everything about my game, just proving them wrong."

On Tuesday, Kim Mulkey, in an exclusive phone interview with 104.5 ESPN, discussed LSU's undefeated start and its win against Auburn.

T-Bob Hebert, the show's host and former LSU offensive lineman, asked Kim Mulkey about dealing players with strong personalities as well as Gilbert's postgame comment.

"I listened to (Kailyn) at the press conference. I didn't recruit her out of high school, so I didn't know what people said about her or anything like that," Mulkey said (2:12 onwards).

"When we recruited her to come here, I sat with her as did Coach Bob Starky, and we first talked about her basketball and things we had seen on the court that she had to clean up. ... I loved her response. She was very honest. I have since learned, she does play with a little chip on her shoulder."

Kim Mulkey mentioned that she has faced similar situations while recruiting players like Angel Reese and Flau’jae Johnson.

"There were so many people that said, 'Don't take Angel Reese; she's a cancer in the locker room. Don't take Flau'jae, she'll never pass the ball. Don't take this one, don't take that one.' Gilbert is a very quiet individual. She's not going to be the life of the party, she's going to be the one that stands off to herself."

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Kim Mulkey's LSU Tigers' undefeated run stretches to 17 games after Auburn win

The No. 6 Lady Tigers continued their hot start on Sunday with a 73-63 home win over Auburn in their second SEC game this season. Kim Mulkey's LSU remains undefeated at 17-0 and 2-0 in conference play.

Their next opponent, No. 16 Tennessee (13-1, 1-1 SEC) will be the toughest one they will have faced so far.

The Volunteers led by first-year coach Kim Caldwell were unbeaten in 13 matchups before losing 86-87 to No. 10 Oklahoma on Sunday. LSU will play Vanderbilt and Florida before taking on South Carolina.