“They are just hard to defend”: Kim Mulkey makes her feelings known about Oklahoma ahead of LSU’s game

Kim Mulkey joined 104.5 ESPN’s Watch Live before her No. 7 LSU Tigers face the No. 13 Oklahoma at Pete Maravich Assembly Center on Thursday. The coach highlighted the key points that make Jennie Baranczyk's team a tough squad to face.

Mulkey pointed that the Sooners are apt at playing to their strong points. With that, she also praised Baranczyk's playbook and efficient inclusion of Oregon State transfer Raegan Beers.

"They're always, always good, this particular team, her (Baranczyk) style of play, she played the head coach played at Iowa. She just has that spread the floor, shoot the three," Mulkey said (Timestamp: 1:14). "Has probably, in my opinion, maybe the newcomer of the year in Beers."

"You can expect an experienced squad, they push the ball up the floor. They're just good, they're well coached and they do a lot of things within their abilities. And if I said well they're athletic. No, they're not what you just call athletic - going to blow by you - but they're just hard to defend."

Jennie Baranczyk has orchestrated a winning run in Oklahoma's first year in the SEC, mounting a better opening record than the team's previous season. Sooners, currently 16-4, were on a 14-6 run throughout its first 20 games in the 2023-24 season. The program has played six ranked games so far, similar to last year.

Inclusion of Raegan Beers has been instrumental in OU's success. She is leading the team in points (16.7), rebounds (8.9) and blocks (1.2). Her 65.5% shooting efficiency is ranked 5th in the women's circuit.

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Kim Mulkey's message to the team after losing against South Carolina

After South Carolina Gamecocks handed LSU its first loss of the season on Friday (66-56), Kim Mulkey said that the Tigers' biggest games are yet to come in the post game conference. She had the same approach in the locker room to redirect her players' focus back to the hardwood.

"A message to the team afterward was the same as before, this is not our biggest game of the year, it might be to the media, it might be to the naysayers but what this game is is one of many tough ones on our schedule," she said (at 5:50).

While Kim Mulkey encouraged her players to explore the possible areas of improvement, she also shared that she takes road games as an automatic 10 point deficit at the tip-off. With that standards, LSU was able to pull its weight against the defending champions.