No. 5 LSU hosts Stanford Thursday for the SEC/ACC Challenge – LSU

BATON ROUGE – No. 5 LSU (9-0) plays its first nationally televised game of the season Thursday on ESPN2 when the Tigers host Stanford (7-1) in the PMAC at 8pm CT for the SEC/ACC Challenge.

“What a tradition and what a program they (Stanford) have,” coach Kim Mulkey said. “It will be exciting. It will be a good match.”

Eric Frede and Christy Thomaskutty will call the action on ESPN2. Fans can also tune in to Patrick Wright and Shaeeta Williams on the LSU Sports Radio Network.

The first 400 students in attendance will receive LSU Women’s Basketball Showtime hats. 6,000 rally towels will also be given away. In addition, LSU will host a toy drive – there will be a truck where fans can drop off new and unopened toys at the South pad outside the PMAC

Thursday marks just the third time LSU and Stanford have met in women’s basketball and the Cardinals’ first trip to the PMAC. The last time the two teams played, LSU won in the Elite Eight to make their third appearance in the Final Four. Then LSU junior Seimone Augustus, now in his first season as an assistant coach at LSU, made a shot with 4.8 seconds left to seal the 62-59 victory in San Antonio.

LSU enters the game looking to improve to 10-0 for the second time in three seasons. The Tigers earned their first ranked win of the season last week over No. 20 NC State and then recorded the second-most points in program history with 131 against NC Central. Aneesah Morrow leads the country in double-doubles (8) and rebounding (13.0 rpg). The tigers. She was named the USBWA Starting Five of the Week and the SEC Co-Player of the Week on Tuesday.

The Tigers are currently in the top-10 nationally in scoring (No. 3 – 93.9 ppg), free throws made (No. 6 – 18.1 per game), field goal percentage defense (No. 4 – .308) and rebounds (No. 2 – 51.9 rpg).

The Cardinal lead the nation in three-point shooting percentage, connecting on 44 percent of their attempts from beyond the arc, averaging 9.6 threes per game. Five Stanford players (with at least 10 three-point attempts) are shooting the three ball at 42 percent or higher with three players at or above 50 percent. Although Nunu Agara is shooting just 33.3 percent from three, she leads the Cardinal with 17.5 points per game. match. Elena Bosgana and Brooke Demetre also average in double figures. Stanford plays fundamentally sound basketball with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.42, which is 12th in the nation.

“You better stop the dribble drive and the kickout for the threes,” coach Mulkey said of Stanford. “I don’t think they’re as big in the paint as they’ve been in the past, but we’ve got our hands full with them.”

Stanford is in its first season without legendary head coach Tara VanDerveer, who retired at the end of last season. Kate Paye replaced her after 17 years on Tara VanDerveer’s staff, including eight as associate head coach. She played on Stanford’s 1992 national championship team and was the associate head coach for the 2021 national championship team.