BATON ROUGE — LSU women's basketball senior point guard Last-Tear Poa has not been with the team for its two preseason exhibition games, including LSU's 117-37 win over LSU-Alexandria on Wednesday night.

Her absence will roll over into the start of the 2024-25 season, which opens for No. 7 LSU on Monday night against Eastern Kentucky inside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center (7 p.m., SEC Network+).

LSU coach Kim Mulkey told reporters after the second preseason game that she does not expect Poa to play. Mulkey did say after the first preseason game that Poa is still part of the team but that she had to "take care of some business off the floor."

It's been unclear why Poa, the most experienced point guard on the roster for the Tigers this season, has been away from the team and Mulkey has declined to share details why.

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News broke before LSU's exhibition game Wednesday that Poa has filed a lawsuit against the United States Immigration Services for the denial of her F-1A visa application, which centers around the difficulty for her as an international student-athlete to procure Name, Image and Likeness deals.

Team officials told The Daily Advertiser that her absence was not related to the filing and Mulkey told reporters following the exhibition that she had not heard that Poa had filed a lawsuit.

Poa is LSU's most experienced point guard this season, having played in Mulkey's system the past two years. Last season was her best statistical season, averaging 4.9 points per game but her biggest impact was on the defensive end of the floor where she's become known for drawing charges.

In Poa's place, LSU has a few guards it'll turn to, including senior Shayeann Day-Wilson as well as freshman Jada Richard.

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Cory Diaz covers the LSU Tigers for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his Tigers coverage on Twitter: @ByCoryDiaz. Got questions regarding LSU athletics? Send them to Cory Diaz at bdiaz@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Kim Mulkey: Last-Tear Poa won't play in LSU women's basketball opener