How LSU, Flau'jae Johnson made a statement in their biggest nonconference win vs. Duke

DURHAM, N.C. -- Kara Lawson and Kim Mulkey's approaches to nonconference scheduling are almost as opposite as their approaches to game-day fashion; Mulkey, in her fifth season as the head coach at LSU, prefers to use the nonconference slate as a chance to build her team's confidence and chemistry ahead of the SEC gauntlet. Meanwhile Lawson, in her sixth season at the helm of Duke, prefers her team to face tough opponents early and often.

On Thursday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium, in front of a slew of WNBA scouts and NBA commissioner Adam Silver, the ACC/SEC Challenge put these two disparate styles and philosophies on a collision course. While Duke started strong, No. 5 LSU ended up running away in a 93-77 win.

Score one for multi-colored pantsuits and bunnies.

The Tigers cruised through their first eight games of the season in historic fashion, scoring more than 100 points in every game for the first time in NCAA DI history. But it was hard to know how much to make of that, given the (lack of) quality of their opposition. And things looked sketchy for LSU early. Duke came out swinging and went on an 11-1 run in the first 2:43 of the game -- quite a feat considering Duke is notorious for offensive struggles during the Lawson era, and has already had five quarters this season in which the team has scored less than 11 points in 10 minutes.

But it didn't take long for LSU to steady itself. Though Duke extended the lead to 17-3, MiLaysia Fulwiley and Kate Koval came off the bench and immediately provided a spark, scoring 11 points to help cut Duke's lead to four by the end of the first frame.

In the second quarter, LSU turned on the turbo jets, topping Duke 31-19 to take an eight-point lead into halftime. Duke never got closer than within seven for the rest of the game.

The most impressive thing about LSU is their depth. After seeing them in person, it's hard to argue against the notion that they have the best back court in the country. Fulwiley has so much speed, craftiness and creativity that she can come off the bench and immediately put opponents on their heels. She had eight points in the first quarter and ended with 16 points, five rebounds and three assists.

In the third quarter, starting junior guard Mikaylah Williams took over, scoring 10 of her 14 points. Flau'jae Johnson then carried it home, salvaging a slow night offensively with 11 points in the fourth to bring her to 18 points, three assists and five rebounds. Then there was Amiya Joyner - who plays and looks much taller than her 6-foot-2 listed height - adding 14 points and five boards and 6-foot-5 Koval adding 13 points, three rebounds and three steals from the bench. In the second quarter, it was actually freshman reserve Grace Knox who scored seven unanswered points herself in under a minute to give the Tigers command of the game for good.  Truly, the Tigers are unrelenting.

"We play with a lot of flair, we play with a lot of excitement, it's the LSU brand," Mulkey said.

On paper, this looks like a disaster for Duke. The Blue Devils started the year ranked No. 7 but fell out of the top 25 by mid-November. Lawson likes to schedule tough opponents so she can see the flaws in her team early on and work on them, and considering the Blue Devils are now 3-6 and on a four-game losing streak, that to-do list is getting pretty long as ACC play gets ready to tip off.

But while Duke has had some embarrassing losses this season - the infamous second-half collapse against a West Virginia team with only five available players in particular - this wasn't one of them. This was Duke's third game against a top-five opponent in eight days, and they looked far better in this game than they did in either game at the Players Era tournament in Vegas during Feast Week.

"First of all, credit to Duke. That's as good as I have seen Duke play all year. They jumped on us like white on rice," Mulkey said.

Especially given the opponent, this was Duke's best offensive showing of the season. The Blue Devils shot 50% overall, which tied their season-high and shot a season-best 61.8% from inside. Even though they were undersized compared to LSU, the Duke front court had a lot of bright spots -- Toby Fournier had 14 points in just 22 minutes, Delaney Thomas added 14 points and Arianna Roberson and Riley Nelson, making their Duke debuts this season after sitting out last year with injuries, added a combined 21 points from the bench. The Blue Devils really need more shooting from the guards, but the hope is that freshman Emilie Skinner, a highly-ranked recruit that Lawson is bullish about, can help on that front when she gets healthy.

 Overall, Lawson was just thrilled with how her team competed.

"We have been inconsistent with our competitive mindset. That is a fact. When you look back at some of our games, we have been inconsistent in that," Lawson said. "Just to start, we've got to do that for longer periods, and do that for the course of the game. So that's why I'm so optimistic, is because I saw that tonight, right? You can't control how you shoot. You can't control what happens, you can't control the calls. You can't control that stuff. But are you competing at a high level? And once we can do that consistently, we're going to put ourselves in a great chance, in a great position, to win games."

Here are a few other notes from an exciting night in Durham:

Flau'jae Johnson got her revenge

When Johnson chirped at Lawson during a fourth-quarter run by LSU, it was clear that there was a personal component to this game for the senior. In press, Mulkey shed some light on why that was.

"I was happy for Flau'jae. You know, she didn't have a good experience with USA Basketball with Kara this summer, and so she's had this date circled. You get nervous because you think she's gonna try to come in here and try to do too much. And I was proud of how she handled herself," Mulkey said.

Lawson, who was just named the head coach of the U.S. women's national basketball team for this upcoming Olympic cycle, was the head coach of Team USA this summer at the 2025 FIBA Women's AmeriCup. Since the WNBA season was in season, the team was filled with college players, including Johnson. The team won gold, but Johnson's playing time was sporadic and the experience clearly impacted her.

"When you become a coach, whether it's USA Basketball, whether it's at LSU, whether it's at Duke, players aren't going to always be happy and content," Mulkey said. "And Flau'jae lost a lot of confidence this summer playing with USA basketball, and it's my job, when I get her back on campus, to bring her back to where she can help us do what we need to do."

When asked about Mulkey's comments in press, Lawson did not get into details about what went on with Johnson.

"My experience was a good one, not just coaching Flau'jae, but coaching all the players, all 12 players, putting a team together and practicing within 10 days and then going to play a tournament," Lawson said. "And our college players did an incredible job playing against teams that had pro players on it, and we're able to win the gold. So just really proud of that group."

MiLaysia Fulwiley is still a work in progress

This game was full of highlights for LSU guard MiLaysia Fulwiley, the South Carolina transfer who is known for her handles and speed. 

But Mulkey expressed in press that Fulwiley still has a long way to go before she is in the starting lineup and truly running the team. Mulkey especially wants Fulwiley to work on protecting the ball.

"Lay transferred to LSU because she wanted to learn the point guard position. She wanted to have the ball in her hands more. That's a work in progress, because you don't want to take the flair away from her game, you know, and I try to teach her, there were moments where she took the ball and wrapped it around her, and It's not the time to do that. But she wants to learn. She is a spark for us, but she wants to be more than a spark," Mulkey said. 

"She played a lot of minutes tonight. She's happy. She's happy. When you have players that can do those things like she can with the ball in her hands, you never want to take that away from her. But you teach them, you can't have a lot of turnovers and not assists. You want to have a two-to one ratio, and that's part of teaching her to make her understand. I think she had like five turnovers, probably had two or three assists. It needs to be the other way around. But she's a delight to coach."

Duke is not panicking

There's no way to sugarcoat it: A 3-6 start to the season is bad, no matter who the opponents are. But the Blue Devils did not come into press talking like a team in free fall.

"Honestly I couldn't be more proud of this team. We're growing," Ashlon Jackson, who had 16 points, three assists and three rebounds, told reporters. "We're very uncomfortable right now, which is the good thing, because like I said, in March, everybody is uncomfortable, so the team that is most comfortable with being uncomfortable is going to succeed."

Lawson, for her part, remained confident (publicly, at least) that her team was moving in the right direction.

"There's ups and downs, and you got to keep pushing. And the adversity is challenging right now, and it's been long, you know, the length of the adversity, but we believe a lot in each other, and there's a lot of positivity. If you come into our practice, you wouldn't feel like we're in the middle of adversity," Lawson said.  "Like it's loud, it's positive, it's communicative. So those are my keys. 

"As long as we're doing that and we're executing, we're trying to do what we're trying to do, then, you know, I feel good about where we are. But it would feel good to win, so we'll try to do that on Sunday."