The Louisiana State University traveled to Baltimore to defeat HBCU Coppin State University in an 80-48 lopsided victory. Although the game did not go in favor of Coppin State, LSU coach Kim Mulkey spoke about the impact of the game on Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
After the reigning national champions won their 12th straight game in front of Coppin’s first sold-out crowd of the season, Kim Mulkey acknowledged that was mostly due to the homecoming of Angel Reese. The crowd may have shown up to see Reese, but the bigger picture is how this game could lead to more support for HBCU women’s basketball.
“I would probably say the majority of people out there came to see Angel Reese and LSU because a lot of them won’t ever come back probably, unless their child or relative is playing. Maybe tonight they gain some fans and they’ll come back and go ‘Wow, that was a lot of fun.’ Maybe there’s some little girl out there that lives around here and Coppin State is where she’ll go to school and play ball someday,” Mulkey said.
This was the first time that a reigning national champion had played a true road game at an HBCU in over ten years. 4,100 packed into the Physical Education Complex to see the rare matchup. Coppin State saw 3,552 in attendance during their last home game against the University of North Florida. Outside of their past two home games, Coppin State has not had over 600 people in attendance. The sold-out crowd gave exposure to Coppin State and possibly showed fans a team that they could support that’s in their backyard.
Angel Reese scored 26 points while Flau’jae Johnson scored 18 points and Aneesah Morrow posted a double-double of 13 points and 13 rebounds. Coppin State’s Tiffany Hammond showed up and made seven three-pointers to score 21 points. Now that many people have seen Hammond’s performance against the seventh nationally ranked team in the country, they could return to more Coppin State games this season.
Kim Mulkey is no stranger to playing and supporting HBCUs. LSU has played games with Texas Southern, Alcorn State, Mississippi Valley State, and Langston University. Coppin State was her first game against a MEAC opponent.
“You gotta remember, where I’m from, it’s SWAC. So when I decided that we were going to play this game, I quickly started asking my coaches ‘Who’s in this league?’ And while I’ve heard of everybody in this league, we don’t hear a lot from this league because you got all the SWAC schools, I mean you got Southern right there in Baton Rouge. They did it up right tonight. Everything was just wonderful.”
Mulkey has not faced Southern while she has been at LSU. She explained an idea that she’d had if she had the opportunity to schedule a game versus Southern.
The idea is a creative way to support an HBCU by contributing to their NIL, which is essential in recruiting athletes in today’s college sports.
More opportunities to support will go a long way to support HBCU women’s basketball. Mulkey is not the first or last coach of a top-ranked program to play HBCUs, but attracting a packed crowd to an HBCU only does positive things.
“I knew it would be a great crowd because I was told that it was sold out and it’s good for women’s basketball.”