Angel Reese defended by rival Caitlin Clark and cousin Jordan Hawkins, champion UConn player
When Louisiana State University won the NCAA women's basketball championship, star player Angel Reese held up her hand and pointed to her ring finger – because she was going to get a championship ring. Reese received criticism for the gesture, which was directed at her opponent, Caitlin Clark. Now, Clark and others are defending her.
Reese also waved her hand in front of her face, known as the "you can't see me" gesture made popular by wrestler John Cena. Clark had also made the gesture at an earlier game during the tournament.
To some, these gestures were typical trash talk between two rivals. But after Reese, who is Black, made the gestures, some said she was unsportsmanlike — prompting her rival, her coach and a fellow champion to come to her defense.
"I don't think Angel should be criticized at all," Clark told ESPN on Tuesday. "I'm just one that competes, and she competed. I think everybody knew there was going to be a little trash talk in the entire tournament. It's not just me and Angel."
Much of the criticism was on Twitter, which Reese acknowledged during a news conference after the win, saying "Twitter is going to go into a rage every time."
"All year, I was critiqued for who I was," she said. "I don't fit the narrative, I don't fit the box that y'all want me to be in. I'm too hood. I'm too ghetto. Y'all told me that all year. But when other people do it, and y'all don't say nothing."
"So this is for the girls that look like me, that's gonna speak up for what they believe in," Reese said. "It's unapologetically you. And that's what I did it for tonight. It was bigger than me tonight."
Reese's coach, Kim Mulkey, also defended her. "She's not going to apologize for it," she said during an interview with "Today" on Monday.
"That child is a beast on the boards rebounding. That child just won a national championship. She's not afraid of social media. That is who Angel is," Mulkey said. "She trash-talks on the court, but she doesn't cross, really, the line of vulgarity."
Reese and her teammates are not the only ones who will receive championship rings – so will her cousin, Jordan Hawkins.
Hawkins, who grew up in Maryland like Reese, won the NCAA men's championship with UConn. After his team's big win, he spoke to reporters and defended his cousin. "Angel has the heart of a lion, she's not worried about any of that," he said. "She's from the dirty streets of Baltimore, so she's the toughest of the toughest. That's not anything to her."
During an interview Tuesday on "Today," he said Reese told him she was proud of him. "We both said we need to go home right away for the cookout. I know it's going to be crazy. The whole family is going to be there," he said of celebrating their wins.
After the win, Reese said she was proud to help grow women's basketball. One thing she does not want to change: Which team gets to visit the White House. It is customary for the winning team to visit, but first lady Jill Biden said she was going to suggest to the president that Iowa should attend too, "because they played such a good game."
In a tweet, Reese called that idea a "joke." And in her ESPN interview, Clark agreed that only the winners should attend. "That's for LSU," she said on "SportsCenter." "They should enjoy every single second of being the champion. I think that's theirs to do."
"I don't think runner-ups usually go to the White House. LSU should enjoy that moment for them. And congratulations, obviously, they deserve to go there. Maybe I could go to the White House [someday] on different terms," she said.
Iowa's head coach Lin Bauer has instead invited Mrs. Biden to visit their arena.
