LSU women’s basketball will return to the court with or without Angel Reese on Monday night. The seventh-ranked Tigers host Texas Southern in Baton Rouge for their sixth game of the year.
It is entirely unclear as to whether Reese will be on the floor or if her leave of absence will cause her to miss her second-straight game. Neither she nor head coach Kim Mulkey has provided an update.
However, according to a late-afternoon Instagram story, Reese was in the gym on Saturday.
Does this mean that Bayou Barbie is back with the Bayou Bengals? We don’t know. Her status is unclear.
Reese’s post on Instagram came less than 12 hours after a cryptic message celebrating her relationship hit TikTok early on Saturday morning. It was less than 24 hours after she did not travel with LSU to a road game at Southeastern Louisiana on Friday night.
There is a lot of drama going on in Baton Rouge.
Mulkey initially benched Reese during a win over Kent State on Tuesday. The Final Four MVP from a year ago jacked up a three during the first half and played just 13 minutes. She was not on the court for the entire second half due to what was labeled a “coach’s decision.”
Reese showed her character in wake of the benching and took the high road on social media. It was all very confusing. It was not necessarily cause for significant concern.
And then things got spicy.
Reese’s mom (accidentally?) sparked significant beef with the mother of Flau’jae Johnson, Kia Brooks. Brooks ripped into the Reese family and claimed that Angel carries a truly embarrassing GPA.
It only escalated from there as multiple WNBA players chimed in on the bizarre spat.
Perhaps Brooks is right and Reese’s absence stems from academics. We don’t know for sure.
Either way, once things finally calmed down amongst team moms, speculation only picked up on Friday. Reese was reportedly benched due to her bad attitude. She was not with the team in Hammond.
Mulkey promised to address the situation. However, her extremely sassy statement did not provide any clarity at all. In fact, the 61-year-old, four-time national champion coach was more detailed during an unhinged rant about her ongoing illness than she was about Reese.
All we know is that Reese is still with the team. Mulkey hopes to have her back soon. Hopefully she is okay.
Based off of her Instagram story, Reese was back in the gym on Saturday. LSU plays next on Monday.
It will be curious to see if she is back on the bench, in the starting lineup, or absent all together.