LSU-Vanderbilt: Aneesah Morrow approaches a few milestones | LSU

It also consumed Morrow to reach a few important milestones soon.

The LSU senior needs just 12 more rebounds to become the eighth NCAA Division I player to join the 2,500-point, 1,500-rebound club, and she needs just three more double-doubles to move into second all-time -time double- double leaderboard.

Morrow could hit the first of those marks as soon as Monday, when No. 5 Tigers (18-0) host Vanderbilt at 18 on the SEC Network.

“Six-foot kid battling in there,” coach Kim Mulkey said, “guarding bigger, stronger, taller players. From the start, she just does what she does.”

On Thursday, LSU opted to battle Tennessee’s pace-and-space offense with a smaller lineup. That group — which stationed Morrow along with guards Shayeann Day-Wilson, Kailyn Gilbert, Flau’jae Johnson and Mikaylah Williams — outscored Tennessee by 13 points in the 19 minutes it saw the floor. No other combination of Tigers played more than five minutes or surpassed the No. 15 Lady Vols by more than four points.

Morrow’s work on the glass helped LSU gain some key advantages over Tennessee.

Her 13 defensive rebounds fueled the Tigers’ transition offense, which outscored the Lady Vols 24-15 in fast break points, and her eight offensive rebounds helped LSU control the paint. By the end of the night, it had outscored Tennessee 24-14 in second-chance points and 60-30 in paint points — two areas of offense that allowed it to negate the 30-point edge the Lady Vols earned after the 3. -point arc.

Against Tennessee, Morrow finished with at least 20 points and 20 rebounds for the second time this season and fourth time in his career. No other Division I player has posted more than one such outing this season, and no other active player has had more than two such accomplishments in his career.

Morrow has never converted her field goals at a higher percentage (54%) or grabbed more rebounds per game (14.4) than she has through the first 18 games this season.

If she maintains that rebounding average and if LSU makes two postseason games, she will finish her four-year career with more than 1,700 career rebounds — tied for fourth most in Division I history. Only two NCAA Division I players — Oklahoma’s Courtney Paris and Drake’s Wanda Ford — have finished their careers with more than 2,500 points and 1,700 rebounds. Morrow could be the third.

“Her work ethic is second to none in practice,” Mulkey said, “and that’s what you see in the game. She just has a motor and it never stops.”

LSU is also approaching the program record for consecutive wins to start a season. Just five more wins are needed to match the streak the 2022-2023 team set after winning the first 23 games of its national championship-winning season.

Those Tigers can start by beating Vanderbilt (14-3), which defeated Georgia but dropped games against No. 12, Kentucky and Ole Miss to begin its Southeastern Conference schedule.