LSU forward Angel Reese. (Image source: TikTok – @angelreese10)
Angel Reese is having a season for the ages. The LSU star forward put up 30 points and 19 rebounds in the No. 3 Tigers’ 79-76 win over Arkansas on Jan. 19. It was Reese’s 19th consecutive double double, which ties the program’s longest streak since the legendary Sylvia Fowles set it.
The highlight of the night came when Reese lost her shoe and was still holding it as she emphatically blocked a player’s shot.
ANGEL REESE BLOCKED THIS WHILE HOLDING HER SHOE 👟✋ @Reese10Angel | @LSUwbkb pic.twitter.com/zGMHadjTYU
— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) January 20, 2023
Following her emphatic performance, Reese left a message for potential critics of the passion the 20-year-old Baltimore native plays with.
” ‘I’m too hood,’ ‘I’m too ghetto.’ I don’t fit the narrative, and I’M OK WITH THAT,” Reese tweeted after the win. “I’m from Baltimore, where you hoop outside and talk trash. If it was a boy, y’all wouldn’t be saying [nothing]at all. Let’s normalize women showing passion for the game, instead of it being ’embarrassing.’ ”
Relatively speaking, Reese’s season has flown under the radar on a national scale. The Tigers played a non-competitive nonconference schedule, and the team’s lone matchup against a ranked opponent was against No. 24 Arkansas on Dec. 29. LSU coach Kim Mulkey said she took on a softer schedule because this is only her second season with the program, and the Tigers were 9-13 in 2020-21, the final season before she took over.
The coverage of a forward like Stanford’s Cameron Brink has been different from Reese’s this season. Brink’s coverage has been earned, as a junior on the No. 4 Cardinals who is averaging 13.6 points and 9.7 rebounds per game. Brink is one of college’s top NIL earners and the goddaughter of Steph Curry. Reese, on the other hand, is averaging 24.2 points and 15.6 rebounds per game. South Carolina’s Aliyah Boston has received a lot of media attention this season as the reigning National Player of the Year on the reigning National Champion Gamecocks. Boston is averaging 12.7 points and 9.5 rebounds, but a lot of her consistent national attention didn’t come until coach Dawn Staley constantly campaigned for her to receive more attention.
There has been an ongoing discussion in women’s sports and women’s basketball about White athletes getting more attention than Black counterparts. According to a December 2022 Sports Illustrated story, the top five women Name, Image and Likeness earners of 2022 are not Black. No. 1 was LSU gymnast Olivia Dunne, followed by Auburn gymnast Suni Lee, UCONN basketball star Paige Bueckers and Miami basketball twins Haley and Hanna Cavinder. Flau’jae Johnson, Reese’s teammate who has a distribution deal with Roc Nation as a rapper, came in at the sixth spot, and was the first Black athlete to make the list.
It’s time to give Reese her respect and rightful acknowledgement for the dominant season she is having before the season is over.
