Caitlin Clark on 'competitive fire' with Angel Reese: 'Both of us want to win more than anything'

The Iowa Hawkeyes and LSU Tigers are getting set to meet in a rematch of last season’s national championship game. That game was full of emotion, which many expect to continue in this season’s Elite Eight matchup, with stars Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese returning for the game.

Ahead of that game, Clark shared her thoughts on the competitive fire and trash talk between herself and Reese, explaining that they both want to win more than anything.

“I think, for me, my competitive passion is just all about the game,” Caitlin Clark said. “And what fires me up and what fires my team up. I think that’s what I’m focused on. I think I play with a lot of emotion, but I think our team is mostly focused on celebrating each other. That’s what we’ve always been about.”

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“Coach [Lisa] Bluder always talks about celebrating the assists. We’re a team that really focuses on having a high number of assists every single night out and a low number of turnovers. I thought we did that last night. We had 20 assists. Could have taken care of the ball a little better with 19 turnovers,” Clark said.

“But I think that’s where my competitive fire and passion comes from is like I know how much I expect out of this team. They expect the same out of themselves. I expect a lot out of myself. We have a lot of fun doing it and that’s what makes the game so fun, being able to be in those types of situations.”

It was LSU that won the national championship over Iowa last season. In that game, Clark and Reese went back and forth trash-talking to each other. That included Reese using Clark’s ‘you can’t see me’ celebration before pointing to her ring finger.

Caitlin Clark was also asked a follow-up to compare herself to Angel Reese. In particular, as it relates to their personalities on the court.

“There’s that competitive fire. Both of us want to win more than anything and that’s how it should be when you’re a competitor and you get into a situation like this, whether it was the national championship, whether it’s the Elite Eight. That goes for LSU’s entire roster. That goes for Iowa’s entire roster. Every single one of us wants this so bad. We want to advance to the Final Four so bad,” Clark said.

“So, I think that’s the main similarity is how bad and how competitive we are. We both grew up loving this game, and we’re going to do anything we can to help our teams win.”

Angel Reese on her trash talk, relationship with Caitlin Clark

For Angel Reese, there are no hard feelings with Caitlin Clark. Trash talk isn’t personal to her, it’s just part of the game.

“For me. I don’t think people realize like it’s not personal. Once we get out between those lines, if I see you walking down the street, like it’s ‘Hey girl! What’s up? Let’s hang out.’ I think people just take it like we hate each other. Me and Caitlin Clark don’t hate each other. I want everybody to understand that. It’s just a super competitive game,” Reese said.

“I would just wish people realize that once I get between those lines, it’s no friends. I have plenty of friends on the court that I talk to outside of the game, but like when I get between those lines, like we’re not friends. We’re not buddies. I’m going to talk trash to you. I’m going to do whatever it takes to get in your head the whole entire game, but after the game we can kick it. Like, I don’t think people really realize that and that’s fine.”