BATON ROUGE, La. – For the fifth-straight season, the LSU women’s basketball program is hosting the First and Second Rounds in March Madness with this go-around featuring the No. 2 seed Tigers taking on the No. 15 seed Jacksonville Dolphins Friday night inside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
The Tigers will face the Dolphins at 5 p.m. CT on ESPN with Tiffany Greene (pxp), Carolyn Peck (analyst) and Alyssa Lang (reporter) on the call. Fans are encouraged to tune into the LSU Sports Radio Network with Patrick Wright and Shaeeta Williams calling the action.
LSU and Jacksonville are meeting in women’s basketball for the second time in series history. Both teams played during the Coach Kim Mulkey era on Dec. 30, 2023, when the Tigers defeated the Dolphins 110-68 inside the Maravich Center. Mulkey coached against Jacksonville’s current head coach, Special Jennings, in her first season with the Dolphins.
LSU is the fifth-overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, occupying the Sacramento 2 Regional. Along with LSU, the other three top-four seeds are No. 1 UCLA, No. 3 Duke and No. 4. Minnesota. Mulkey is seeking her 150th win as a Tiger on Friday night as LSU welcomes in Texas Tech and Villanova as the No. 7 and No. 10 seeds, respectively.
Mulkey is in her fifth season at LSU and the Tigers have hosted NCAA Tournament games every year under her leadership. This marks the first time LSU has been a No. 2 seed since 2008, which resulted in a fifth-straight Final Four appearance for the Tigers. It is the fourth time LSU has earned a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Since LSU’s first appearance in the NCAA Tournament in 1984 (31 total appearances), the Tigers have accumulated a 56-29 all-time record with one national championship (2023), six Final Fours, 11 Elite Eights and 17 Sweet Sixteens. LSU has made three consecutive Elite Eight appearances since its national championship season and the most since the Tigers played in six straight Elite Eights that included five straight Final Fours (2003-2008).
Since becoming a coach in 1985 as an assistant with Louisiana Tech, Mulkey has been to the NCAA Tournament every season except two (02-03: WNIT Finals; 19-20: COVID). As a head coach, Mulkey holds a record of 66-19 in the NCAAT.
Through 32 games, LSU has averaged 94.5 points per game, which leads the nation. That mark would break the SEC record in scoring average set by Georgia in 1986 (32 games; 2,855 points, 89.2 average). The Tigers through its 32 contests have scored 3,023 points.
LSU leads the country in 3 statistical categories: bench points per game (39.2), rebound margin (16.9), and scoring offense (94.5).
