LSU women’s basketball’s polarizing head coach Kim Mulkey chided yet another reporter.
During halftime of the team’s turbulent 79-72 loss to South Carolina in the SEC tournament championship game on Sunday, ESPN’s Brooke Weisbrod asked Mulkey a seemingly routine question about Sunday’s game being more physical than usual.
But Mulkey quickly rejected the premise.
“Come on now,” Mulkey shot back. “You don’t think it’s been physical all tournament? What do you want me to say?”
Weisbrod then followed up with a question about defending South Carolina center Kamilla Cardoso, but Mulkey’s answer had little to do with her.
“I think we’ve done fine,” Mulkey said. “The same thing happened at our place. We had a lead and we gave up threes at the end of the quarter. That’s how good teams beat you. They take advantage of opportunities. The same thing happened in Baton Rouge.”
Though Mulkey disagreed that the game was more physical than usual, it turned violent in the second half.
An ugly brawl erupted with just over two minutes left in the game after LSU’s Flau’jae Johnson intentionally fouled South Carolina’s MiLaysia Fulwiley.
After a bit of pushing, Kamilla Cardoso decked Johnson, sparking a melee.
Johnson’s brother subsequently ran onto the court from the stands before being handcuffed and removed from the court.
While South Carolina coach Dawn Staley apologized for the brawl, Mulkey took a shot at Cardoso, who is listed at 6-foot-7, for going after the 5-foot-10 Johnson instead of the 6-foot-3 Angel Reese.
“It’s ugly, it’s not good, no one wants to be a part of that,” Mulkey said. “But I’ll tell you this, I wish [Cardoso] would’ve pushed Angel Reese. If you’re 6-8, don’t push somebody that little. That was uncalled for in my opinion. Let those two girls who were jawing, let them go at it.”