LSU women’s basketball coach Kim Mulkey says playing HBCUs isn’t just a scheduling option — it’s a way to give back to programs with fewer resources while encouraging growth in women’s basketball.
asked about its importance After the Tigers played at Alabama on Sunday against their HBCU rivals, Mulkey explained that scheduling goes beyond filling open dates. This, he said, is an opportunity to “help programs by providing guaranteed money, which is important in this day and age, especially with NIL.”
In addition to Alabama State, LSU played Langston, Alcorn State and Morgan State.
“There’s a lot that comes into play when you’re planning,” Mulkey said. “As I get older and look at programs that we don’t have at LSU, why can’t we help others?”
Mulkey, who has led the defending national champion Tigers to national prominence since arriving in Baton Rouge in 2021, has long indicated his intention to schedule matchups with HBCU programs.
During his previous tenure at Baylor, he laughed, his team faced so many Southwestern Athletic Conference opponents that “they said we were the SWAC champions because we played and beat almost everybody.”
Louisiana schools have long been part of Mulkey’s planning orbit. He joked that he hasn’t faced South during his tenure at LSU, but added, “They’re pretty good. We’d better not play them.”
For Mulkey, these games serve a dual purpose—providing financial support and visibility to HBCU programs that benefit from guarantee games while also offering competitive opportunities for his team.
“We’re going to play teams that want to play us, that want guaranteed money,” he said. “That’s the name of the game now.”
