LSU women's basketball vs. Texas A&M: Score prediction, scouting report

For a few weeks, Kim Mulkey has stressed her team's importance of improving defensively as the slow grind of Southeastern Conference arrives.

No. 7 LSU women's basketball allowed 73 points at Ole Miss Sunday after Missouri, a team at the bottom of the league right now, scored 72 last Thursday.

"We're still giving up too many points," Mulkey said.

LSU (15-1, 2-0), riding a 15-game win streak, looks to see if it can turn a corner defensively Thursday night (7 p.m., SEC Network+) inside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center against Texas A&M.

The Aggies (13-2, 1-1) have struggled for much of the season to consistently score as they rank in the lower half of the SEC at 74 points per game. And they've performed well below average against two teams they should've outclassed in Georgia, who they lost to in the opener, and Auburn.

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It's taken LSU starters this long to find some chemistry due to a myriad of things during the first of the season. Star forward Angel Reese missed time and senior point guard Hailey Van Lith missed a few games due to injury.

Mulkey has had her full complement together the last three games and LSU is beginning to play the way it was assumed when it landed Van Lith and Aneesah Morrow out of the transfer portal.

Flau'jae Johnson is settling into the team's defensive stopper role and others' roles are becoming more defined. So LSU's defense is likely to improve as SEC play rolls on.

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It's only two games, but since the start of SEC play, the Tigers' entire starting line is averaging double figures, a feat no other team in the country is likely pulling off.

Reese leads the way at 21 points per game. The biggest surprise might be that Johnson has scored 40 points over the first two conference games for a 20-point average. Mulkey and LSU fans have a seen an uptick in her level of play since the calendar flipped to 2024.

Morrow, who's been the Tigers' best players of late, is putting 19 points while freshman sensation Mikaylah Williams is at 15.5 and Van Lith at 10.

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Texas A&M will bring a pretty sporty defense with it to Baton Rouge Thursday, but it'll have a hard time limiting all of LSU's weapons.

A look at Texas A&M

Speaking of that Aggie defense, only one team in the league has allowed fewer points this season than them and it's No. 1 South Carolina

Just two teams have scored more than 60 points on A&M this season and the most it's given up in a game was 72 to Purdue. Joni Taylor's defensive scheme isn't anything flashy, but historically her players play fundamentally sound defense and don't get lost in transition or on assignments.

Sophomore forward Janiah Barker has been the Aggies' best players since joining the team a couple of years ago. She leads the team offensively with 12.7 points per game. After her, the Aggies get the rest of their offense from first-year transfer players in Aicha Coulibaly (Auburn) with 11.7 points, Endiya Rogers (Oregon) with 11.1 points and Lauren Ware (Arizona) at 10.4.

LSU women's basketball vs. Texas A&M score prediction

LSU 88, Texas A&M 56: Aggies can't consistently score and they haven't faced a team with the offensive firepower as LSU.

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: LSU women's basketball v. Texas A&M: Score prediction, scouting report