Angel Reese plays with plenty of emotion in her game and the LSU star had that on display in Sunday’s NCAA Tournament win over Middle Tennessee when she was able to draw the foul and send the opposing team’s big off the court early.
Up 55-49 late in the third quarter, Reese was battling Anastasiia Boldyreva near the paint when she was able to get a call to go against Boldyreva, resulting in Middle Tennessee’s center picking up her fifth foul.
Reese, who had been knocked down to the floor, couldn’t help but wave goodbye in the direction of the departing Middle Tennessee player.
She then proceeded to start waving her arms to get the LSU fans to make more noise than they already had been making.
Boldyreva was very clearly not happy with the call when she got to the bench, seen having a very animated conversation with one of her coaches on the sideline before storming off in near tears.
Reese appeared to address the attention her wave was receiving.
“clickbait everything i do keep going viral,” Reese wrote on X Sunday night.
LSU had a tough battle with Middle Tennessee and had to overcome being down four at halftime and a nine-point second-half deficit in what turned into an 83-56 win to advance to the Sweet 16.
Reese, Flau’jae Johnson, and Mikaylah Williams played key roles in the second-half comeback, scoring a combined 24 of the Tigers’ 27 points in the third quarter.
The Tigers put on a defensive clinic in the second half and held Middle Tennesee to 28 percent shooting from the field and 17 percent from 3-point range during that time period.
LSU will play the winner of Creighton and UCLA in the Sweet 16 as they move closer to a potential rematch with Caitlin Clark and Iowa in the Elite Eight.
LSU has had plenty of attention on them this year as one of the top teams in the country with one of the best players in the sport.
But they’ve also garnered attention aside from their play, and coach Kim Mulkey drew some of that over the weekend when she threatened to sue the Washington Post over what she alleged was a “hit piece” they’re working on about her.
It’s not entirely clear what is alleged to be in the story, but Mulkey does have some idea since the publication sent the university a list of questions for her to answer.
