Angel Reese, the All-American double-double queen who led LSU to its first women\u2019s basketball championship in March<\/a>, has had a rough start to the 2023-24 season.\u00a0
After being benched just four games into the season, Reese missed the entirety of No. 5 LSU\u2019s 73-50 win<\/a> over Southeastern Louisiana on Friday, Nov. 17. Questions were swirling about if Reese would play Monday night. Instead, Reese missed her second consecutive game.
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“Angel was not in uniform. She is a part of this basketball team,” LSU coach Kim Mulkey\u00a0said<\/a> after the Tigers’ 106-47 win<\/a> over Texas Southern on Monday night. “We hope she’s back with the team soon. I’m not going to answer any more than that.”
“Sometimes you want to know more than you’re entitled to know. I’m going to protect my players,” Mulkey added<\/a>.
Here\u2019s what we know about the situation.\u00a0
It started when LSU, the preseason No. 1 team in the country, got drilled by Colorado in its first game of the season on Nov. 6. The Tigers lost 92-78<\/a> in a game that wasn\u2019t as close as the final score indicates. Reese scored 15 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, but shot just 6-of-15 from the field, missing lots of close looks. She was visibly frustrated throughout the game.\u00a0
Three games later, on Nov. 14, LSU coach Kim Mulkey benched Reese for the second half of the Tigers’ 109-79 win over Kent State. Reese played just 13 minutes that night, scoring 11 points. Mulkey offered little insight afterward, saying only that it was \u201ccoach\u2019s decision\u201d<\/a> to not play Reese in the second half.\u00a0
Speculation about Reese\u2019s absence ramped up three days later on Nov. 17, when Reese missed the 73-50 win over Southeastern Louisiana. She was not on the bench. Again, Mulkey refused to offer details on Reese.\u00a0
“It’s very obvious Angel was not in uniform,\u201d Mulkey said during her postgame press conference. \u201cAngel is a part of this basketball team and we hope to see her sooner rather than later \u2026 I\u2019m not going to answer anymore. That\u2019s it. That\u2019s all y\u2019all need to know, OK?\u201d
It\u2019s unclear what exactly is going on. Mulkey has not specified if Reese was merely benched or has been officially suspended, if she\u2019s being disciplined for something or suffering from some sort of injury.\u00a0
Reese has not spoken to the media throughout this ordeal. On Sunday, she posted a cryptic message on X<\/a>, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, writing simply, \u201cplease don\u2019t believe everything you read.\u201d\u00a0
On Instagram, Reese hasn\u2019t posted to her grid since Oct. 24. But late Sunday evening, she posted a video on her Instagram stories of Colorado coach Deion Sanders. In the video, Sanders says<\/a>, \u201cLook at me. What about me would make you think that I care about your opinion of me? Your opinion of me is not the opinion that I have of myself. You ain\u2019t make me, so you can\u2019t break me. You didn\u2019t build me, so you can\u2019t kill me.\u00a0
\u201cYou know what, God established me, so ain\u2019t nothing you can do to me. I been him, I been a difference maker, a game changer, I\u2019ve been that guy. So what would change? Not a darn thing. I\u2019m not even playing the game, and you\u2019ve got an opinion of me. I love it, but I don\u2019t care.<\/strong> And I wish the world thought like that, the youngsters, if you\u2019re out there right now, do not give a darn what opinion people have of you, As long as that opinion isn’t consistent with that of yourself, you be you. I’m not playing to make you feel good about me. I already feel good about me. I’m good. Message for the youngsters out there and the old school, not the old fools.”
As speculation has swirled about Reese\u2019s status going forward, some have pointed to an apparent rift on social media between her mom, also named Angel Reese, and parents of other LSU players. Numerous social media comments have already been deleted, but the LSU student TV station detailed some of the drama in a recent video.\u00a0
At 6-foot-3 with with obvious athleticism, Reese is one of the best players in women’s college basketball. After playing two seasons at Maryland, Reese transferred to LSU before the 2022-23 season. She led the Tigers to the 2023 national championship, averaging a double-double (23 ppg, 15.4 rpg) throughout the season and earning Final Four Most Outstanding Player honors. She is outgoing and unabashedly confident<\/a>, a known and (sometimes) celebrated trash talker<\/a>. \u00a0
Nicknamed \u201cThe Bayou Barbie,\u201d a nod to her love of all things pink and girly, Reese is an NIL superstar. She posed in Sports Illustrated\u2019s annual swimsuit issue<\/a>, signed a deal with Reebok<\/a> \u2014 home of former LSU basketball star Shaquille O\u2019Neal \u2014 and has numerous other endorsements.\u00a0
Basketball runs in her blood: Her mom played at UMBC, and her brother Julian plays at Maryland<\/a>.\u00a0
LSU travels to the Cayman Islands over Thanksgiving. The Tigers\u2019 first game is scheduled for Friday, Nov. 24, against Niagara. They play Virginia, one of the only Power Five schools on their schedule, on Saturday, Nov. 25.\u00a0
LSU\u2019s biggest non-conference game will come Thursday, Nov. 30, against No. 9 Virginia Tech, another 2023 Final Four participant.\u00a0
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