Angel Reese, Flau'jae Johnson open up on their relationship with Kim Mulkey

Kim Mulkey may be a coach that’s tough on her players, but that’s exactly what stars Angel Reese and Flau’jae Johnson want out of their head coach.

The two shared exactly why Mulkey is the perfect coach for them during the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament when asked about her, with Reese saying that she needed someone who was going to push her limits as a competitor.

“I knew what it was when I got here. I told her in my meeting, I want to be coached hard. I want to be pushed,” said Reese. “I don’t want you to make me feel like, quote, unquote, the best player. I want you to make me feel like I’m at the bottom. I don’t want to feel good about anything.”

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Mulkey’s able to hold Reese to a standard, that she can’t take a single play off — whether it’s practice or a game.

“In practice, I can’t take a play off. Sometimes you see it at the next level. Like they’ll let the vets, they’ll let the big dogs take plays off, but I don’t do that, and I can’t do that in practice. She gets on me a lot about that, and expectations are super high. I think that will take me a long way, and I’ll always remember that.”

Flau’jae Johnson revealed that she just wanted to play for a winning coach, and Mulkey has certainly proved to be just that.

“I never won,” said Johnson. “Like, when I was in high school, I never won a championship or anything. I told Coach Mulkey that I just wanted to be a winner.”

In her true freshman season at LSU, Johnson enjoyed all the winning she could desire, including the ultimate goal of a national championship. “I mean, we won my first year, so it’s kind of like I was spoiled a little bit. But I want to be a winner. She knows how to win,” says the Tiger guard.

But beyond just winning games, though, Johnson finds herself learning from Kim Mulkey every day.

“She has a lot of basketball knowledge, and I think I’m just getting better. The work I put in myself, and then just taking the gems that she gives me and kind of just incorporating it into what I do.”

Now in her sophomore season, Flau’jae Johnson is one of the key pieces of the starting lineup as LSU quests for a repeat national title.