Angel Reese discusses racial tension of Caitlin Clark debate, relationship with Kim Mulkey

One person who remains generally unbothered at the vitriol and blowback for her trash talk in the title game of the Women’s NCAA Tournament? LSU star forward Angel Reese.

In an sit down interview on the “I AM ATHLETE” podcast, Reese stayed above the backlash but did say there’s no excusing the asymmetric responses to her and Iowa star Caitlin Clark. Clark, who is white, did the exact same gesture as Reese did two days earlier in the Final Four.

“It’s honestly, there’s no excuse. I don’t think that there’s an excuse for that. But the thing is I’ve had a narrative all year where they told me I was too hood, I was too ghetto. She plays dirty, she plays too hard. But every time — anything I do, it goes viral. Every single time, positive or negative. When she did it, everybody was so happy. When I did it, it was an issue, just because of what I look like. And people are saying ‘She still had 30.’ They lost. They lost and we won and we celebrate how we want to celebrate,” Reese said.

She continued, saying the smack talk was in response to some perceived slights and the fact that Clark had direct her own smack talk toward an SEC team. Reese wanted to turn the tables.

“And that’s just, I’m passionate about my teammates. And those South Carolina girls, they my girls. And they SEC girls. So nobodies going to disrespect them. And they also disrespected my teammate, Alexis, before the game. So I don’t really take disrespect lightly and especially when it comes to family and my girls. So I’m going to stand behind it regardless who likes it or not,” Reese said.

She also dove into the dynamics of race at play in the ongoing discussion. The Iowa team is predominantly white, the LSU team is predominantly Black. Reese knows how she and her teammates might function and celebrate is foreign to some large portions of the population and viewing audience, but she isn’t going to change to please them, nor are her teammates.

Nor is LSU head coach Kim Mulkey, who has the backs of Reese and the rest of the LSU squad, the star forward said.

“Honestly, our team is predominantly Black. We have two white girls on our team but they support us in everything that we do. They’ve always had our back in everything. I never have to worry about — coach Kim, she gets crazy. If you know her, she don’t play. She’s fly, she griddys, she says ‘No cap.’ Like she’s hip to what we’ve got going on. So she kind of has to accept that we are who we are. And I think that she embraces that. She loves us for who we are,” Reese said.

It’s a contrast from previous places that Reese has played.

“And I’ve honestly never been under a coach where they can actually appreciate who I am. I was at Maryland before and I wasn’t able to have a voice like this. I wasn’t able to speak my mind and actually just know my coach has my back, so I love Kim Mulkey and I ride behind her,” Reese said.