LSU W Basketball

Angel Reese was not with the LSU women's basketball team during their 73-50 Friday night victory over Southeastern Louisiana.

ESPN's Alexa Philippou first reported Reese' absence.

"You want me to explain why?" head coach Kim Mulkey said after the game. "It's very obvious Angel was not in uniform. Angel is a part of this basketball team, and we hope to see her sooner than later."

"I'm not going to answer any more. That's it. That's all y'all need to know."

"You want me to explain why? It's very obvious Angel was not in uniform. Angel is a part of this basketball team and we hope to see her sooner rather than later."@LSUwbkb Kim Mulkey on Angel Reese not attending Friday's game at Southeastern. #LSU @WAFB pic.twitter.com/d2JP5J6mRU

— Jacques Doucet (@JacquesDoucet) November 18, 2023

Reese was benched for the second half of LSU's last game, a 109-47 Sunday win over Mississippi Valley State.

When asked Sunday if she could expand on Reese's limited playing time, Mulkey said, "I could, but I won't."

"It was just a coach's decision," Mulkey said.

Reese recorded 11 points on 5-of-9 shooting before she was benched Sunday.

Although LSU was a favorite to beat Kent State, the Tigers were only leading by 39-37 at the time Reese was benched.

Questions regarding discord within the Tigers were sparked by a recent social media spat between the mothers of Reese and LSU guard Flau'jae Johnson that eventually involved former 2023 national championship team members Alexis Morris and Jasmine Carson.

The social media eventually caught the attention of even WNBA players.

I wanna see LSU play LSU cuz what’s goin onnn??

— Sydney Colson (@SydJColson) November 16, 2023

Mulkey dismissed a question Thursday about the social media drama, but has been slightly more direct in her criticism of the team's experienced players.

After No. 1-ranked LSU lost their season-opener 92-78 to No. 20 Colorado, Mulkey said she was "disappointed and surprised in some individual players that I thought would just be tougher and have a little fight and leadership about them," per ESPN's Michael Voepel.

Reese had 15 points and 12 rebounds on 6-of-15 shooting in the loss.

"You live with poor shooting, you live with a tough night offensively. What I don't live with is just guts and fight and physical play [not being there]," Mulkey said. "I just didn't think we had that tonight."

"I thought Mikaylah Williams and Sa'Myah Smith did all they could. You're talking about a true freshman and a true sophomore. We need more than just them to have a little bit of fight."

Angel Reese struggled as No. 1 LSU's NCAA championship defense got off to a rough start, with the women's team losing to No. 20 Colorado 92-78 on Monday.

Reese scored 15 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, but she shot only 6-of-15 from the field while recording only one assist and two turnovers.

The 21-year-old scored 15 points or fewer in only four of her 36 games last season.

Louisville transfer Hailey Van Lith recorded 14 points and a game-high seven assists on 2-of-4 three-point shooting in her debut for the Lady Tigers, although it wasn't enough to secure a win in the team's first matchup.

Hailey Van Lith with back-to-back THREES for LSU 🔥 pic.twitter.com/e52YcBorKv

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) November 7, 2023

Women's college basketball fans were extremely surprised by the upset loss as well as the poor play of the 2023 NCAA women's tournament Most Outstanding Player.

Colorado up BIG against LSU in the 4th 😳 pic.twitter.com/eMqfmW1ffU

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) November 7, 2023

No. 1 LSU is DOWN at halftime 👀 pic.twitter.com/vPfGyPZo1Q

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) November 7, 2023

LSU women’s basketball in danger of dropping their season opener, down 63-51 going to the 4th

— LSU_Capital (@lsu_capital) November 7, 2023

Is #20 Colorado about to make a huge upset on opening night vs #1 LSU? 👀 #NCAAW

— Women’s Hoops Network (@WomensHoops_USA) November 7, 2023

https://twitter.com/sashthomp/status/1721694616435450015

Angel Reese is Getting Eaten Up Right Now👀

— 94 Feet WBB (@94FeetWBB) November 7, 2023

https://twitter.com/_datdeuce/status/1721713620617228411

Angel Reese tonight pic.twitter.com/owDyLufhLb

— BUECKERS NATTY (@816oz) November 7, 2023

LSU being down 20 in game 1 was not on my bingo card pic.twitter.com/z4BS9ipSdc

— Devereaux *casual fan* Peters (@MsPeters14) November 7, 2023

LSU WBB is getting cooked by Colorado?! pic.twitter.com/jLXSlSWEFq

— Shehan Jeyarajah (@ShehanJeyarajah) November 7, 2023

LSU WHAT IS GOING ON ? Like fr. Why are yall so unprepared. I get its new pieces but still this is very very sloppy

— Shawn J.... ® (@Shawn__J18) November 7, 2023

Head coach Kim Mulkey's squad shot 43.9 percent from the field and had only 13 assists while committing 19 turnovers.

Both Reese and the Lady Tigers will look to get over their shocking loss when they face off against Queens University of Charlotte on Thursday night.

LSU star Angel Reese signed an endorsement deal with Reebok, the first player the company has added since NBA legend Shaquille O'Neal became the president of Reebok Basketball.

"For my first appointment in this role, it had to be the GOAT," O'Neal said. "There is no one making a bigger impact on the game right now than Angel Reese."

In an interview with Reebok, Reese said she spoke with the Hall of Fame center to "[understand] he values that align with the brand."

"As a former athlete, now that he's just been announced as their President of Basketball that is inspirational to me, just being able to see an athlete or former athlete shift from not just being an athlete, but being the President of the brand is something that's important," she said. "I would love to do that one day."

Angel Reese on signing with Reebok:

“I am honored to be working closely with one of my longtime mentors, Shaq, along with a brand that I have admired since I was just a little kid. It means the world to me that they trust in me to extend their legacy to a new generation.” pic.twitter.com/5IITjgDmsV

— Nick DePaula (@NickDePaula) October 17, 2023

The 6'3" forward established herself as one of the biggest stars in the college game as a junior. She averaged 23.0 points and 15.4 rebounds per game for the Tigers, and she was named the Most Outstanding Player of the 2023 NCAA tournament as the Tigers went on to lift their first national title.

Reese taunting Iowa star Caitlin Clark and pointing to her ring finger became the enduring images from last year's tourney.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-rtcmttGqQ

Reebok is clearly attempting to regain a foothold in the basketball market by naming O'Neal and fellow NBA legend Allen Iverson to executive roles.

Reese is a natural candidate to be a face of the brand moving forward.

LSU star Angel Reese reiterated on Thursday that there is no bad blood between her and Iowa sharpshooter Caitlin Clark after last season's national championship game.

"I love Caitlin; we've been competing since we were in AAU," she told reporters. "It was always fun, always competitive. One day, hopefully, we could even be teammates. She is a great player, shooter, person and teammate. The world is always going to have a good girl and a bad girl. I'll take that I'm going to be the bad guy because I know I've grown women's basketball and inspired people."

"Yeah, LSU loves me, but they might not like her," she added. "People can think what they think. Me and Caitlin are cool; we've never had any issues. Just knowing I've helped grow women's basketball, and she has, too, that's all that matters."

Reese famously hit a John Cena "You can't see me" gesture in the direction of Clark during the waning moments of LSU's 102-85 win over Iowa at the conclusion of last season, before pointing toward her ring finger as well.

The two gestures went viral, though Clark said she hadn't noticed in the moment and said she wasn't particularly bothered by the trash talk.

Both LSU and Iowa should be dangerous in the 2023-24 campaign. Reese leads a deep Tigers team that landed Hailey Van Lith and Aneesah Morrow in the transfer portal. Add in returning players Flau'jae Johnson, Sa'Myah Smith and Kateri Poole, alongside talented recruit Mikayla Williams, and LSU is absolutely loaded.

Clark, meanwhile, is the sport's most explosive scorer. She doesn't have the supporting cast that Reese boasts, but the return of Gabbie Marshall, Kate Martin and Hannah Stuelke makes the Hawkeyes far more than a one-woman show.

Still, Iowa will go as far as Clark can take them.

College hoops fans would likely be thrilled to see a rematch between Reese's LSU and Clark's Iowa at some point in the NCAA tournament, though other contenders loom as well, including the always-dangerous UConn, the suddenly scary UCLA Bruins and squads like Ohio State and Utah.

It promises to be a fun season. But the title still goes through Baton Rouge.

LSU women's basketball coach Kim Mulkey revealed that she underwent a potentially life-saving heart procedure over the offseason.

According to ESPN's Michael Voepel, Mulkey had not experienced symptoms of any heart issues, but numbness at the tip of her finger prompted her to visit the doctor, which resulted in the discovery that a procedure was necessary.

"I never even felt bad," Mulkey said. "I'm still kind of in shock that we accidentally found this. So my message in sharing this is, if you're over 50, go get a stress test.

"I've had some of my former teammates tell me, 'We're going to do it.' That's why I share these things. I'm an open book if it's something that can help people. It's just a great lesson for all of us who think that it won't happen to us."

Mulkey said she had two stents put into a coronary artery that had 95-99 percent blockage in late June. The blocked artery wouldn't have been found if she didn't have the wherewithal to request further evaluations.

After the numbness in her finger was unsurprisingly diagnosed as carpal tunnel syndrome, she asked during that same doctor's visit to do a scan of her neck to make sure things still looked good following disc-replacement surgery she had in 2018 while she was head coach at Baylor.

She initially was told that she checked out fine, but she received a call from a radiologist a few days later who directed her to see a cardiologist because further examination of her X-rays appeared to show plaque in her carotid arteries.

"[The cardiologist] said, let's put you on the treadmill and do a stress test," Mulkey said. "Then he said, 'I don't like the way this isn't pumping faster; it looks like there's a little blockage going on. We've got to do a cath.'"

Voepel noted that the official procedure is "a left heart catheterization with coronary arteriograms, followed by an intervascular ultrasound-assisted tandem stent placement to the left anterior descending artery."

Mulkey and the defending champion Tigers officially began practice on Monday, and on Tuesday, they are scheduled to undergo CPR training. Even before her procedure, Mulkey felt that was an important skill for players to have.

"As an athlete, your body gives you signals with injuries. And even with non-athletic things like kidney stones, you definitely feel it," Mulkey said. "The issue with my heart, it was really just luck that we found it. So I will keep telling people, 'Get yourself checked out. You have nothing to lose, and it could save your life.'"

LSU women's basketball head coach Kim Mulkey has agreed to a new 10-year, $32 million contract and will remain behind the bench for the foreseeable future, according to ESPN's M.A. Voepel.

The contract still needs to be approved by the LSU board of supervisors. If approved, it will be the richest contract in women's college basketball history.

Mulkey has been head coach of the Tigers since the 2021-22 campaign following a 21-year career as head coach of the Baylor Bears, where she was a 12-time Big 12 Coach of the Year, that spanned 2000-21.

The 61-year-old led LSU to a 26-6 record and a berth in the NCAA tournament during her first season in Baton Rouge and followed that up with a 34-2 record and a national title in 2022-23 thanks to the likes of Angel Reese and Flau'jae Johnson.

Mulkey reloaded her roster this offseason in hopes of repeating as national champions in 2023-24 following the departures of Alexis Morris, LaDazhia Williams and Jasmine Carson to the WNBA.

The Tigers landed former Louisville star Hailey Van Lith and former DePaul standout Aneesah Morrow via the transfer portal. Additionally, LSU raked in the top recruiting class in college basketball headlined by ESPN's No. 2 overall prospect Mikaylah Williams and No. 7 recruit Aalyah Del Rosario.

With a revamped roster, the Tigers are expected to be among the top college basketball teams in the country this coming season.

Mulkey's new contract will keep her among the highest-paid coaches in women's college basketball alongside UConn's Geno Auriemma and South Carolina's Dawn Staley.

Auriemma, who has won 11 national titles, and Staley, who has won two national championships, are estimated to have each earned $3 million in 2022-23, according to Voepel.

Given Mulkey's track record of success and a seemingly bright future ahead in Louisiana, it's no surprise LSU was willing to open its wallet and give her a more lucrative contract.

LSU women's basketball star Angel Reese had to wear Florida State gear to school on Tuesday after losing a bet with her boyfriend, Seminoles basketball player Cam'Ron Fletcher.

Reese and Fletcher made a bet that the loser of Sunday's football season opener between LSU and FSU had to wear the winning team's gear to school this week. The Tigers were obliterated by the Seminoles 45-24, so Reese had to sport the garnet and gold.

Angel Reese had to wear FSU gear after losing a bet with her boyfriend, Cam'Ron Fletcher 😅

(via @Reese10Angel, camron/IG) pic.twitter.com/o3GdoCMcZw

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) September 5, 2023

LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels led the Tigers to a 17-14 halftime lead, but the team fell apart in the second half as Seminoles quarterback Jordan Travis finished the game with 342 passing yards, four touchdowns and one interception, in addition to rushing for 38 yards and a score.

While Reese had to sport FSU colors this week, she'll surely get the last laugh if her Tigers go back-to-back and win the women's basketball title again this year.

Angel Reese has become a household name since helping lead the LSU women's basketball team to the national championship, but that level of fame has made it more difficult for her to be on campus.

She told Leah Faye Cooper of Teen Vogue that she's been taking online classes following her championship run.

"I don't feel like I'm a celebrity, but I think a lot of people look at me as a celebrity now because of the impact I've had on not just women's basketball, but sports in general, and Black women," Reese said. "Things have changed for me."

Reese was dominant during the Big Dance and posted a double-double in all six of LSU's wins. She stuffed the stat sheet in the national championship game victory over Iowa with 15 points, 10 rebounds, five assists, three steals and one block, capping off an incredible run for both herself and the team.

Since then, she has been in magazines, featured in commercials, visited the White House, appeared at awards shows, thrown out the first pitch at a Baltimore Orioles game and much more.

But she told Cooper, "School's first, basketball is next. I wouldn't be here without school and basketball, so that's my priority."

That is surely welcome news for Tigers fans, who will be cheering for a team that is once again on the short list of national championship contenders thanks in large part to Reese's presence going into a new campaign.

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is jumping into the world of NIL, as he selected seven college sports stars for a marketing campaign promoting his ZOA energy drink on Wednesday.

Ohio State wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. and LSU star forward Angel Reese headline the group of athletes tabbed by The Great One himself:

JUST IN: @TheRock selected seven NIL stars for marketing campaign promoting his Zoa energy drink in a massive deal.

Athletes include Brock Bowers, Angel Reese, Drake Maye, Marvin Harrison Jr., Hansel Emmanuel, Kam Kinchens and Amaya Gainer.

Deal brokered by @ThisisESM. pic.twitter.com/KXDlxzSSks

— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) July 19, 2023

The group of athletes has been dubbed "The Rock's Warriors," and Johnson selected each of them himself.

"ZOA gives people that power, that unique energy to fuel themselves and fuel others around them – that's why I'm super pumped about uniting all of The Rock's Warriors under one roof," Johnson said, per Forbes' Kristi Dosh. "I personally selected these phenomenal individuals because of the energy, tenacity, and excitement they bring to the game. With a diverse set of stories and experiences, they're driven, hungry, talented, and ready for ZOA to help fuel them to greatness."

Harrison is coming off a breakout sophomore year for the Buckeyes in which he recorded 77 catches for 1,263 yards and 14 touchdowns on his way to being voted as a unanimous All-American. The son of Pro Football Hall of Famer Marvin Harrison, he enters the 2023 season as one of the best receiver prospects in the country. NFL.com's Daniel Jeremiah recently compared Harrison to seven-time Pro Bowler A.J. Green.

Reese emerged as a superstar after leading the LSU women's basketball team to its first national championship in program history. She was the Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA tournament and a unanimous All-American after setting the NCAA single-season record for double-doubles and the SEC single-season record for rebounds.

"I'm pumped to be a part of such a unique group of athletes, and who better than The Rock to bring us together for a one-of-a-kind opportunity," Reese said. "ZOA is all about putting in the work, learning from your wins and losses, and empowering others, something I strive to do every day on and off the court, so it was a no-brainer to join the first class of The Rock's Warriors."

Angel Reese is officially a hometown hero.

The LSU women's basketball superstar had a basketball court dedicated in her name by officials in Baltimore County, Maryland, where she grew up. The court resides at the Scott's Branch Recreation Activity Center in Randallstown.

Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski said the court will be called "Angel Reese Court" and is just one piece of the county's investment in youth recreation and athletics, "so that we are investing in our young people and we are investing in our next Angel Reese."

Angel Reese Court

Now open for hooping in Baltimore! pic.twitter.com/Q8IfkGhUIr

— LSU Women's Basketball (@LSUwbkb) July 17, 2023

Introducing…🏀Angel Reese Court!

Today, the @NCAA Champion & Randallstown hometown hero joined @BaltCoExec, @BaltCoRec & county/state elected leaders to unveil the newly-renovated basketball court at Scotts Branch Recreation Activity Center dedicated in @Reese10Angel's honor! pic.twitter.com/1QDt8br2sn

— Baltimore County (@BaltCoGov) July 17, 2023

In her first season with the Tigers, Reese became an automatic sensation, being named a First-Team All-American while also leading the program to their first-ever national title with a dominant display in the NCAA Tournament.

She even won Best Breakthrough Athlete at this year's ESPYs.

And although she's become the "Bayou Barbie," Reese always reps Baltimore and the DMV area wherever she's gone.

"I go to LSU but Baltimore - Randallstown - is always home for me," she said.

Prior to arriving in Baton Rouge ahead of last season, Reese played her first two years of college ball at the University of Maryland following a standout career at St. Frances Academy in Baltimore.

An area already rich with basketball talent, Reese is the latest superstar to emerge out of Maryland. And now, her name will be immortalized for the next generation that comes and plays on her court.