The Rivalry: LSU's Angel Reese Clears The Air On Relationship With Iowa's Caitlin Clark

Reese and Clark have helped grow the women's game, another chapter of the rivalry to unfold on Monday.

All-American forward Angel Reese has helped grow the women's basketball game ever since taking her game to Baton Rouge two years ago.

The superstar forward has brought eyes to the sport, and with the help of Caitlin Clark, it's seen an uptick in views over the last 12 months.

Now, another chapter of their rivalry will unfold on Monday night in New York with a chance to punch their ticket to the Final Four.

Reese joined Flau'jae Johnson and Hailey Van Lith to talk about the matchup with Reese discussing her "rivalry" with Clark:

The full Q/A from Sunday:

Q. Angel and Hailey, your coach was just up here saying it's kind of unfortunate that this game is a regional final. It might be better for the game if you were playing them in the Final Four. I wonder if I could get your thoughts on that.

ANGEL REESE: I mean, it's just another game to help grow women's basketball. It's going to be unfortunate, of course, to play them just in the Regionals, but of course we're just happy to be a part of it. We're happy where we are right now. We really can't complain about it.

I know a lot of people are going to watch the game, and then the next round more people are going to watch that game. Just keep bringing attention to the game. So I wouldn't complain about it.

HAILEY VAN LITH: I don't really think it's necessarily a bad thing. We were going to have to play each other at some point. Maybe it is a little early for some people's liking, but that's nothing that you can control.

Q. I don't know how much time you've had to watch film, but I was curious looking at sort of the post player differences, one big thing for Iowa, what does Hannah Stuelke present that maybe Monika didn't present last year? What are the similarities or differences there, and how does she change this year?

ANGEL REESE: I really like Hannah's game. She's a strong post player. She's more versatile than Czinano, so I know I'm going to have to guard her much higher than I had to guard Czinano last year. Czinano was very, very efficient around the basket as well, and Hannah is, too, but I'm going to have to guard her more out of the paint this game. She also rebounds. She rebounds really, really well.

I think our advantage is going to be at that 4 spot. Aneesah is going to do a great job and then Aalyah being able to come in, too. We have some depth this year being able to do that.

Q. Flau'jae, guarding Caitlin Clark, you're going to spend some time on her, I assume. What does that mean to you, and how will you go about doing that?

FLAU'JAE JOHNSON: She's just a great player. Last year I got to switch on her early in the game, and I was like, she's not going to pull that for real, and then she pulled it for real from half court, and she made it. I was like, whoa. Kind of had spurts and moments getting in switches with her.

So it'll be a good display for me. It's just like I want to compete at the highest level, and right now Caitlin is the highest level. So if I can defend her, try to contain her and get the win, we'll be fine. There's no stopping her, but containing her, I'm going to take on that challenge.

Q. Hailey, last year the championship game, where were you watching the game from, and what were your impressions of it?

HAILEY VAN LITH: Yeah, I was actually watching the game back at my place at my old school, and I just remember just the excitement of the game and the emotions that you could see through the TV, and you just felt like it was a huge moment for women's basketball.

I felt like a weird, like, drawing to how emotional the game was, and I felt like I really related to that, and that's how I played and stuff. I remember exactly where I was when I watched it.

Q. Hailey, last night's ballgame you didn't have a ton of points, but you did a lot on the stat sheet. Coach Mulkey talked about your contribution. How has it been for you in this tournament and even though you might not be getting the points that you're accustomed to but you've contributed to this team?

HAILEY VAN LITH: Yeah, I mean, I think at the end of the day, I'm just trying to make winning plays, and I think in the fourth quarter I was able to come up with some winning plays for us.

I would rather be known as a winner than a scorer because at the end of the day, if all you're going to ask me to do is score, that's something that I can definitely do.

Yeah, I think at this point it's about making winning plays.

Q. When you play a team in a rematch in pretty close proximity like you guys are going to have tomorrow, is it easier to be the team that has won the first game or the team that has lost the first game?

ANGEL REESE: Obviously the team that has won the first game. The scouting report going into the game last year is the same scouting report going into the game this year. Caitlin Clark is who she is. We're going to have to contain her as best we can. She's an amazing player.

Of course last year the scouting report was just to contain her as best as we can and not let the surrounding players score as much as they could. So we're going to do the same thing again this year. She's scoring 30 when they win, and she's scoring 30 when they lose. It's a win-win-lose situation with it, so we're just going to have to not allow those other players to score.

Q. Kim was just up here and saying that we make too much of the trash talk. Both of you were at the center of that circle last year. Now a year later, how do you view it? Is it just something for y'all on the court and everybody else should just let it be what it is?

HAILEY VAN LITH: Yeah, I mean, it's part of the game. It's a part of why people want to watch the game.

I think, when you think about hockey and the fights, people like to see that. That's not why we do it. It's our personalities. It's what makes the game fun for us.

I think a lot of times people make assumptions, and they don't really know what we're saying and they don't really know the backstory or anything leading up to it. That's nothing that we can control, and at the end of the day, if that's what people want to complain and talk about, it is what it is, but that doesn't mean we're going to change.

I think enough people enjoy it, obviously, because women's basketball is doing better than it's ever done.

You can choose to focus on the people that say bad things about it, but at the end of the day, they're talking online for a reason. If they were in this situation -- they would never be in that situation to begin with because they're too busy commenting on other people's lives.

ANGEL REESE: Respect. For me, I don't think people realize it's not personal. Once we get out between those lines, if I see you walking down the street, it's like, hey, girl, what's up, let's hang out. I think people just take it like we hate each other. Me and Caitlin Clark don't hate each other. I want everybody to understand that. It's just a super competitive game.

I just wish people would realize that. Once I get between those lines, there's no friends. I have plenty of friends on the court that I talk to outside of the game, but like when I get between those lines, we're not friends. We're not buddies. I'm going to talk trash to you. I'm going to do whatever it takes to get in your head the whole entire game, but after the game we can kick it. I don't think people really realize that.

That's fine. I'll take the villain role. I'll take the hit for it. But I know we're growing women's basketball. If this is the way we're going to do it, then this is the way we're going to do it. You either like it or you don't.

Q. Hailey, you had said you felt drawn watching LSU in the title game. How much did that title game and watching it impact your decision to join them?

HAILEY VAN LITH: I had watched LSU before, and just the excitement that the bench had, the coaches had, the players had playing with each other. I don't know if the title game was a huge -- it was more just the energy that I could feel through the screen, the energy of the games that I had seen before.

Yeah, I mean, it made me -- like I was like, I want to play on that team, and so obviously the emotions I felt in that moment definitely played a part in who I chose to reach out to when I was in the portal.

Q. Angel, you talk about the trash talk. I'm wondering, do you use it as part of your strategy to try to get opponents off of their game?

ANGEL REESE: I think honestly it just gets me going. It's where I'm from. I'm from Baltimore, so that's just kind of what we do. I like to get things going. Especially if I'm having a rougher game and I get a basket, I'm trying to hype myself up and get myself going. It's not -- like I said, it's not personal to the other player on the other team, but it is what it is. You take it how you want.

Q. Angel and Hailey, regardless if you decide to come back or not for another year, you left the game in a better spot than it was before you came in and started playing. Is that something you think is important for your legacy is, hey, women's basketball has been lifted because of what you guys have done on and off the court?

ANGEL REESE: Yeah, I always wanted to leave my impact, just being able to have people say that she changed my life, she gave me inspiration, she gave me confidence, and I think I've done that in so many different ways.

Being a great player is amazing, but being able to have little girls or even grown women come up to me just like, thank you, thank you for being who you are, thank you for speaking out on things that I'm too scared to speak out on or I don't have the platform to use, just being able to have that person.

If basketball was taken from me today, I would know my impact that I've left on so many different people.

HAILEY VAN LITH: Yeah, I agree. When it goes back to the younger generation -- I just remember being a kid growing up and there was never any women's basketball games on TV. You didn't really hear about the WNBA. I was looking up to men's players. I wanted to be Kyrie, and I wanted to be Steph. I wasn't like, I want to be Sue Bird. There just wasn't any coverage.

I think today young girls can see themselves in other female athletes. We're there on TV. We're in their face. They can relate to us.

I think that that's really special. At the end of the day, that's what it's about.