BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — LSU's Flau'Jae Johnson and Aneesah Morrow giggled at the buzzing noise coming from their bulky, black compression shoes as they sat down to answer questions about their health heading into the Tigers' opening game in the women's NCAA Tournament.
Earlier this week, LSU coach Kim Mulkey said her two star players would be “good to go” when March Madness began. Morrow and Johnson echoed that assessment on Friday.
Any lingering uncertainty about their conditioning or rustiness will be answered more definitively on Saturday night, when LSU (28-5), the No. 3 seed in the Spokane 1 region, hosts 14th seed an Diego State (25-9).
“If you get on that court ... you’re not hurt. You know what I’m saying?” Johnson said. “You get on that court and tell coach you’re good to go, then there’s no excuse. You’ve got to be good to go.”
The LSU-SDSU clash is the late game in Baton Rouge, where first-round action begins with No. 6 seed Florida State (23-8) facing 11th seed George Mason (27-5).
Johnson's and Morrow's compression shoes represented an upgrade from the walking boots they wore during an NCAA Tournament selection show watch party last Sunday night.
“I would say honestly a lot of people see me in a boot, and I go out and I get a double-double,” Morrow said, evoking laughter from her teammates. “We know how much time we spend getting treatment. ... So, I guess it will just show on the floor.”
Johnson, who has averaged 18.9 points per game this season (and who frequently appears in television commercials during March Madness), missed the Southeastern Conference tournament with a right shin injury.
Morrow, who averaged 18.5 points and 13.6 rebounds — and led the nation with 27 double-doubles this season — left LSU's SEC tournament semifinal loss to Texas on March 9 with an injured left foot.
Mulkey said both probably could have played through pain, but she didn't see the point when LSU's position as a top-four regional seed was virtually assured.
“You have to evaluate as a coach: Can they injure themselves if they continue to play hurt, and then we not have them for the most important part of our season?” Mulkey said.
During a portion of practice open to media Friday, Johnson received the ball while running across the top of the key in five-on-five drills, cut sharply down the lane, soared toward the hoop and sank a floating scoop shot off the glass.
Morrow posted up forcefully at times and also set sturdy screens before rolling toward the basket, receiving a pass and finishing with a layup.
“Both of them have had some days to rehab and start feeling better,” Mulkey added. “So, it doesn’t seem to be limitations on how long they can play or anything like that.”
San Diego State coach Stacie Terry-Hutson said the Aztecs, who have won eight straight, are preparing for LSU “to be full strength, but they’re pretty deep, too.”
“We haven’t trained or scouted any differently,” added Terry-Hutson, who was an assistant at LSU under then-coach Nikki Fargas in 2012, when San Diego State last played in the NCAA Tournament — losing to the Tigers in Baton Rouge.
“If we can stay connected in that environment, no matter who is on the floor, I think we give ourselves a good chance,” she said.
Florida State features the nation's top-scoring offense, and top-scoring player in guard Ta'Niya Latson.
The Seminoles have averaged 87.2 point per game, led by Latson's 24.9.
“We play fast and we play hard and we attack," Latson said. "I feel like that plays hand in hand to how I play.
“We all have the green light to be ourselves,” she added. “That’s what makes our team so special.”
George Mason is making its first appearance in a women's NCAA Tournament, qualifying by virtue of its Atlantic 10 Conference tournament title.
The Seminoles, by contrast, are in their 23rd NCAA Tournament — including their 12th straight and 19th in the past 20.
There also is a considerable gap in March Madness exposure between host LSU and San Diego State.
The Tigers are in their 30th tournament and have five players on the roster who were on LSU's 2023 national title team. The Aztecs have been to 10 NCAA Tournaments, but none since 2012.
Unlike her program, George Mason coach Vanessa Blair-Lewis does have some March Madness experience, having coached Bethune-Cookman to its first NCAA Tournament in 2019.
She recalled her incredulous response when reporters asked her then how her team could beat Notre Dame.
“I calmly said, ‘Let’s stop asking that question. They have 10 McDonald’s All-Americans.’ ... We had 10 kids that liked to eat at McDonald’s,” she said.
The Fighting Irish won, 92-50. Blair-Lewis expects her current squad to be more competitive.
“The team we brought here is a team that, yeah, they might like to eat at McDonald’s, but they like to play basketball, too,” she said. “And they believe big enough that they can be on this stage and they can win.”
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San Diego State players celebrate after defeating Wyoming in an NCAA college basketball championship game at the Mountain West Conference tournament Wednesday, March 12, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
U.S. forces have boarded another oil tanker in the Caribbean Sea. The announcement was made Friday by the U.S. military. The Trump administration has been targeting sanctioned tankers traveling to and from Venezuela.
The pre-dawn action was carried out by U.S. Marines and Navy, taking part in the monthslong buildup of forces in the Caribbean, according to U.S. Southern Command, which declared “there is no safe haven for criminals” as it announced the seizure of the vessel called the Olina.
Navy officials couldn’t immediately provide details about whether the Coast Guard was part of the force that took control of the vessel as has been the case in the previous seizures. A spokesperson for the U.S. Coast Guard said there was no immediate comment on the seizure.
The Olina is the fifth tanker that has been seized by U.S. forces as part of a broader effort by Trump’s administration to control the distribution of Venezuela’s oil products globally following the U.S. ouster of President Nicolás Maduro in a surprise nighttime raid.
The latest:
Richard Grenell, president of the Kennedy Center, says a documentary film about first lady Melania Trump will make its premiere later this month, posting a trailer on X.
As the Trumps prepared to return to the White House last year, Amazon Prime Video announced a year ago that it had obtained exclusive licensing rights for a streaming and theatrical release directed by Brett Ratner.
Melania Trump also released a self-titled memoir in late 2024.
Some artists have canceled scheduled Kennedy Center performances after a newly installed board voted to add President Donald Trump’s to the facility, prompting Grenell to accuse the performers of making their decisions because of politics.
Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum says that she has asked her foreign affairs secretary to reach out directly to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio or Trump regarding comments by the American leader that the U.S. cold begin ground attacks against drug cartels.
In a wide-ranging interview with Fox News aired Thursday night, Trump said, “We’ve knocked out 97% of the drugs coming in by water and we are going to start now hitting land, with regard to the cartels. The cartels are running Mexico. It’s very sad to watch.”
As she has on previous occasions, Sheinbaum downplayed the remarks, saying “it is part of his way of communicating.” She said she asked her Foreign Affairs Secretary Juan Ramón de la Fuente to strengthen coordination with the U.S.
Sheinbaum has repeatedly rebuffed Trump’s offer to send U.S. troops after Mexican drug cartels. She emphasizes that there will be no violation of Mexico’s sovereignty, but the two governments will continue to collaborate closely.
Analysts do not see a U.S. incursion in Mexico as a real possibility, in part because Sheinbaum’s administration has been doing nearly everything Trump has asked and Mexico is a critical trade partner.
Trump says he wants to secure $100 billion to remake Venezuela’s oil infrastructure, a lofty goal going into a 2:30 meeting on Friday with executives from leading oil companies. His plan rides on oil producers being comfortable in making commitments in a country plagued by instability, inflation and uncertainty.
The president has said that the U.S. will control distribution worldwide of Venezuela’s oil and will share some of the proceeds with the country’s population from accounts that it controls.
“At least 100 Billion Dollars will be invested by BIG OIL, all of whom I will be meeting with today at The White House,” Trump said Friday in a pre-dawn social media post.
Trump is banking on the idea that he can tap more of Venezuela’s petroleum reserves to keep oil prices and gasoline costs low.
At a time when many Americans are concerned about affordability, the incursion in Venezuela melds Trump’s assertive use of presidential powers with an optical spectacle meant to convince Americans that he can bring down energy prices.
Trump is expected to meet with oil executives at the White House on Friday.
He hopes to secure $100 billion in investments to revive Venezuela’s oil industry. The goal rides on the executives’ comfort with investing in a country facing instability and inflation.
Since a U.S. military raid captured former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro on Saturday, Trump has said there’s a new opportunity to use the country’s oil to keep gasoline prices low.
The full list of executives invited to the meeting has not been disclosed, but Chevron, ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips are expected to attend.
Attorneys general in five Democratic-led states have filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump’s administration after it said it would freeze money for several public benefit programs.
The Trump administration has cited concerns about fraud in the programs designed to help low-income families and their children. California, Colorado, Minnesota, Illinois and New York states filed the lawsuit Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
The lawsuit asks the courts to order the administration to release the funds. The attorneys general have called the funding freeze an unconstitutional abuse of power.
Iran’s judiciary chief has vowed decisive punishment for protesters, signaling a coming crackdown against demonstrations.
Iranian state television reported the comments from Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei on Friday. They came after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei criticized Trump’s support for the protesters, calling Trump’s hands “stained with the blood of Iranians.”
The government has shut down the internet and is blocking international calls. State media has labeled the demonstrators as “terrorists.”
The protests began over Iran’s struggling economy and have become a significant challenge to the government. Violence has killed at least 50 people, and more than 2,270 have been detained.
Trump questions why a president’s party often loses in midterm elections and suggests voters “want, maybe a check or something”
Trump suggested voters want to check a president’s power and that’s why they often deliver wins for an opposing party in midterm elections, which he’s facing this year.
“There’s something down, deep psychologically with the voters that they want, maybe a check or something. I don’t know what it is, exactly,” he said.
He said that one would expect that after winning an election and having “a great, successful presidency, it would be an automatic win, but it’s never been a win.”
Hiring likely remained subdued last month as many companies have sought to avoid expanding their workforces, though the job gains may be enough to bring down the unemployment rate.
December’s jobs report, to be released Friday, is likely to show that employers added a modest 55,000 jobs, economists forecast. That figure would be below November’s 64,000 but an improvement after the economy lost jobs in October. The unemployment rate is expected to slip to 4.5%, according to data provider FactSet, from a four-year high of 4.6% in November.
The figures will be closely watched on Wall Street and in Washington because they will be the first clean readings on the labor market in three months. The government didn’t issue a report in October because of the six-week government shutdown, and November’s data was distorted by the closure, which lasted until Nov. 12.
FILE - President Donald Trump dances as he walks off stage after speaking to House Republican lawmakers during their annual policy retreat, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
