By KACE KIESCHNICK, Tiger Rag Staff Reporter
Former LSU star Angel Reese was treated to a historic showing from the No. 9 LSU women’s basketball team in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on Thursday night. On a night that the team honored the 2023 national champion coming off her third WNBA season, the Tigers set the NCAA record for the largest margin of victory over a Division I opponent, beating Texas Southern 131-22.
Reese was celebrated throughout the night. First, the current Tigers came out in Angel Reese DPOY warm-up shirts, then she received a roaring welcome from the home crowd as she came onto the court with coach Kim Mulkey pregame and she was honored at halftime to acknowledge her record-setting start to her pro career.
“I have so many memories here, and this place will always be home,” Reese said after the game. As you can see, the crowd loves me here, and I just appreciate that.”
Reese transferred to LSU in 2022 for her junior season after two years at Maryland. She immediately became a star. She set a single-season NCAA record with 34 double-doubles and a Southeastern Conference record 555 rebounds as she led the Tigers to their only national championship in the 2023 NCAA Tournament. She was named first team All-SEC and the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four.
“It’s nostalgic,” Reese said of being back in the PMAC. “I got the Bayou Barbie name here and was able to kind of grow my brand here, but also as a basketball player, this is home for me. I was able to win a national championship and make a lot of history here, a lot of moments here, a lot of viral moments.”
Reese’s homecoming has been in the works for months. Mulkey said that her former player reached out to her about returning to Baton Rouge for the first weekend of November to catch a women’s basketball game. She also said she wanted to come to Louisiana to support her brother Julian Reese, who signed a two-way contract with the New Orleans Pelicans in September. The Pelicans host the Minnesota Timberwolves in their first NBA Cup match of the season on Friday night at 7 p.m.
She also said she would be in attendance for the LSU-Alabama football game on Saturday. No. 14 LSU (6-2, 3-2 SEC) hosts No. 5 Alabama (6-2, 4-2 SEC) at 2:30 p.m. in Tiger Stadium.
“I thought it was a great opportunity for me to really come back,” Reese said. My season just ended last week, and I honestly needed something else to do. I’m always like, ‘What’s next? What’s next? What’s next?’ And I think it was the perfect time for me to come and see the girls, and it’s really exciting to see how they continue to thrive.”
Reese’s LSU reunion was almost delayed by a championship celebration. Among the many accolades achieved during her 2026 WNBA season, Reese led the Atlanta Dream to the WNBA finals against the Golden State Valkyries. The series went to seven games, and had Reese’s Dream won that winner-take-all finale, she likely would have had other obligations preventing her from visiting her alma mater.
While Reese perhaps would have rathered celebrating a championship even if it jeopardized her trip to Baton Rouge, she was not down on herself or her team after their 68-63 Game 7 loss to the Valkyries.
“I had an amazing year three,” Reese said. “I’m literally just scratching the surface. I made a lot of history for sure, but the biggest thing for me is winning. I don’t care about anything else outside of winning, and it does suck that we came up short. But Atlanta Dream is just getting started. We are here to stay.”
Reese has already accomplished a lot in her three years since being drafted seventh overall by the Chicago Sky in 2024. She has been named an All-Star all three seasons and was named Defensive Player of the Year and second team All-WNBA this year. In 2026, she set single-season records with 32 double-doubles and 521 rebounds, becoming the first player in history to grab 500 boards in a season.
The 24-year-old is the fastest player to record 1,000 career rebounds (79 games) and 50 double-doubles (65 games). Over her three years in the league, she has averaged 15 points, 12.6 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.5 steals a game. She also led the WNBA in rebounds in all three of her pro seasons.
“I think any player that plays under Coach Mulkey, I think it makes it easy going into the (WNBA) because you’re coached so hard in college, and now when you get to the (WNBA), it makes it so easy,” Reese said of her transition from LSU to pro ball. “When you go from four-hour practices to an hour, I’m like, ‘Well, anymore? Like, what? What else do we have?’”
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