Last year, LSU basketball player Angel Reese was named the MVP of the Final Four.
She earned a niche in the Taunting Hall of Fame with her late-game antics as LSU put away Iowa.
Angel Reese trash talking and taunting Caitlin Clark👀👑🏆🔥🦾 Ring me 💍😂😂😂 #SetItOff #NATIONALCHAMPIONSHIP #LSU pic.twitter.com/t076qKPamj
— HarrietEve9 (@HarrietEve9) April 2, 2023
But on Monday, the picture was different as LSU became the first No. 1 team or defending champion to lose a season opener since UConn did so in 1995, according to ESPN.
Before LSU took to the floor for a women’s basketball game against Colorado, Angel Reese wore a crown.
After Colorado defeated last year’s NCAA national champions 92-78 on Monday, it was Colorado jabbing LSU on X with a post reading “LS- Who?”
LS-Who?#GeauxBuffs pic.twitter.com/sLfQuNQKv1
— Colorado Women’s Basketball 🦬 (@CUBuffsWBB) November 7, 2023
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Reese scored 15 points but shot six for 15 and racked up four fouls, according to Yahoo Sports.
Social media did not offer much comfort.
Angel Reese and LSU got destroyed by Colorado to start the season, and the reactions on social media were incredible.
Turns out Angel Reese, who wore a crown before the loss, isn’t very popular with some people.
CHECK IT OUT: https://t.co/JtM0r8dlDI pic.twitter.com/FcS5fDGMdI
— OutKick (@Outkick) November 7, 2023
Angel Reese has her crown put on during her player introduction. The defending women’s national champions are about to start their season.
— Derek Young (@DerekYoungKSO) November 7, 2023
Well. That’s one way to quiet down the hype.
— Steve Paris (@StevieParis2) November 7, 2023
When attention and self promotion come before the game………….karma. https://t.co/bGTkAdNVKO
— ManniFresh (@Mannifresh25) November 7, 2023
LSU gotta get off social media and get back to work
— Monke🍌 (@GorillaMonkey13) November 7, 2023
Couldn’t happen to a worse group of people. https://t.co/pnAnFgxmFq
— Mike Young 2020 (@Hokies2022) November 7, 2023
Writing on Outkick, avid Hookstead offered some perspective.
“Let’s take a little bit of a step back in time. She taunted Caitlin Clark to no end in the NCAA Tournament title game, and it was a lot more than just simple trash talk. She went out of her way to make a scene for seemingly no reason at all. Then, Angel Reese threatened to boycott the White House after Jill Biden, who probably isn’t exactly a diehard college basketball fan, suggested inviting Iowa and LSU,” he wrote.
Hookstead said Reese invited what she is getting.
“Angel Reese invited all the attention she could find after winning a ring. No issue with that. Talk your game if you want, but understand that when you do, you open the door for massive criticism. The LSU star is currently trending and the reactions are overwhelmingly negative. Furthermore, the SportsCenter score announcement has 4.4 million impressions. Again, the reactions aren’t positive.”
“She literally put on a crown before the game started. You’re inviting people to crush you whenever you lose with those kinds of antics. What were they expecting once the clock hit zero?” he wrote.
LSU coach Kim Mulkey said she tried to talk reality with Reese before the game, according to the New York Post.
“She just understands the spotlight is on her,” Muley told TNT before the game. “I don’t think she realized how quickly it came in how hard it came at her.
“But as I tell her, to whom much is given much as expected. You brought this, you earned this. You wanted this, now grow up and lead us, and she wants to continue to get better in her game. She wants to continue to get better with her leadership,” she said.
After that game, without naming names, she said she was “disappointed and surprised in some individual players that I thought would just be tougher and have a little fight and leadership about them.”
