Angel Reese Explains Why She Mimicked Caitlin Clark

As LSU put the finishing touches on its 102-85 national championship game victory over Iowa, Tigers players got the celebration under way as the final seconds ticked off. And no one drew more attention the LSU star forward Angel Reese.

Reese, who dominated on the interior and finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds, had something up her sleeve for Iowa’s Caitlin Clark. Reese imitated the famous John Cena “can’t see me” gesture, which Clark broke out during Iowa’s Elite Eight win over Louisville.

After the game, Reese was asked what motivated her to pull out that move at the game’s conclusion, and she pointed to some of Clark’s past actions which she took as disrespect.

“Caitlin Clark is a hell of a player for sure, but I don’t take disrespect lightly,” Reese said. “And she disrespected Alexis [Morris] and my girls [from] South Carolina. They’re still my SEC girls, too, y’all not gonna disrespect them either. I wanted to pick her pocket, but I had a moment at the end of the game, that was in my bag.”

Reese also pointed out in the post-game media session how differently her move has been received compared to when Clark did it earlier in the tournament.

Clark, who has had no shortage of instances talking trash during her tournament run, taunted South Carolina’s Raven Johnson by not bothering to guard her at the three-point line and offering a dismissive wave in her direction. Leading up to Sunday’s game, Morris described the way Iowa played defense and dared South Carolina’s guards to shoot as “disrespectful,” per ESPN’s Andrea Adelson, and said she took it personally.

Morris finished the game with 21 points, with 19 coming in the second half.