LSU's Williams, Fulwiley earn preseason All-SEC honors; Tigers picked third

BATON ROUGE, La. — LSU will enter the 2026-27 women's basketball season with two preseason All-SEC selections and expectations of once again competing near the top of the Southeastern Conference.

Senior guard Mikaylah Williams was voted to the preseason All-SEC First Team on Monday, while fellow guard MiLaysia Fulwiley earned Second Team recognition in voting conducted by SEC and national media members.

The Tigers were picked to finish third in the conference behind preseason favorite South Carolina and second-place Texas. Vanderbilt and Kentucky completed the top five.

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The recognition comes as Kim Mulkey prepares for her sixth season at LSU with a significantly different roster featuring five returning players and six newcomers.

Williams enters her senior campaign following a junior season in which she averaged 14.2 points, 5.3 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.4 steals per game. She led LSU with 50 made three-pointers, 127 assists and 159 defensive rebounds while playing a team-high 999 minutes.

The former five-star recruit earned First Team All-SEC honors last season and received Associated Press All-America honorable mention recognition. She also surpassed 1,500 career points and 500 career rebounds during the season.

Fulwiley gives LSU another proven offensive weapon after leading the Tigers with 511 points and 190 made field goals during the 2025-26 campaign.

The 5-foot-10 guard captured SEC Sixth Woman of the Year honors for the second consecutive season, becoming just the third player in conference history to win the award in back-to-back years.

Fulwiley, who previously played at South Carolina, has averaged 12.6 points, 3.1 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.9 steals during her three-year college career. She scored a career-high 28 points against Duke in last season's Sweet 16, a game in which she also reached the 1,000-point career milestone.

Both Williams and Fulwiley helped LSU reach its fourth consecutive Sweet 16 last season.

Mulkey will also rely on a trio of returning sophomores from LSU's highly regarded 2025 recruiting class. ZaKiyah Johnson, an SEC All-Freshman selection, returns alongside Grace Knox and Meghan Yarnevich.

The Tigers added three transfers in Jada Williams from Iowa State, Laila Reynolds from Florida and Chloe Larry from Tennessee Tech.

Freshmen Lola Lampley, Noa Morro and Anna Minaeva complete LSU's 11-player roster.

LSU will get its first opportunity to showcase the new-look team later this month with a pair of home exhibitions. The Tigers face UNT Dallas on Oct. 22 and Loyola (New Orleans) on Oct. 29 before opening the regular season against Southeastern Louisiana on Nov. 2.

All three games are scheduled for 7 p.m. CT and will be available on SEC Network+.

2026-27 SEC PRESEASON MEDIA POLL

1. South Carolina

2. Texas

3. LSU

4. Vanderbilt

5. Kentucky

6. Oklahoma

7. Ole Miss

8. Tennessee

9. Mississippi State

10. Alabama

11. Texas A&M

12. Florida

13. Georgia

14. Missouri

15. Auburn

16. Arkansas

PRESEASON SEC PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Mikayla Blakes, Vanderbilt

PRESEASON ALL-SEC FIRST TEAM

• Madison Booker, Texas

• Mikayla Blakes, Vanderbilt

• Joyce Edwards, South Carolina

• Clara Strack, Kentucky

• Mikaylah Williams, LSU

PRESEASON ALL-SEC SECOND TEAM

• Aaliyah Chavez, Oklahoma

• Tessa Johnson, South Carolina

• MiLaysia Fulwiley, LSU

• Chloe Kitts, South Carolina

• Talaysia Cooper, Ole Miss