“We aren’t as close as we used to be,” Angel Reese admitted about her ex-teammate Flau’jae Johnson. Since Reese has left the NCAA, there has been a growing distance between her and Johnson. Whether this is a result of time constraints or if there is bad blood between the two is not clear. With Reese out of the picture, Johnson would naturally like to take over the reins and emerge as the chief player to give the ‘Chi-Town Barbie’ a solid response if there’s any bone to pick. And LSU head coach Kim Mulkey just might be the key.

On Friday’s episode on her podcast ‘Best of Both Worlds with Flau’jae’, Johnson sat down with Candace Parker when she divulged Mulkey’s advice. The junior revealed that she is mostly clumsy which has her head coach Mulkey asking her to “rebound the ball.”

Furthermore, the rapper also enunciated that the ex-Baylor coach has motivated her to give “give 110%.” This has sometimes also made Johnson doubt her own abilities. “My freshman year I just was like how am I going to do this,” Johnson stated. Nonetheless, she credits Mulkey for pushing her mental strength.

“Mulkey, she always tell us like she just kind of, just make you enjoy the college experience. Because she just be like you know at that next level it’s going to be cutthroat.” The Lady Tiger further added on her podcast, “She going to say the most off-the-wall stuff ever.” All this has helped Johnson as she mentioned, “I’m so much mentally stronger than I was like being able to be poised, being able to make mistakes and recover, and then being able to be efficient.”

Playing for the Maryland Terrapins, Reese transferred to the LSU during the 2022-23 season and led the Lady Tigers to the Championship title in just her first year. The main strategist behind the Tigers’ exceptional display was their new head coach Mulkey, who gave Reese the freedom to be the mainstay, which propelled her to improve her points average from 17.8 to 23 points per game apart from also enhancing her rebounds tally. For her scintillating performances, the NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal even tagged Reese as the best athlete to ever come out from LSU. And now the Hall of Famer head coach has set her eyes on Johnson.

After Reese was drafted as the seventh overall pick, Johnson can become one of the major athletes for the Lady Tigers, who could get them to the Championship title once again. The Savannah-born performed well in her freshman year during the 2022-23 season, mainly adjusting her roles in the team. However, now that Reese has departed, she can get more responsibilities. Last season she averaged 14.9 points per game and it remains to be seen if this year she will uplift her display much like how Reese had done it. Potentially, also get ahead of the LSU-alum’s legacy, especially with how Mulkey has made her mentally tough. Meanwhile, at present, it seems there is some strain between the two stars.

Flau’jae Johnson and Angel Reese don’t want to acknowledge each other

“Yeah, me and Angel, we aren’t as close as we used to be,” Johnson had also accepted on one of her podcast episodes recently. Though she added that she respects Reese and has only positive intentions for her, the LSU junior shows that she was in no mood to acknowledge Reese’s legacy.

In one of the episodes of her podcast, Johnson asked Mikaylah Williams to rate five LSU players on the basis of their college performances. While the rapper had her own name on the list and was rated right under Shaq, Reese’s name was nowhere to be found. Maybe it was this that propelled Reese to do a similar thing with Johnson.

The Sky rookie too responded with equal silence when she revealed the top players she would like to watch this upcoming NCAA season. Although it had Aneesah Morrow’s name, there was no mention of Johnson. And many fans opined that it was just A payback from the double-double queen.

“Oh my gosh it’s my first year not playing college basketball and I miss it so much but you know it’s go Tigers. I’m super excited to see my girl Aneesah Morrow that’s my favorite player this year. I’m excited also to see Juju, I’m excited to see Paige ay, and I’m really excited to see who is gonna draft this year,” Reese had answered.

Hopefully, the two stars will be able to sort out their differences soon and once again become the buddies they were during their college time. As for Johnson, she can choose to follow Mulkey’s advice to get her team another title.