As the Tigers finally put their hands on their first ever national title with an impressive 102-85 victory over Iowa this Sunday, the internet debated if the way the LSU athletes celebrated was “classless” or fair. After Louisiana star Angel Reese recorded 15 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 steals in the championship match, she began making fun of Hawkeyes star Caitlin Clark.
The sophomore foward began conmemorating with under a minute remaining to the final buzzer, making John Cena’s “You can’t see me” gestures to try and mock the Iowa player. Reese then showed her ring finger to Clark’s face.
Take a look at the LSU star’s controversial celebration and judge it yourselves:
— sports (@ilikesportsvids) April 2, 2023
Reese eventually got the opposite reaction to what she expected in social media, as most have deemed her to lack maturity, while many have showed praise for the championship runner up. After the contest, the young player ignored the criticism and said she can’t change her personality.
“All year I was critiqued about who I was,” Reese stated. “I don’t fit the narrative. I don’t fit in a box that y’all want me to be in. I’m too hood. I’m too ghetto. Y’all told me that all year. But when other people do it, y’all say nothing.
“So this was for the girls that look like me, that’s going to speak up on what they believe in. It’s unapologetically you. That’s what I did it for tonight. It was bigger than me tonight. It was bigger than me. Twitter is going to go on a rage every time, and I’m happy. I feel like I’ve helped grow women’s basketball this year. I’m super happy and excited. So I’m looking forward to celebrating in the next season.”
Hours later, Reese showed everything but remorse after her polemic gestures during the match, and actually posted a photo of herself waving her hands in front of her face.
Clark holds her head high and praised the Tigers for their incredible exhibition
Even though the internet went mad over Reese’s taunts, Caitlin Clark didn’t give a lot of attention to it. Believe it or not, the Iowa star said she had “no idea” that the LSU player was making these gestures, assuring she was focused on the game and simply feels grateful to have competed for the championship title until the final second.
“All you can do is hold your head high, be proud of what you did, and all the credit in the world to LSU,” she expressed after the contest. “They were tremendous, they deserve it. They had a tremendous season. Kim Mulkey coached them so, so well. She’s one of the best basketball coaches of all time, and she only said really kind things to me in the handshake line, so I’m very grateful for that too.”
Check out the higlights of this Sunday’s title match in the video below:
About Reese, Clark insists she has no recollection of her actions. “But honestly I have no idea,” the Hawkeye star said. “I was just trying to spend the last few moments on the court with especially the five people that I’ve started 93 games with and relishing every second of that.”
The Iowa sensation chose to leave the 2022/23 campaign on the high road, as she knows she broke the record for most points in a single NCAA Tournament for both men’s and women’s competitions with 191, and she’s off to an amazing start of her professional career.
