LSU women's basketball coach Kim Mulkey on playing No. 1 South Carolina, Dawn Staley
BATON ROUGE – Much was made about comments South Carolina women's basketball coach Dawn Staley made last season following the Gamecocks' 66-60 win over LSU.
Staley's answer to a question about how Kim Mulkey had improved the Tigers in her first season seemed to spark a growing rivalry between the two coaches and possibly their programs.
Mulkey has done her best to shoot down any notion of such.
"I don't view it as a rivalry in any way," Mulkey told reporters Thursday. "No one is on their level. They're that good. We're just another SEC school that's trying to do what they have done.
"No, the comments that (Staley) made, you'd have to ask her exactly what she meant. I didn't take offense to any of that."
No. 2 LSU (23-0, 11-0 SEC) plays No. 1 South Carolina (23-0, 10-0) at Colonial Life Arena on Sunday (1 p.m. CT).
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Dawn Staley on former LSU coach Nikki Fargas
LSU has lost 13 straight to South Carolina, dating back to 2012. But last season, the Gamecocks had to work to get that 13th straight victory in the series, edging the Tigers on their home court.
Winning 26 games last season, LSU's most in 14 seasons, signs already pointed to the team's resurgence.
Asked about the quick improvements LSU had made under Mulkey up to that point, Staley said that if former coach Nikki Fargas had "got the support that Kim is getting, the energy in this building it's going to rise the level of play. If Nikki got a chance to do that, maybe she'd still be sitting here."
Kim Mulkey has only 'respect' for Dawn Staley, South Carolina
The magnitude of the matchup has enough motivation. Add two dynamic coaches and two undefeated programs and the No. 1 ranking at stake and it just raises the bar even more.
"This is my opinion only, but I think what was asked for an innocent question just to get her to say, yeah LSU is really doing a good job," Mulkey told Baton Rouge-based radio talk show Off the Bench. "And she didn't answer it the way most people thought she should have. I thought she defended her friend, the former coach, Nikki. There just became underlying tones.
"I have absolutely zero conflict with Dawn Staley. We have no beef at all, we played against each other when I was at Baylor. It's not anything like that. What I have for her is respect. Very similar to my background, both Olympians. We both have a lot of history in women's college basketball."
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: Kim Mulkey: LSU women's basketball coach on South Carolina, Dawn Staley
