Morrow, Reese on Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Watchlist
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – LSU’s post duo of Aneesah Morrow and Angel Reese were both on the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year watchlist that was announced Wednesday morning.
LSU is the only school with multiple players on the 15-player watchlist.
Morrow and Reese are both double-double machines. Morrow has 14 this year and Reese has 13, both which rank in the top-10 in the country. Both Morrow and Reese are excellent rebounders with relentless motors to grab balls coming off the rim.
Morrow, playing as an undersized post player at 6-1, leverages her quickness to her advantage when defending in the post. Keeping her feet always moving on defense, Morrow possesses great ability to front in the post, pull the chair against players looking to post her up and hedge on screens. Her quickness also allows her to play perimeter defense at a high level. Morrow leads the team this year with 2.7 steals per game for a total of 63 steals. Against Kent State, Morrow had 9 steals. Whether she is guarding a ball handler or playing off the ball in the post, Morrow can poke balls lose to force turnovers. She also leads the team with 1.2 blocks per game.
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Reese’s length and physicality make her an elite post defender, but like Morrow, Reese also has the ability to guard players on the perimeter. She has quick hands to snatch balls off the dribble and get LSU back on offense. Reese is grabbing 1.9 steals per game this season for a total of 37 steals while also getting nearly one block per game. She can also use her strength to limit opposing players to get the position they want to be able to get the ball.
“We’re better, but we’re not anywhere near where we can get to,” LSU head coach Kim Mulkey said of the defense in late January. “We’re better at helping each other, better at understanding when I need to help and recover and I always say it, that’s because we were all over the place in the non conference with different players out. We were never together for long periods of time and now that we have been, I’m seeing improvement. I still don’t like that we give up a lot of points, but we may be a team where I may need to be realistic and say that may just be our identity and who we are and I need to quit harping on that. [There are times] it’s just a good shot and we did good defensively.”
