The defending national champion LSU Tigers will begin their 2023-24 season in Las Vegas against Colorado on November 6 in the Hall of Fame Series at a part of a quadruple-header in T-Mobile Arena.
Along with LSU’s matchup against Colorado, the series will feature two men’s games between Georgia and Oregon along with USC and Kansas State. There will be one other women's game too between USC and Ohio State.
Tickets for the event are scheduled to go on sale in July. On-sale date, game times, fan experience information, and television broadcast details will be released at a later date.
LSU will enter the season with multiple players returning from the program’s first ever national championship team along with a talented list of newcomers that include the nation’s No. 1 rated recruiting class and the top two players from this year’s transfer portal.
Forward Angel Reese headlines LSU’s returners as the defending Most Outstanding Player from the Final Four. She set the NCAA record with 34 double-doubles throughout the season as a dominant scorer and rebounder. Reese led the SEC in both scoring (23.0 ppg) and rebounding (15.4 rpg).
Guard Flau’jae Johnson is another returning starter for the Tigers who earned SEC Freshman of the Year. In her first year of college basketball, Johnson averaged 11.0 points per game and 5.9 rebounds per game. Guard Kateri Poole started in LSU’s final five games throughout the championship run, bringing a defensive physicality to the court while having a knack to knock down big shots for the Tigers.
LSU will also bring back contributors like forward Sa’Myah Smith who was named to the SEC All-Freshman and guard Last-Tear Poa. Both Smith and Sa’Myah played critical and productive minutes off the bench in the national championship win over Iowa.
The Tigers top-rated incoming freshmen class is headlined by guard Mikaylah Williams who was named the 2023 Morgan Wooten National Player of the Year as the top high school player. Forward Aalyah Del Rosario, the nation’s No. 7 rated player, played in the McDonald’s All-American game with Williams and the Tigers also bring in freshmen guard Angelica Velez who was named Tennessee’s Division II-A Miss Basketball and guard Janae Kent.
LSU was active in the transfer portal, adding guard Hailey Van Lith and forward Anneesah Morrow who were ranked No. 1 and 2, respectively, in ESPN’s transfer portal rankings. Van Lith averaged 19.7 points, 4.5 assists and 3.2 rebounds last season, earning AP All-America honorable mention honors while leading Louisville to the Elite Eight. Van Lith and Iowa’s Caitlin Clark are the only two players in the country who averaged at least 19 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists throughout the year. Morrow was a lethal scorer (24.7 ppg) and rebounder (12.2 rpg) at DePaul. Her and Reese were the only two players in the country to rank inside the top 10 in the nation in both scoring and rebounding.
Colorado reached the Sweet 16 last season before eventually falling to Iowa. The Buffaloes will bring back much of that team with four players with over 30 starts last season returning to Boulder. Quay Miller and Jaylyn Sherrod both earned All-Pac 12 honors with Sherrod also earned a spot on the All-Defensive team while Frida Formann and Aaronette Vonleh both earned All-Pac 12 honorable mention honors. Colorado averaged 69.2 points per game last season while holding opponents to 59.3 points per game.
This will mark the fifth time LSU and Colorado meet up in women’s basketball, splitting the first four meetings. LSU won the most recent matchup in 2004.
