LSU’s Angel Reese Downplays Bad Blood With Rival Caitlin Clark: ‘I Love Caitlin’

The friendly competition between the two stars ushered women’s college basketball into the national spotlight this spring.

Few American sports rivalries between players this year have come under more scrutiny than the feud between LSU forward Angel Reese and Iowa guard Caitlin Clark.

Back on April 2, Reese led the Tigers to a 102–85 win over the Hawkeyes in the national championship in Dallas. Reese punctuated her 15-point, 10-rebound performance by gesturing toward her ring finger as the clock ran down, a gesture that earned praise and criticism across the country.

Despite the fallout from the gesture, Reese downplayed the notion of any residual animosity between Clark and herself at LSU's media day Thursday.

“I love Caitlin; we’ve been competing since we were in AAU,” Reese told reporters. “It was always fun, always competitive. One day, hopefully, we could even be teammates. She is a great player, shooter, person and teammate.”

Reese expressed that the notion of competition between her and Clark was indicative of the role they’ve both had in expanding the audience of women’s basketball.

“The world is always going to have a good girl and a bad girl. I’ll take that I’m going to be the bad guy because I know I’ve grown women’s basketball and inspired people,” Reese said.

Both players are back for the 2024 season, with no regular season matchup between LSU and Iowa currently scheduled.