LSU Coach Explains Why Team Was Not on Court During National Anthem, but Many Have Questions

My colleague Jerry Wilson wrote about the LSU-Iowa game last night and the greatness of Caitlin Clark. She truly put on a show and Jerry did a great take on the game.

But there was another issue that went viral across social media that Jerry mentioned and that was the fact that while Iowa was out on the court holding hands for the National Anthem, LSU wasn't there, they walked off before it was played. Many on X were disturbed the team wasn't on the court.

Iowa players holding hands during the American National Anthem. LSU players left the court before the anthem was performed. pic.twitter.com/GhCLHUXiBX
— Dan Zaksheske (@RealDanZak) April 1, 2024

Then, as Jerry detailed, LSU lost the game, 94-87.

LSU head coach Kim Mulkey claimed that not being out on the court for the Anthem wasn't intentional.

Kim Mulkey said her team didn't intentionally leave the floor prior to the playing of the United States National Anthem.

"Honestly, I don't even know when the anthem was played. We kind of have a routine [for leaving the court at a certain time]." pic.twitter.com/JclJExC1Ym
— Dan Zaksheske (@RealDanZak) April 2, 2024

“Honestly, I don’t even know when the anthem was played,” Mulkey said. “We kind of have a routine when they’re on the floor and they come off at the 12-minute mark. We just, I don’t know, we come in and we do our pregame stuff. I’m sorry, listen, that’s nothing intentionally done.”

A local sports reporter Chessa Bouche said the team is never on the court for the anthem.

LSU is never on the court for the National Anthem https://t.co/tfsDAgdOjn
— Chessa Bouche (@chessabouche) April 1, 2024

The team also did this last year during their national championship game against Iowa. Some on X said that there were other teams that did this as well.

Many on X weren't buying that explanation from Mulkey. Virtually all the responses to the post of her remark were critical of what she said. They thought that she sounded kind of like a politician with that response.

Many had questions. Who doesn't know that they're going to play the anthem? And perhaps saying they don't know when it's played isn't the flex that Mulkey thinks it is. Why have they structured their "routine" this way when they know that the Anthem is part of the game? I think the Anthem as part of the games proceeded any "routine" they may have come up with. Her response makes it sound like they can't be bothered. Many thought that wasn't a great look.

In the meantime this sort of encapsulated the response: