LSU will be without senior point guard Last-Tear Poa for Monday’s season opener against Eastern Kentucky, head coach Kim Mulkey has confirmed.

Poa didn’t feature in either of the Tigers’ preseason games against Xavier and LSU-Alexandria, which saw No. 7 LSU win by 80 and 61 points respectively. Mulkey is yet to disclose why Poa is missing, but did say after the first preseason game that she has to “take care of some business off the floor.”

It means that Mulkey and the Tigers will head into the season opener without their most experienced point guard, who averaged 4.9 points last season. However, despite her offensive presence, it’s on the defensive side of the ball where Poa has become crucial for LSU.

It has been confirmed that Poa’s absence is not down to an ongoing lawsuit after team officials of the Tigers spoke to The Daily Advertiser. Poa has filed a lawsuit against U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) after her P-1A Athlete visa application was denied.

Poa is originally from Melbourne, Australia, and was granted legal residency in the United States on an F-1 student visa back in 2021. However, this visa does complicate things when it comes to benefitting from NIL deals as it restricts engaging in non-work-study employment.

The visa that Poa applied for is meant for internationally recognized athletes, and to gain approval applicants must demonstrate that they are coming to the U.S. to compete at a major level. Poa believes that she qualifies due to being a major player for LSU, and also boasts 160,000 followers on Instagram.

Mulkey told reporters that she was not aware Poa had filed a lawsuit, raising questions as to why she hasn’t participated in preseason exhibitions. A similar situation occurred at the start of last season when Angel Reese missed several games without any explanation.

Angel Reese needed time off the court in her final year with LSU to focus on her mental health.

Angel Reese needed time off the court in her final year with LSU to focus on her mental health. ( 

Image:

Eakin Howard/Getty Images)

It’s since been revealed that Reese needed some time out to focus on her mental health after she addressed the incident for the first time on her ‘Unapologetically Angel‘ podcast. LSU went from winning the national championship in 2022 to losing against lower-ranked Colorado in the first game of the following season, and Reese faced criticism.

Reese didn’t play in the second half of the following game against Kent State after clashing with Mulkey and then took some time away from the court. “I didn’t feel like I was in a good mental space for my own team, for myself, and just being able to give my best self,” Reese said.

“And I took time off … and it wasn’t because of everything else, it was me and Coach Mulkey being able to have that kind of relationship. That was probably the hardest time of my life, because I never took a break from basketball, and I didn’t realize mental health was, like, important, like, and I didn’t really realize that. When I came back, it was just, I felt like myself again.”