SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 10, 2024

Kim Mulkey

Angel Reese

Bon Secours Wellness Arena

LSU Lady Tigers

Postgame Press Conference

South Carolina 79, LSU 72

THE MODERATOR: Welcome to the press conference for LSU. We'll begin with questions for Angel.

Q. Have you ever been a part of a game like that one?

ANGEL REESE: No. I've never been a part of a game like that. But of course you know two heavy hitters, we gonna battle. We not scared of them, they not scared of us. We came in, knew what we had. They came in, knew what they had.

It turned in ways we didn't want it to go. I'm proud of this team. We fought. We fought. We fought with five, maybe six healthy players, if that.

Just know we not scared. We're in a place right now that we're proud of. I'm happy where we are right now.

Q. How this team, as shorthanded as you were, this is the No. 1 team in the country, you gave them everything they could handle again today.

ANGEL REESE: We not going to make that an excuse. We're not scared of South Carolina. I'm going to repeat that. We're not scared of South Carolina. A lot of people are scared of them. We came in and battled and battled and battled till the end. Of course, we came up short. But we'll see 'em again. Whoever will see 'em again.

I'm happy. I'm going to acknowledge my teammates first, Janae, Aalyah, they came off the bench and did big things for us. Mikaylah, she was frustrated because she had to do minimum numbers and minimum time. She came out and defended and played as hard as she could.

Being able to be proud of this team, I'm not going to give them all the credit because I know how hard we played. We played hard, we played tough, did whatever it took to win. Sadly, we came up short.

I'm happy where we are right now. Anybody seeing us moving forward should be scared.

Q. Aalyah, big-time minutes. What did you see from her?

ANGEL REESE: I saw her, she the real foreign baddy around here, Aalyah, the freshman, her confidence coming into this game. I told her you can bang with Kamilla Cardoso. You match up with her, keep banging, be confident.

In practice she going against me. Understand how she has gotten better over the past couple months, her confidence building, her condition, finishing around the basket, not being scared. I'm super proud of where she's at. Her confidence just continues to build.

Q. This weekend as a whole, how would you describe it?

ANGEL REESE: It was fun. I mean, we kind of can see where our team is right now, how tough we are. We can't put our heads down because everything we have been through this weekend.

But, again, I'm not going to make that an excuse. We're going to go back, rest up, have a week and a half to see where we're going to placed for the NCAA tournament.

We're in a great place right now. We're going to look back and see the mistakes we made, of course. But I think we're happy where we're at right now.

Q. How can a tournament like this just prepare you guys for that next step?

ANGEL REESE: Yeah, I mean, SEC is, what, one of the best, if not the best, conference in the country. I think seven, eight teams should be in the tournament. There's so many teams we faced this year that held us tight or beat us that should be in the tournament.

I'm happy for the SEC, where we at right now. I think that helps build us to get ready to play these other teams, these other conferences.

I'm just proud of our team, where we are right now, to finish in the championship, where last year we fell short to Tennessee and didn't get there.

LSU has as a program, we're happy where we're at.

Q. Do you all feel fatigued at all?

ANGEL REESE: I think my adrenaline is still going. I could get another quarter. If we had five more minutes, we wanted to go back out there and fight.

This team has been so relentless, all the adversity we faced, missing players, injuries. So many things have happened to us. We can be tired, but we're not tired. Like I said, I think everybody would love to get another five minutes, if we could.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Angel.

ANGEL REESE: Thank you.

THE MODERATOR: We'll take questions for Coach Mulkey.

KIM MULKEY: Good job, baby. Good job.

Q. A game like that, where do you even start? What is going through your mind?

KIM MULKEY: They did exactly what I thought they would do. I got some champions out there. Guys, you got a kid with a gimpy ankle, you got two starters basically. Mikaylah got some minutes. She got cleared to get a few minutes.

We're in a good spot. Angel is right. We're playing some pretty good basketball right now. That's just the God's truth. They got a lot of depth. One kid basically hurt us today, and that was Fulwiley. You look at the stats. How can you not leave here and go, God, I wish the playoffs started next week?

We'll have everybody back. Everybody's good to go. So the NCAA, you don't need to call me and ask if Mikaylah Williams is good, you don't need to ask me if Angel Reese is good, don't need to ask me about Poa. She's in concussion protocol. We are playing our best basketball.

Congratulations to South Carolina. They made plays when we would cut the lead. Turnovers killed us today. Turnovers. It was very, very physical.

Q. Forgive me, I have to ask. What was your vantage point of what shook out in the last couple minutes of the game?

KIM MULKEY: Well, let me say this. Do you realize there was only one foul called on each team with two minutes to play in the fourth quarter? Are you kidding me? That might have created some of that. Not the way we play. We gonna foul your ass. Not the way they play. They're going to foul your ass. But you only blew that whistle one time? Think about that now. Flau'jae, what I saw, intentionally fouled Fulwiley because she stripped her. Great move because she's going to get a layup right there.

Then some jawing went on with her and another player. Then the next thing I know, Cardoso just waylayed her. I ran because somebody came out of the stands, I think was Flau'jae's brother, trying to keep him from doing anything crazy.

That was all I know. I can't tell you from my bench how many left the court. Obviously they saw it on film, said everybody had to go. Then I think one player for South Carolina didn't leave the bench.

But my question is: I don't really know the rules, why weren't the coaches tossed if they left the bench? Wouldn't that be a hell of an ending. But I guess it's just the players that leave the bench area. I don't know.

It's ugly. It's not good. No one wants to be a part of that. No one wants to see that ugliness. But I can tell you this: I wish she would have pushed Angel Reese. Don't push a kid -- you 6'8". Don't push somebody that little. That was uncalled for, in my opinion. Let those two girls that were jawing, let them go at it.

Q. Just to clear it up. Will any of your players be suspended for the next game?

KIM MULKEY: We didn't have any ejections. They had an ejection. They told me Cardoso was the only one ejected for fighting.

Q. Overall weekend, what did you think you learned from your team?

KIM MULKEY: Pretty darn tough. Pretty darn tough. Resilient. They have each other's back. Didn't get rattled. Fought through some adversity with Poa's injury last night to even get to this point.

I'm sure everybody thought, Oh, we're going to be tired, we're not going to be able to compete, they're going to blow us out.

I think you got a different answer today. That was a ballgame out there today.

Q. This team's ability to overcome not having Last-Tear, Mikaylah, the myriad of other things. For you as the coach, how much level of confidence and comfort does it give you when you're in this part of the season, you're about to start the NCAA tournament?

KIM MULKEY: I say let's start playing tomorrow. I love where we are. I love where we are. We're not going to see South Carolina again unless we meet up in the Final Four.

I feel like we'll get a good seed. We'll host the first and second rounds. I feel great. I feel great.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, coach.