How LSU women's basketball collapsed vs. Tennessee Lady Vols' zone in SEC Tournament loss

GREENVILLE, S.C. – All LSU women's basketball didn't have while Tennessee made its methodical climb back into the game began to pile up as Kim Mulkey explained it.

"No one flashed. No one moved. No one screened the zone. We had no dribble penetration to make to take you," Mulkey said. "We had no ball reversal, nothing."

While the Tigers (28-2) meandered around the zone defense that apparently presented a physical and emotional wall in the SEC Tournament semifinal clash, the Lady Vols (23-10) picked up the pieces behind their defense that followed a forgetful first half.

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All LSU and Mulkey could do was watch as Tennessee completed the comeback, 69-67, erasing a 17-point, early-second quarter deficit to pull out its first win over a top-10 opponent.

The Tigers were ousted from the conference tournament while the Lady Vols celebrated with the same TikTok dance that star Angel Reese deployed against them in the regular-season win in Baton Rouge.

"I was as disappointed in our defense as I was our inability to do what I wanted them to do against the zone. I just thought everything they did was in the paint," Mulkey said. "We attack zones every day in practice and it affected us. Their press did not affect us; their zone affected us.

"We will continue as we prepare for the playoffs to attack zones."

Senior point guard Alexis Morris helped fire the Tigers out the gate, snatching the ball away for four first-period steals and 11 points by halftime. She finished with 20 points, five assists and five steals.

But like the rest of the team, which caused 13 Tennessee turnovers in the first 20 minutes, her impact on the game faded after the break.

"We didn't execute. They zoned, shook us up for a little bit, but we didn't execute and we needed to execute and come together and, you know, be coachable," Morris said.

"We got some work to do. We got a lot of growing to do. We got a lot of young ones on our team, experience, toughness. We got a week to prepare for playoffs, and that's pretty much all we're focused on right now, is our next season."

Toughness will be high on the priority list for the Tigers as they now await Selection Sunday next weekend. LSU will undoubtedly be a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, so there shouldn't be any surprises.

For Mulkey, she'll want no part of any surprises from her team's performance as March Madness begins.

"Everything was toughness on the defensive end, and it starts with post play. I don't think anybody wanted any part of Rickea Jackson tonight," Mulkey said.

"It was toughness, and then we had a shot to win it. Came out of the timeout, drew up the play for Alexis Morris, didn't set screens. Just stood there. That's called no execution. So you just teach."

Cory Diaz covers the LSU Tigers and Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his Tigers and Cajuns coverage on Twitter: @ByCoryDiaz. Got questions regarding LSU/UL athletics? Send them to Cory Diaz at bdiaz@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: How LSU women's basketball faltered vs. Tennessee in SEC Tournament