Duke Eliminates LSU in Sweet 16
· Yahoo Sports
A potential comeback for the ages and a fourth straight Elite 8 appearance was 2.6 seconds away for LSU (29-6) but instead a buzzer beater from Ashlon Jackson rolled around the rim and in to knock the Tigers out.
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Duke (27-8) got its revenge against LSU last night in Sacramento, eliminating the Tigers 87-85. The Blue Devils advance to take on UCLA, the region’s No. 1 seed Sunday afternoon (2:00 P.M., ABC).
LSU entered the fourth quarter trailing 67-65, but a disastrous start to the frame almost doomed the Tigers. Duke went on an 11-0 run to open the fourth, and led by as many as nine with 3:35 left to play. LSU, however, rallied, went on a late 10-0 run and Mikaylah Williams knocked down a pair of free throws that gave LSU an 85-84 lead with nine seconds left to play.
Duke’s first attempt at a game-winning shot missed, but LSU couldn’t corral the rebound. LSU gave up a season-worst 20 offensive rebounds last night, and the 20th one ended up costing the Tigers their season.
DUKE BUZZER-BEATER VS. LSU TO ADVANCE TO THE ELITE EIGHT 🚨
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) March 28, 2026
WHAT AN ENDING 😱 pic.twitter.com/gvqYaJ8gIe
MiLaysia Fulwiley scored a career-best 28 points off the bench and was largely responsible for keeping LSU in the game in the first half. Fulwiley scored 18 of LSU’s 40 first half points. Mikaylah Williams was second to Fulwiley with 22 points, and a perfect 9-9 at the free throw line.
Playing in her last game as a Tiger, Flau’Jae Johnson scored 13 points and five rebounds. She was limited to just 29 minutes due to picking up four fouls and, unfortunately, bit on the pump fake by Jackson before the buzzer-beating shot went in.
And so closes the chapter on a good, but maybe not great, season of LSU women’s basketball. LSU is clearly one of the handful of elite programs in the country, but there are questions that will need to be answered before the ‘26-’27 season tips off in the fall.
Change is inevitable in college sports, especially this current era, but Flau’Jae has been the one constant of the Kim Mulkey era, and now LSU will have to find a replacement for her. Even the coaching staff will look different now that Gary Reedus, one of Mulkey’s top assistants, has accepted the head coaching job at Rutgers.
But there’s still a lot to like about where this LSU program is. Mikaylah Williams and MiLaysia Fulwiley will be seniors, and Jada Richard will be in her third year with the program; it also looks like LSU hit on this star-studded freshman class and, assuming you hold on to them all, players like Bella Hines, Grace Knox, ZaKiyah Johnson, and Divine Bourrage out to be the nucleus of the next iteration of LSU women’s basketball. And of course LSU still has Mulkey at the helm, and she’s done since getting to LSU is win and win a lot.
If a buzzer-beater loss in the Sweet 16 is considered a down year, I’ll take that every time.