Head coach Kim Mulkey and the LSU Tigers saw their 2025-26 season end in heartbreak fashion in the Sweet 16 against the Duke Blue Devils, with Duke senior Ashlon Jackson ending the game on a buzzer-beater go-ahead shot.
“Never had a game-winner. Plenty of buzzer-beaters before,” Jackson said after the game, per The Spun. “The way it went in, I felt like I was in a dream, and it was playing back over and over again before the ball went in.”
The Blue Devils will face the one-seeded UCLA Bruins in the Elite 8 while LSU and Mulkey mull their next steps.
One thing is for certain: Mulkey isn’t going anywhere and is committed to getting LSU back to title contention.
“I’m not retiring. Do I look that bad?” Mulkey said after the tough loss. “I don’t know where that came from. I’m only 63. And I’m healthy, with a few stents in my heart. Doctor says I’m good to go … As we get older, as coaches, they want to say, ‘How much longer is she going to be in the game?’
“I’m going to be in this game unless LSU fires me, OK, until I can’t put a product on that floor that’s competitive, or my health fails me.”
As long as Mulkey, who has made 23 consecutive NCAA tournaments, is on the sidelines, it’ll be impossible to write off the Tigers.
About Qwame Skinner
Qwame Skinner has loved both writing and sports his entire life. In addition to his sports coverage at Comeback Media, Qwame writes novels, and his debut; The First Casualty, an adult fantasy, is out now.