LSU star Angel Reese has a ring, records and now the NCAA tournament Most Outstanding Player award.
The sophomore forward received the award Sunday after posting yet another double-double in a 102-85 win over Iowa in the national championship game, giving her an NCAA-record 34 on the season. She finished with 15 points on 5-of-12 shooting with 10 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals.
Across six tournament games, Reese averaged 21.3 points and 15.2 rebounds per game.
Reese transferred to LSU from Maryland last offseason and proved to be the team’s biggest addition in both production and personality. Entering Sunday, she was averaging 23.3 points and 15.6 rebounds per game, earning unanimous first-team All-American and SEC first-team All-Defensive honors.
She was herself into the final minutes of the championship game, including some very targeted trash talk toward National Player of the Year Caitlin Clark in garbage time.
Clark said after the game “she had no idea” Reese was taunting her and said she “was just trying to get to the handshake line and shake hands.”
The talk naturally continued as the Tigers celebrated the win:
Like Clark, Reese will be playing in college again next season, and you can only wonder where she goes from here.
NCAA women’s all-tournament team
Reese and Clark both made the NCAA’s all-tournament team, along with two of Reese’s teammates and South Carolina guard Zia Cooke, who had 24 points and 8 rebounds against Iowa on Friday:
Clark had an argument to take home Most Outstanding Player even in a loss, having averaged 31.8 points and 10 assists per game across the entire tournament, with 41 points in an all-time performance against South Carolina and 30 points against LSU.