The LSU women’s basketball team celebrated heartily when it upset No. 14 Iowa State last time out. But the Tigers have had to wait a few days to celebrate the program’s first ranking in two years.

That all ends Sunday when No. 24 LSU comes off exam break to play host to winless Texas Southern at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center at 1 p.m.

The Tigers have spent most of the week working on themselves, diving into the TSU scouting report on Friday. LSU has six remaining non-conference games before getting into conference play at No. 21 Georgia Jan. 2.

“It’s something we take pride in, but we’re not satisfied or content,” sophomore forward Hannah Gusters said. “We’re going to keep working to move even further up and improve ourselves. It’s pretty exciting to be in this moment.”

Said guard Ryan Payne: “We’ve been working a lot on us, with finals, staying level-headed and working on studies. Practice is practice and we’re going to get it in how we get it in. We’re all excited to get ready to play games.”

Coach Kim Mulkey said there wasn’t a lot of time spent celebrating the Associated Press poll ranking since it came out before practice last Monday. Additionally, LSU received five points in voting on the coaches poll which came out the following day.

“I said, ‘Pat each other on the back, do what you have to do, and now let’s go back to work,” Mulkey said. “I don’t think it’s been mentioned again.

“We’re going to acknowledge milestones, and they may seem trivial to a lot of people who are ranked all the time. But when you’re doing it for the first time with a new coach and new program, and you’re trying to regain that old energy that has been here before, it does matter.”

LSU plays three games in seven days with Alcorn State coming Wednesday and UNO on Saturday before stepping up in class to face Clemson and Texas Tech at the West Palm Beach Classic on Dec. 20-21. LSU gets another week off and then has Samford before the schedule gets real at Georgia.

“I tell them if what you did yesterday still looks big to you today, then you haven’t done much today,” Mulkey said. “You move on to the next deal, Texas Southern and then Alcorn State and then UNO. In between, you’re preparing for those games but also making yourself better, putting in little twists, things here and there you may need against Clemson or Texas Tech.”

Mulkey said Texas Southern’s (0-5) record may be deceiving. TSU has played a difficult schedule, which includes DePaul, Arizona and Texas A&M. Also, two top players only became eligible last week. Shalexxus Aaron, a USC transfer, hit 16 points against Texas A&M last time out and she averages 4.0 rebounds in her two games.

New Mexico transfer Andriana Avent, a 5-foot-11 guard, has scored 16 points in the past two games. Ataiya Bridges is averaging 8.8 points per game and Niya Mitchell is the team’s leading rebounder with 7.3 per game.

Texas Southern is coached by former USC and WNBA star point guard Cynthia Cooper, who matched up against Mulkey in the 1983 NCAA title game, won by USC over Mulkey’s Louisiana Tech team.