MiLaysia Fulwiley factor adds intriguing layer to South Carolina-LSU showdown
South Carolina women’s basketball is headed to Baton Rouge this weekend for a road matchup with another Top 10 opponent.
Dawn Staley and the No. 3 Gamecocks will face off with Kim Mulkey and the No. 6 LSU Tigers in front of a sold-out crowd at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. The game is being televised nationally at 8:30 p.m. on ABC.
Although South Carolina has won its last 17-games against LSU, the two teams have developed a rivalry in recent years. Both programs are led by legends of the sport, are consistently batting for the top spot in the SEC and are generally perennial title contenders.
The rivalry matchup between South Carolina and LSU didn’t need any extra intrigue this season, but it got some when MiLaysia Fulwiley left the Gamecocks to go callin’ for Baton Rouge.
MiLaysia Fulwiley’s decision to leave South Carolina
Fulwiley had plenty of success in her two years at South Carolina. She won a national title her freshman year and earned All-SEC and SEC Sixth Woman of the Year honors last season.
But, Fulwiley was mainly a spark plug off the bench for the Gamecocks. She started in three of the 77 games she played in for South Carolina. Fulwiley was typically the first off the bench and averaged 18.9 minutes per game last season (ninth on the team). As her sophomore season began to wind down, talk in the basketball world ramped up about Fulwiley potentially wanting a bigger role.
“The way the chatter and the noise felt at the end of last year, it felt like that became such a major storyline — MiLaysia (and) her playing time — so it felt like you might be headed for a breakup,” ESPN’s Ryan Ruocco told The State.
Fulwiley ultimately announced April 17 that she planned to enter the transfer portal. Her own high school coach, Keenan’s Reggie McLain, was among those speculating about her future and told The State he wasn’t surprised Fulwiley left the Gamecocks.
“The body language late in the season, and some postgame comments” were all signs to McLain that Fulwiley “may not be fully, fully happy.”
Fulwiley hasn’t talked much publicly about her decision to leave South Carolina, but the consistent message was that she wanted a “change of scenery.” Fulwiley’s mother, Phellicia Mixon, did not respond to The State’s inquiry for the story.
“Most players at (South Carolina) go in knowing they’re not playing 35 minutes a night,” Roucco said. “They stay because they know they’re gonna have a chance to compete. They’re going to have a spotlight on them. They’re going to have a good chance to be drafted. ... So I guess that part of it would be surprising, but it just felt like enough momentum had built up last year that MiLaysia was going to want to change.”
The reaction to picking LSU
Star players entering the transfer portal has become commonplace in college athletics. You don’t have to look too far for examples in women’s basketball. Take Ta’Niya Latson, who led Florida State in scoring last year but now plays for South Carolina.
That being said, it’s still relatively uncommon for a homegrown star player like Fulwiley to opt to transfer.
“That one feels rare, for sure,” Ruocco said.
Both Ruocco and McLain said they weren’t surprised to see Fulwiley transfer. The shock came when she decided to commit to LSU, one of South Carolina’s top SEC rivals in recent years.
“I think where she went … right now (LSU) is probably South Carolina’s biggest rival, especially the last two years,” McLain said. “I think that was the biggest thing about it, the most shocking part.”
Fulwiley committed to LSU on April 25, a week after she left South Carolina. Mulkey later said it “didn’t take much” to convince Fulwiley to come to LSU. In fact, she committed to the Tigers program sight unseen.
“She just wanted to go somewhere where she would have an opportunity to learn the point guard position,” Mulkey said Sunday after LSU beat Auburn. “She liked our style of play, and I don’t think there was any animosity or hard feelings (toward South Carolina).”
LSU’s is one of the best teams in the SEC and a national title contender, so it makes some sense as to why Fulwiley would land there, Roucco said.
“Going to LSU, I guess that’s a little surprising,” Ruocco said. “Other than I can see her being the type of player that Kim Mulkey likes and would invite, and LSU being a competing program. I don’t think MiLaysia was gonna, after experiencing a national championship at South Carolina and multiple Final Fours, I don’t think she was going to be happy going to a program that wasn’t going to have a legit chance to compete.”
Is the grass really any greener at LSU?
When Fulwiley entered the portal, the thought was that she’d find a new team where she could play more minutes and have a bigger role.
So far that hasn’t really been the case at LSU.
Fulwiley has started one game this season for Mulkey and the Tigers. She is seeing the floor more for LSU, but the difference is marginal. Last year, Fulwiley had a career-high 33.5% usage percentage — an estimate of how active a player is involved with the ball while they are on the floor — but this year it’s a career-low 27.1%.
Fulwiley is averaging 21.5 minutes a game with LSU, up slightly from an average of 18.7 minutes during her two seasons at South Carolina.
Fulwiley has seen some slight increases in other places across the stat sheet. She’s averaging 13.4 points (up from 11.7), 3.5 rebounds (up from 2.8), 3.6 assists (up from 2) and 3.2 steals (up from 1.5). Her field goal percentage has increased to 47.9%, but her turnovers have increased.
“I think if you were to look at last year to this year, it’s not as if her role is that much different,” Ruocco said. “... It’s not like she went to LSU and Kim Mulkey said, ‘Hey, you’re our starting point guard and here are the keys to the car.’ It’s still very much a situation like she had in South Carolina, where it’s like, ‘You’re going to get an opportunity to contribute to winning. If you’re doing that, you’re going to stay on the floor. If not, you’re going to the bench. We also think you’re best used as someone coming off the bench to try and change the game.’”
Suiting up against her former team
Staley has coached against a few former Gamecocks who have transferred in recent years. Notable examples are Saniya Rivers, who left South Carolina after one season for N.C. State, or even Talaysia Cooper, a homegrown talent who left the Gamecocks for Tennessee and scored 17 points in the Lady Vols’ loss at South Carolina on Sunday.
Fulwiley, though, isn’t just another former player. Staley often touted her as a generational talent, and she was expected to be one of the next great Gamecocks.
This will be Fulwiley’s first matchup against the Gamecocks since leaving for LSU. Mulkey said she doesn’t feel Fulwiley has any extra pressure to perform against South Carolina.
“Internally, a competitor wants to do really good against their former team,” Mulkey said. “But I’ve never, in my talks with her, she’s never, ever said anything ugly about South Carolina. ... I don’t think there was any animosity or hard feelings. If there is, I don’t know about it. So Lay will be fine. Except she’s probably, internally, going to be a little bit excited, have butterflies.”
LSU announced the Top 10 matchup that will be televised nationally on ABC in prime time is already sold out. But eyes will be on Baton Rouge on Sunday.
Even former Gamecocks are ready to root on their former teammates.
“I went to a game in person to watch (Fulwiley) play at LSU and she looks really good out there,” former USC guard Te-Hina Paopao told The State. “She looks happy. I’m super proud of her. I know it was a big decision for her and her family. I think it’s just going to be a really fun 40 minute game.
“She’s gonna put on her show. South Carolina can put on a show. So it’s gonna be a really great game.”
— The State’s Lou Bezjak contributed to this story.
