LSU women’s basketball star Flau’jae Johnson defended her ex-teammate, Hailey Van Lith, over criticism the former Tiger faced after not containing Caitlin Clark during the NCAA Tournament’s high-profile Elite Eight matchup.
Van Lith drew the tough defensive assignment against Clark during the postseason matchup. Clark’s offensive prowess was well known, and her form did not dip against LSU.
Clark scored 41 to help Iowa advance past LSU, in what ended up being Van Lith’s last game at the school. Van Lith was so lost on how to stop the eventual No 1 pick in the WNBA Draft at one point, cameras caught an obvious shrug.
Van Lith officially announced her transfer to TCU after her one season in Baton Rouge over the weekend, her third school after beginning her career at Louisville.
Johnson’s defense of the-now Horned Frog happed on ‘The Baller Alert Show’.
Johnson defended Van Lith, knowing how hard it is to contain the top pick in the WNBA Draft
Van Lith quickly announced her intentions to transfer away from LSU after the loss to Iowa
‘She transferred out because she got them buckets put on her,’ one of the show’s hosts said.
‘She needed some braces on her feet. My eyes work!’ the other podcast host said to Johnson.
‘My eyes work, but do your legs work?’ Johnson retorted. ‘Because you could not guard that girl for 40 minutes.’
‘I don’t think I probably could have lasted three minutes trying to guard that girl. I just didn’t understand when was coach (Kim Mulkey) going to say “Hey man, we gotta draw something else up!”‘
Clark scored 41 points against LSU with Van Lith drawing the primary defensive assignment
Clark led the NCAA last season with 31.6 points per game and scored 24 or more points in every game this season but two, where she only put up 21 points.
Clark’s 41 was her most in the NCAA Tournament and fourth-most during the entire season.
Johnson also revealed it was Van Lith who stepped up to the challenge of guarding Clark when Mulkey put together the scouting report.
It proved much more difficult to contain Clark than either Van Lith or Mulkey thought, leading to the end of LSU’s season.
