Angel Reese and LSU advanced to the second round of March Madness after what head coach Kim Mulkey called an "ugly" and "selfish" win. The three-seeded Tigers beat 14-seeded Rice 70-60 in a game that saw the Tigers lead by just three at halftime. Reese, who notched 13 defensive rebounds alone, was key to staving off the Owls amid a night of terrible Tiger shooting. Reese and Hailey Van Lith went a combined 2-14 from the field as Aneesah Morrow led the team with 15 points. That game-high mark was matched Rice's Destiny Jackson.
However, things don't get any easier for LSU. In the second round, played on Sunday, the Tigers will face 11-seeded Middle Tennessee. The Blue Raiders were down 13 on Louisville before rallying to stun the Cardinals for the only upset of day one. MTSU have only lost four games all season and went undefeated in conference play. "I don't have the right answer. I can give you lots of answers, but we'd better fix it before we play Middle Tennessee," Mulkey told reporters.
Angel Reese: "I Want People To Underestimate Me"
Elsewhere, in a lengthy profile for ESPN, Reese revealed the mentality that drives day-in, day-out. "I want people to underestimate me. I'm telling you, I have everything bookmarked for the right moment when everything just falls right into my hands," Reese told Katie Barnes. However, for Reese - there is a fine line between being underestimated and being disrespected. "That game, that was one that was on my calendar, because when somebody tells me that they think that somebody else is better than me, and supposedly Kamilla was supposed to just dog-walk me all night, and mop me with the floor, and all this stuff," Reese said of LSU's regular-season matchup against South Carolina.
Additionally, Reese takes every scrap of hate as a new source of motivation. "They said I was too worried about social media, my GPA was low, I was pregnant. Yeah, my stats have gone down maybe four to five points because I'm on a way better team this year. But I'm still averaging a double-double every game. I think people don't realize I can do 10,000 things and still be good at all of them. And I can't wait till just everything just falls right into place," she noted.
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