Keep your head on a swivel if you’re ever eating mozzarella sticks in the vicinity of Kim Mulkey.
“Are those media over there or are they just eating?” Mulkey questioned as she kicked off her portion of the postgame press conference following three-seeded LSU women’s basketball’s SEC Tournament semifinal loss to No. 2 Texas at the Wellness Arena in Greenville, S.C.
One of the media members in question was the Greenville News’ Lulu Kesin, who covers South Carolina football and women’s basketball.
Kesin was not interested in Mulkey’s press conference because the Gamecocks, the team she is there to cover, were not involved in the postgame presser.
“Sitting far away from the press conference, I was off to the side writing when Kim Mulkey saw me take a bite of my mozzarella stick,” Kesin posted on X.
Kesin also attached a photo showing just how far she was from the scrum of reporters there to question Mulkey, assistant coach Bob Starkey and player Mikaylah Williams.
Even so, Mulkey sniffed out the mozzarella sticks and made the comment singling out any reporter who may have been relaxing in the midst of the chaos that comes with covering a conference tournament.
Considering her smirk as she questioned Kesin, Mulkey very well could have just been making a lighthearted remark looking to get a few smiles out of everyone in the room after her team’s 56-49 loss.
But with Mulkey’s history with the media — she threatened to sue over a Washington Post profile on her last year — it’s also reasonable that Kesin felt the comment was a bit snarky and that it was obvious enough that her and the rest of the media in that area were just taking a break while they sat in the designated space to do so.
The loss marked the end of Mulkey and the Tigers’ SEC Tournament run while South Carolina took down the Longhorns in the championship game for the conference title.
Mulkey and LSU finished the season 28-5 with a 12-4 conference record and project to be in the three-seed range for the NCAA Tournament.
The bracket will be revealed on Sunday.
