ALBANY, N.Y. — LSU’s Angel Reese said Sunday she has no hard feelings toward Iowa’s Caitlin Clark as the two stars prepare for a rematch — this time in the Elite Eight.
Much has been made about the competitive fire and trash talk both players display when they are on the court. But when Reese pointed at her finger and made the John Cena “You can’t see me” hand gesture at Clark as LSU closed out its victory over Iowa in the national championship game last year, the discourse surrounding both her trash talk and relationship with Clark intensified.
Reese was once again asked Sunday about talking trash, particularly as it relates to what happened last year.
“I don’t think people realize it’s not personal,” Reese said. “Once we get out between 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 just take it like we hate each other. Me and Caitlin Clark don’t hate each other. I want everybody to understand that. It’s just a super-competitive game. Once I get between those lines, there’s no friends. I’m going to talk trash to you. I’m going to do whatever it takes to get in your head the whole entire game, but after the game, we can kick it. I don’t think people really realize that.
“That’s fine. I’ll take the villain role. I’ll take the hit for it, but I know we’re growing women’s basketball. If this is the way we’re going to do it, then this is the way we’re going to do it. You either like it or you don’t.”
Reese described her relationship with Clark as “super-competitive,” noting the two had been playing each other since high school and then again when Reese started her career at Maryland.
Asked about the way Larry Bird and Magic Johnson were always linked after playing each other in the national championship game, and whether that applies to Clark and her, Reese said: “People do compare that matchup all the time, but I’ve never seen the matchup, so I’m not really familiar with it.”
Clark said she saw similarities in her game with Reese that gave them something in common.
“There’s definitely that competitive fire,” Clark said. “Both of us want to win more than anything, and that’s how it should be when you’re a competitor and you get into a situation like this, whether it was the national championship, whether it’s the Elite Eight.
“I think that’s the main similarity is how competitive we are. We both grew up loving this game, and we’re going to do anything we can to help our teams win.”
If that includes a little bit of trash talk, so be it.
“It’s part of the game,” LSU guard Hailey Van Lith said. “When you think about hockey and the fights, people like to see that. That’s not why we do it. It’s our personalities. It’s what makes the game fun for us. I think enough people enjoy it, obviously, because women’s basketball is doing better than it’s ever done. You can choose to focus on the people that say bad things about it, but at the end of the day, they’re talking online for a reason.”
