No. 5 LSU hosts Vanderbilt for Monday Night SEC Hoops – LSU

On By Littum

BATON ROUGE – No. 5 LSU (18-0, 3-0 SEC) returns home to the PMAC Monday night to host Vanderbilt (14-3, 1-2 SEC) at 6pm CT on the SEC Network.

Courtney Lyle and Carolyn Peck will call the action on the SEC Network. Fans can also listen to Patrick Wright and Shaeeta Williams on the LSU Sports Radio Network. Monday night will be the final Beat the Buzzer promotion of the women’s basketball season, where fans can receive discounted concessions from doors opening one hour before tip to 10 minutes from tip time.

LSU remained undefeated Thursday night with a road win at No. 16 in Tennessee. Kailyn Gilbert, Flau’Jae Johnson and Aneesah Morrow all scored at least 20 points in the win. With the game tied at 87, Gilbert hit his second game-winner of the season with less than a second remaining. Johnson filled the statistics with 20 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and a block. Morrow continued his dominance with 23 points and 21 rebounds to become the first player this season to record multiple 20/20 games.

Morrow surpassed 2,500 career points in Thursday’s win when she recorded her 90thth career double-double, which ranks third in NCAA DI history. She is now just 12 rebounds shy of 1,500 in her career as she looks to become just the eighth player in DI history with 2,500 points and 1,500 rebounds; Courtney Paris (Oklahoma), Wanda Ford (Drake), Patricia Hoskins (MVSU), Chiney Ogwumike (Stanford), Cheryl Miller (USC), Cheryl Taylor (Tennessee Tech), Liz Kitley (Virginia Tech).

After starting the season 14-1, Vanderbilt has lost two straight games against Kentucky and Ole Miss. The Commodores have one of the nation’s top-10 in scoring at 87.3 points per game, but have mustered just 68.5 points over the past two games. In their SEC opener, the Commodores scored 108 points in a win over Georgia, their fifth 100-point game this season. Vanderbilt also ranks in the top-10 nationally with 17.2 offensive rebounds per game, just below LSU’s 17.3 offensive rebounds per game. Defensively, Vanderbilt ranks No. 14 in the SEC with a .405 field goal percentage defense.

Vanderbilt has a tandem that both rank in the top-20 nationally in scoring. Khamil Pierre’s 22.1 points per match ranks as no. 8 in the country, and Mikayla Blakes’ 20.5 points per match ranks as no. 17 at national level. Pierre’s 3.4 steals per game is ranked no. 8 in the country. She also grabs 10.4 rebounds per game and ranks no. 2 behind LSU’s Morrow with 11 double-doubles this year.

The Tigers have won eight straight games against the Commodores. Vanderbilt last beat LSU in 2017.