# 2022–23 LSU Tigers women's basketball team

The 2022–23 LSU Tigers women's basketball team represented Louisiana State University in the 2022–23 college basketball season. Led by second year head coach Kim Mulkey, the team played their games at Pete Maravich Assembly Center and are members of the Southeastern Conference. This team achieved numerous milestones for LSU women's basketball, including the team's first ever national championship and Final Four wins.

## Previous season

The Tigers finished the season 26–6 (13–3 SEC) to finish second in the conference. They lost in the quarterfinals of SEC women's tournament. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA women's tournament as a 3rd seed in the Spokane regional where they defeated Jackson State in the first round before losing to Ohio State in the second round.

## Offseason
### Departures

LSU Departures :
| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Year | Hometown | Reason for departure |
| Autumn Newby | 0 | F | 6'2" | Senior | Lawrenceville, GA | Graduated |
| Jailin Cherry | 1 | G | 5'8" | Senior | Pascagoula, MS | Graduated |
| Khayla Pointer | 3 | G | 5'7" | Senior | Marietta, GA | Graduated/2022 WNBA draft; selected 13th overall by Las Vegas Aces |
| Ryann Payne | 10 | G | 5'7" | Senior | Valencia, CA | Quit the team to focus on academics |
| Logyn McNeil | 13 | F | 6'3" | Freshman | Rockwall, TX | Transferred to Houston |
| Sarah Shematsi | 14 | G/F | 6'2" | Senior | Annecy, France | Graduate transferred to Kansas State |
| Ajae Petty | 15 | F | 6'3" | Sophomore | Baltimore, MD | Transferred to Kentucky |
| Timia Ware | 21 | G | 5'6" | Freshman | Chicago, IL | TBD |
| Faustine Aifuwa | 24 | C | 6'5" | Senior | Dacula, GA | Graduated/2022 WNBA draft; selected 35th overall by Las Vegas Aces |
| Grace Hall | 30 | F | 6'1" | Freshman | Homewood, IL | Transferred to Wabash Valley College |
| Awa Trasi | 32 | F | 6'1" | Senior | Toulouse, France | Graduated |

### Incoming transfers

LSU Incoming Transfers :
| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Year | Hometown | Previous school |
| LaDazhia Williams | 0 | F | 6'4" | GS Senior | Bradenton, FL | Missouri |
| Jasmine Carson | 2 | G | 5'10" | GS Senior | Memphis, TN | West Virginia |
| Angel Reese | 10 | F | 6'3" | Sophomore | Baltimore, MD | Maryland |
| Last-Tear Poa | 13 | G | 5'11" | Sophomore | Melbourne, Australia | Northwest Florida State College |
| Kateri Poole | 55 | G | 5'8" | Sophomore | Bronx, NY | Ohio State |

### 2022 recruiting class

College recruiting information :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight |
| Flau'jae Johnson G | Marietta, GA | Sprayberry HS | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) | N/A |
| Star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: ESPN grade: 95 ||||||
| Sa'Myah Smith F | DeSoto, TX | DeSoto HS | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | N/A |
| Star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: ESPN grade: 94 ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: ||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2022 Player Commits". ESPN.com. ||||||

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| October 27, 2022* 7:00 p.m., SECN+ | No. 16 | Mississippi College | W 88–35 | | Pete Maravich Assembly Center (1,385) Baton Rouge, LA |
| November 3, 2022* 7:00 p.m., SECN+ | No. 16 | Langston | W 121–46 | | Pete Maravich Assembly Center (1,254) Baton Rouge, LA |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| November 7, 2022* 7:00 p.m., SECN+ | No. 16 | Bellarmine | W 125–50 | 1–0 | Pete Maravich Assembly Center (6,109) Baton Rouge, LA |
| November 11, 2022* 7:00 p.m., SECN+ | No. 16 | Mississippi Valley State | W 111–41 | 2–0 | Pete Maravich Assembly Center (6,009) Baton Rouge, LA |
| November 13, 2022* 3:00 p.m., SECN | No. 16 | Western Carolina | W 107–34 | 3–0 | Pete Maravich Assembly Center (6,618) Baton Rouge, LA |
| November 16, 2022* 11:00 a.m., SECN+ | No. 15 | Houston Christian | W 101–47 | 4–0 | Pete Maravich Assembly Center (12,498) Baton Rouge, LA |
| November 20, 2022* 2:00 p.m., SECN+ | No. 15 | Northwestern State | W 100–45 | 5–0 | Pete Maravich Assembly Center (5,318) Baton Rouge, LA |
| November 24, 2022* 1:00 p.m. | No. 12 | vs. George Mason Goombay Splash | W 80–52 | 6–0 | Gateway Christian Academy (255) Bimini, Bahamas |
| November 26, 2022* 1:00 p.m., FloSports | No. 12 | vs. UAB Goombay Splash | W 99–64 | 7–0 | Gateway Christian Academy (259) Bimini, Bahamas |
| November 29, 2022* 7:00 p.m., SECN+ | No. 11 | Southeastern Louisiana | W 63–55 | 8–0 | Pete Maravich Assembly Center (6,592) Baton Rouge, LA |
| December 4, 2022* 4:00 p.m., ESPN+ | No. 11 | at Tulane | W 85–72 | 9–0 | Devlin Fieldhouse (1,592) New Orleans, LA |
| December 14, 2022* 7:00 p.m., SECN+ | No. 11 | Lamar | W 88–42 | 10–0 | Pete Maravich Assembly Center (5,654) Baton Rouge, LA |
| December 17, 2022* 10:00 p.m. | No. 11 | vs. Montana State Maui Classic | W 91–52 | 11–0 | South Maui Gymnasium Maui, HI |
| December 18, 2022* 10:00 p.m. | No. 11 | vs. Oregon State Maui Classic | W 87–55 | 12–0 | South Maui Gymnasium Maui, HI |
| SEC regular season ||||||
| December 29, 2022 6:00 p.m., ESPN2 | No. 9 | at No. 24 Arkansas | W 69–45 | 13–0 (1–0) | Bud Walton Arena (5,285) Fayetteville, AR |
| January 1, 2023 2:00 p.m., SECN+ | No. 9 | Vanderbilt | W 88–63 | 14–0 (2–0) | Pete Maravich Assembly Center (7,285) Baton Rouge, LA |
| January 5, 2023 8:00 p.m., SECN | No. 7 | Texas A&M | W 74–34 | 15–0 (3–0) | Pete Maravich Assembly Center (6,549) Baton Rouge, LA |
| January 8, 2023 1:00 p.m., SECN+ | No. 7 | at Kentucky | W 67–48 | 16–0 (4–0) | Memorial Coliseum (3,410) Lexington, KY |
| January 12, 2023 6:00 p.m., SECN | No. 5 | at Missouri | W 77–57 | 17–0 (5–0) | Mizzou Arena (2,791) Columbia, MO |
| January 15, 2023 2:00 p.m., SECN+ | No. 5 | Auburn | W 84–54 | 18–0 (6–0) | Pete Maravich Assembly Center (11,475) Baton Rouge, LA |
| January 19, 2023 8:00 p.m., SECN | No. 3 | Arkansas | W 79–76 | 19–0 (7–0) | Pete Maravich Assembly Center (7,293) Baton Rouge, LA |
| January 23, 2023 6:00 p.m., SEC | No. 4 | at Alabama | W 89–51 | 20–0 (8–0) | Coleman Coliseum (2,586) Tuscaloosa, AL |
| January 30, 2023 6:00 p.m., ESPN2 | No. 3 | Tennessee | W 76–68 | 21–0 (9–0) | Pete Maravich Assembly Center (15,157) Baton Rouge, LA |
| February 2, 2023 7:00 p.m., SECN+ | No. 3 | Georgia | W 82–77 $^{OT}$ | 22–0 (10–0) | Pete Maravich Assembly Center (8,716) Baton Rouge, LA |
| February 5, 2023 1:00 p.m., ESPN2 | No. 3 | at Texas A&M | W 72–66 | 23–0 (11–0) | Reed Arena (6,482) College Station, TX |
| February 12, 2023 2:00 p.m., ESPN | No. 3 | at No. 1 South Carolina | L 64–88 | 23–1 (11–1) | Colonial Life Arena (18,000) Columbia, SC |
| February 16, 2023 8:00 p.m., SECN | No. 5 | Ole Miss | W 69–60 | 24–1 (12–1) | Pete Maravich Assembly Center (8,753) Baton Rouge, LA |
| February 19, 2023 1:00 p.m., SECN | No. 5 | at Florida | W 90–79 | 25–1 (13–1) | O'Connell Center (3,498) Gainesville, FL |
| February 23, 2023 6:30 p.m., SECN+ | No. 5 | at Vanderbilt | W 82–63 | 26–1 (14–1) | Memorial Gymnasium (3,274) Nashville, TN |
| February 26, 2023 5:00 p.m., SECN | No. 5 | Mississippi State | W 74–59 | 27–1 (15–1) | Pete Maravich Assembly Center (15,721) Baton Rouge, LA |
| SEC Tournament ||||||
| March 3, 2023 5:00 p.m., SECN | (2) No. 4 | vs. (7) Georgia Quarterfinals | W 83–66 | 28–1 | Bon Secours Wellness Arena Greenville, SC |
| March 4, 2023 6:00 p.m., ESPNU | (2) No. 4 | vs. (3) Tennessee Semifinals | L 67–69 | 28–2 | Bon Secours Wellness Arena (10,471) Greenville, SC |
| NCAA Tournament ||||||
| March 17, 2023* 4:30 p.m., ESPN2 | (3 G2) No. 9 | (14 G2) Hawaiʻi First round | W 73–50 | 29–2 | Pete Maravich Assembly Center (8,608) Baton Rouge, LA |
| March 19, 2023* 6:30 p.m., ESPN | (3 G2) No. 9 | (6 G2) No. 18 Michigan Second round | W 66–42 | 30–2 | Pete Maravich Assembly Center (10,108) Baton Rouge, LA |
| March 24, 2023* 4:00 p.m., ESPN | (3 G2) No. 9 | vs. (2 G2) No. 8 Utah Sweet Sixteen | W 66–63 | 31–2 | Bon Secours Wellness Arena Greenville, SC |
| March 26, 2023* 7:00 p.m., ESPN | (3 G2) No. 9 | vs. (9 G2) Miami (FL) Elite Eight | W 54–42 | 32–2 | Bon Secours Wellness Arena (7,988) Greenville, SC |
| March 31, 2023* 6:00 p.m., ESPN | (3 G2) No. 9 | vs. (1 S3) No. 4 Virginia Tech Final Four | W 79–72 | 33–2 | American Airlines Center Dallas, TX |
| April 2, 2023* 3:30 p.m., ABC | (3 G2) No. 9 | vs. (2 S4) No. 3 Iowa Championship | W 102–85 | 34–2 | American Airlines Center (19,482) Dallas, TX |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. G2=Greenville 2 S3=Seattle 3. All times are in Central. ||||||

## Rankings

Ranking movements Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking т = Tied with team above or below ( ) = First-place votes :
| | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | Final |
| AP | 16 | 16 | 15 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 9 | 9 | Not released |
| Coaches | 14 | 14 | 15 | 13 | 12 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4т | 6 | 1 (30) |