Angel Reese’s 743 Days of Hard Work Have True Meaning as Coach Kim Mulkey Celebrates Major LSU Feat

The 2024 WNBA recently welcomed 22-year-old Angel Reese with a hoot of cheers as she transitioned from her celebrated college career to the professional league. However, the 2023 NCAA champion had one final step to tick off her previous chapter. And today, as she fulfills, Louisiana State University head coach Kim Mulkey is one among many to stand in pride. 

Mulkey shared a post on Reese through her Instagram story. The post had the Chicago Sky rookie posing with her crown, originally shared by the official LSU Basketball handle. “LSU Graduate, @agnelreese5,” she wrote, congratulating the 22-year-old as she took her bow as a part of the class of 2024.

The post was enough for one to reminisce her 743 days with the LSU. She had transferred to the LSU from the Maryland Terrapins in the 2022-23 season. In her first campaign for the program, Reese clinched the NCAA Championship trophy, showing considerable improvement in her stats. While at the Terrapins she averaged 17.8 points per game in her sophomore year, Reese averaged a whopping 23 points per contest during her junior year.

Other than that, Reese also received the NCAA Most Outstanding Player of the Year award in 2023 and got called to the Unanimous First American team. During her senior year, Reese failed to replicate the championship success, nonetheless a popular player in the NCAA. Reese averaged a decent 18.6 points per game with 13.4 rebounds per match. She grew to be a double-double queen for the LSU, drawing a response from Chicago Sky in her WNBA draft soon after. 

How has Angel Reese performed in the WNBA?

After making her way into the WNBA, Reese smashed 13 points in her preseason debut against the Minnesota Lynx. She followed that up with another 13 and 12 points against the New York Liberty and the Dallas Wings for the season opener. In doing so, Reese has also struggled with that basket securing only 2 successful free throws out of 8 attempts in her debut and posting no 3pts so far. 

Nonetheless, Wings’ guard Arike Ogunbowale believes Reese did good for her start. “She’s a great player on and off the court. … This is her first game, obviously, she has a long career [ahead of her] but this is a good start for her so I think she’s gonna keep getting better,” she says. And the 22-year-old herself plans to grow to be a better version of her current self.

“Of course, I’m not settling to be who I am right now. I want to always grow my game,” she said pre season. Coach Teresa Weatherspoon has revealed her pointers for the young talent and hopes to “develop” on it as the league proceeds. “She’s very confident in everything,” Weatherspoon iterates and the WNBA awaits the result it yields.