ALBANY, N.Y. (CBS/AP) — It was the defining moment of last year’s national championship game.
With the win secured, LSU’s Angel Reese pointed and flashed the “you can’t see me” gesture (waving her hand in front of her face) at Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, who had made a similar gesture earlier in the tournament . .
The move sparked a trash talk in the women’s game, which is being renewed as the two stars prepare to meet again Monday in the Albany 2 regional final.
“I don’t think people realize it’s not personal,” Rees said Baltimore native, he said. “Once we get out of those lines, if I see you walking down the street, it’s like, ‘Hey, girl, what’s up?’ let’s hang out.’ I think people think of it like we hate each other. Me and Caitlin Clark don’t hate each other. I want everyone to understand that. It’s just a super competitive game.”
Clark agrees that trash talking is just part of the game. When she does, she said, it’s to spark herself and her teammates, not to put any opponent down or get in their head.
“We both want to win more than anything, and that’s the way it should be when you’re a competitor and you’re in a situation like this, whether it was the National Championship or the Elite Eight,” he said.
But Rees coach Kim Mulkey questions whether the reaction to the players’ jaws and gestures goes beyond simple misunderstanding of competitive fire and sexism, noting that no one seems to care about trash talk in the men’s game.
“I don’t choose to focus on it because you see it all the time if you turn on and watch professional games,” he said. “I was a trash talker. I mean, thank God I didn’t have everybody following me and cameras and everything. You’re out there trying to chase it.”
LSU guard Hailey Van Lith said she doesn’t expect people outside the game to understand that, especially those who have never played at this level.
Besides, he said, trash talking is fun.
“It’s part of why people want to watch the game,” he said. “I think when you think about hockey and the games, people like to see that. It’s not why we do it. It’s our personalities. It’s what makes the game fun for us.”
No. 9 LSU – the defending national champions – secured the No. 2 seed in the SEC Tournament. Reese was an All-American and Final Four Most Valuable Player last season.
He played high school basketball at St. Frances of Baltimore before joining the University of Maryland for two seasons.