BATON ROUGE, La. — After missing four games with the LSU Tigers, Angel Reese was back on the court Thursday night for a Final Four rematch. The Tigers won 82-64 against the Virginia Tech Hokies. Reese returned to the court with 19 points and nine rebounds. Now that the star forward is back, here's what Angel Reese had to say during the post game.
"I want people to realize that I'm not just an athlete, I'm a human", Angel Reese said during a post game press conference. She went on on to say that her mental health is important to her and taking time away helped her to reset.
"This past week and a half really showed me a lot and who cares for me. When you’re up, everybody loves you. When you’re down, you see who really loves you.”
Reese said she was happy to be playing again and grateful for those who supported her during her time away. Reese noted that coach Kim Mulkey is why she's at LSU today.
“I’m gonna say that today, tomorrow, until the day I die. I’m at LSU because of Kim Mulkey and that’s how I feel.”
Tonight Mulkey earned her 700th career victory and when asked about Reese, Mulkey said "Angel is one of the best players I've coached and I've coached many".
The two shared a long hug after the win.
On Wednesday, head coach Kim Mulkey announced that Reese would play against the Virginia Tech Hokies. During Reese's absence from the team, Mulkey was criticized for not disclosing reasons for the player's absence.
Instead, Mulkey said "All I ask as a coach is, if I don't give you the answer you want, don't attack me for that... Some of you take it to a personal level and I don't understand that." She said they were dealing with "locker-room issues".
While Reese was away from the team, LSU won against Southeastern Louisiana 73-50, Texas Southern 106-47, Niagara 99-65, and Virginia 76-73.
During her time away from the team Reese remained quiet except for the player tweeting, "Please don't believe everything you read," and posting a selfie from the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on Monday, Nov. 20.
Reese helped to lead the team to its first national title in women's basketball last season and is currently one of the top-earning female college athletes.
The LSU's next game is in ten days against the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns.
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