With LSU star forward Angel Reese missing in action and little explanation forthcoming from coach Kim Mulkey, the seventh-ranked Tigers are attracting unwanted scrutiny at the outset of their national title defense.
You always have to deal with locker-room issues,” Mulkey said Monday night after LSU beat Texas Southern 106-47 in the second straight game that Reese missedfor undisclosed reasons.
Sometimes you all know about them. Sometimes you don’t. Some times you want to know more than you’re entitled to know," Mulkey continued. “I’m going to protect my players — always. They are like a family.”
On Monday night, Reese was seen only during a pre-game hype video produced before the season, and which features Reese wearing a crown.
Mulkey's reticence regarding Reese — one of the most popular and commercially successful athletes in all of women's college sports — has presented a public relations challenge for LSU and opened perhaps more room for speculation than LSU might have liked.
During a back-and-forth on the social media website Instagram, the mother of sophomore guard Flau'Jae Johnson, Kia Brooks, made a comment about Reese's academic performance.
Reese's mother, Angel Webb Reese, had criticized Brooks' grammar in an earlier post, to which Brooks responded, “You definitely know about grammar errors when your daughter got a 2.0-or-less grade point average.