LSU’s Angel Reese is back with the No. 7 Tigers after a 4-game hiatus.
BATON ROUGE, Louisiana (AP) Angel Reese, LSU’s standout forward who has missed four games for undisclosed reasons, is returning to the No. 7 Tigers ahead of Thursday night’s game against ninth-ranked Virginia Tech.
“She will play tomorrow,” LSU coach Kim Mulkey announced Wednesday. “Having her back gives me a boost, period. It’s not only against Virginia Tech. It’s only for our team. She’s simply a fantastic player, one of the finest in the country.
“I really think Angel will be just like Angel,” Mulkey said. “She’s just been really good in practice.”
Reese had hinted at her homecoming when she shared on social media a selfie of herself inside LSU’s basketball
The timing of Reese’s comeback is ideal for defending national champion LSU, and not just because their next game is a replay of last season’s national semifinal. Sa’Maya Smith, LSU’s power forward, had a knee injury two games ago against Niagara in the Cayman Islands Tournament. Mulkey confirmed on Wednesday that Smith will miss the rest of the season due to ligament and meniscus damage in her right knee.
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“Timing is everything in life and the timing of her injury is just so sad for her because she has improved by leaps and bounds,” Mulkey said in a statement. “The timing of Angel’s return kind of helps, but there’s no alternative for the value that Sa’Maya has.
Mulkey has reluctant to go into detail regarding Reese’s absence from the squad for much of the past two weeks, saying only that it was due to vague “locker-room issues.”
Mulkey, on the other hand, predicted that Reese’s reunion with teammates and coaches would go well.
“We are passed it. We were over it after it happened. “Really,” Mulkey said. “It’s just fun to watch them high-five, pick each other up off the floor, and do what they do best—play basketball.” We’ve moved past it. It’s just that we have to come in here and answer questions, which becomes tiresome.
Reese, one of her sport’s most prominent and commercially successful players, missed games against Southeastern Louisiana and Texas Southern in Baton Rouge before not accompanying the team to the Cayman Islands for a holiday tournament. LSU defeated Niagara and Virginia in the Cayman Islands Classic last weekend.
Reese was also benched for the second half of a victory over Kent State on November 14.
The Tigers (7-1) won all of the games Reese missed, most of them by large scores, and have not lost since dropping their opener in Las Vegas to then-No. 20 Colorado, which briefly rose as high as No. 3 before dropping down to No. 7 — tied with LSU — after the Buffalos’ first loss to North.
Reese started LSU’s first four games, averaging 17 points and 10.3 rebounds as the Tigers went 3–1.
Mulkey, a four-time national championship winner and Hall of Fame coach, has justified her choice not to reveal facts of Reese’s absence, claiming it was an internal team concern that the public did not need to know about.
“I can’t sugarcoat anything. I believe people want the truth, but I’m going to protect my players,” Mulkey stated. “There’s a sacredness in that locker room and I’m from that school that what’s in that locker room stays in that locker room.”
