"We were atrocious offensively in the first half": Kim Mulkey's staff member offers blunt assessment despite LSU cruising to win vs ULL

Kim Mulkey's LSU Tigers had a hard time putting away Louisiana on Sunday, though they prevailed 85-57. Their performance did not sit well with the team's associate head coach Bob Starkey who delivered harsh criticism in the postgame conference.

Although the Tigers were never in doubt of securing a win, their play did not meet the standard that Mulkey and her staff have set for the program. LSU jumped out to a comfortable lead and was up by 17 points at the break.

However, they committed 17 turnovers in the half — well above their season average of 14.5 per game. They finished with 21 turnovers.

"I thought we're desperately in need of a spark today. We were as a staff disappointed with the way our team played today," Bob Starkey said (Kim Mulkey missed the postgame due to illness). "We've been imploring them to start games quicker. We tend to start slow."

"So in the first half, I thought we did a nice job of defending them, but we were just atrocious offensively — 17 turnovers ... it was just very sloppy. We're disappointed our fans had to watch that. Then we clean up the turnovers a little bit, but we can't guard and we can't keep them in front of us. So, we just didn't have a very good performance.

(Timestamp: 4:06 onwards)

Kim Mulkey's associate coach addresses lack of team leadership

Kim Mulkey and No. 4 LSU Tigers are flying high with a perfect 12-0 start with several blowout victories but there is one lingering issue that has drawn the ire of the coaching staff.

"I think we have a void at leadership," LSU associate coach Bob Starkey after the Louisiana game. "When you do that, that can affect your team chemistry. We have certain players that want to lead at certain times and that's another area where we're not consistent."

The leadership seems lacking when needed the most and that has shown through the team’s inconsistent play at times. Senior players such as Aneesah Morrow and Last-Tear Poa have been decent on the court with their performances but they have yet to assert themselves as clear leaders.

Junior guard Flau'jae Johnson, the team's leading scorer with 22.0 points per game, is also far from being a vocal leader who can rally her teammates.

The Lady Tigers only have three games left — against Seton Hall, UIC and Albany — before they open SEC play on Jan. 2 against Arkansas.