welcome media we are joined by LSU coach Kim mky and the student athletes Flo Johnson Angel Ree and Haley van lith and we'll open with comments from the coach thank you I'm good good to go thank you let's start with the student athlete questions up here first Pat Eden Rob with the Associated Press angel I know it hurts now but you had mentioned just kind of what a wild ride this team has been on for the last year can you kind of describe what it's meant to you what it's been like for you both th
e the positives and the you know the negatives yeah we we we we've seen everything this year um we have been through so much adversity so I'm more than proud of this team um we don't have that much debt we had some injuries some time I took some time away from the team um so many things happened this year and so many things hit us and we never folded and just being able to come out tonight and give our all for 40 minutes we didn't we came up short but we we we we have to keep our heads High Andr
e Adon with ESPN for Angel we saw you going to I think fell into the cameras uh in the second quarter um did you twist your ankle at all with would be the the first question did that affect you for the rest of the game if if it did affect you yeah I did roll my ankle on one of the cameras um and I mean I'm tough so I tried to play through it of course and this is something that has been going on for a little while now but I played through it and I'm not going to make that an excuse um for the re
st of my play for the game go ahead uh Michael Cobble WBZ TV in Baton Rouge for Haley and for f just what a tough cover Caitlyn is I mean obviously you were fighting all night but uh just the challenge that that she presents yeah uh Caitlin's very skilled she's a great player um she hit some tough shots um and there's not a whole lot you can do about some of the thre she hit um and I think you know her role the team around her that plays a role they did a good job of executing their role so you
know ultimately they played better than us and that's what it was right behind NOP behind thank you hi uh sorry uh M Adler from the next FL J wanted to ask specifically just sort of going off that last question you know you had a few possessions against Caitlyn down in the fourth quarter you're able to force some turnovers Force some misses what went into you know taking on that matchup and uh trying to help spark a a run I mean U just study her film I think my length kind of bothered her um I'm
aggressive I just wasn't scared you know what I'm saying when you play a player like that like you got look him in the eyes and really take on that challenge um just Tred to force her to her left I know she wanted to step back and my length can you know bother her a little bit but you know I got to be better Howard mult the next um congratulations the season you guys have had FJ if I could hear you uh on Angel and the type of leadership that she's provided for this team and Angel can you just t
ake me through what it meant to see what FJ was able to do in a game like this to you know put up 23 points and and be a factor on both ends bro let me tell you something everybody could have their opinion on Angel re um but y'all don't know her put your hand like y'all don't know Angel Reese I know Angel Reese I know the real angel Reese and the person I see every day is a strong person is a caring loving person bro the crown she wear is heavy bro she's the type of teammate that's going to make
you believe in yourself the the leap that I took from my freshman the sophomore year Angel gave me that confidence to go be a dog playing next to a dog every day and you know just to see how the media ridicu her went through our problems but like this my sister right here and I'm so proud of her like the media y'all how they like to twist and call it a villain and all of that y'all don't know Angel bro and I'm just happy that I get to play with her I get to be around her presence her energy is
different like she she just made me a better player she made me a better player and that's what great players do I'll say something too um I think you know Angel is one of the toughest people I've been around facts um people speak hate into her life I've never seen people wish bad things on someone as much as her and and it does not affect her she comes to practice every day she lives her life every day she she lives how she wants to live and she don't let nobody change that and you know that's
the that's the key to life right there y'all do not get to her let me say it again y'all do not get to Angel Reese so you might want to give it up throw the towel in cuz you're wasting your energy so Angel's one of the toughest people I've been around right here go ahead uh D sesy outkick.com Angel do you have any thoughts on your uh future plans in basketball I'll make a decision when I'm ready uh Jac did you say WV and Bon Rouge to to any of the players the third quarter what what do you think
kind of went wrong there it seems like you little snake bit balls just rolled off the rim and some tough turnovers and so forth yeah it's pretty much it they uh they outscored Us in the third quarter um I think that was just experience turnovers like you said I I take that on the chin I feel like I got to be better uh just just communicating with my team better getting us into the offense better like I got to be better I think as a team that third quarter you know kind of went under never came
back up per se you know what I'm saying but it was just it was small mistakes those everything everyday things we do in practice that you know bad pass here turnover here defense Mis execution transition you know what I'm saying so it's going to be things that we got to clean up but we take that on the chin that okay go ahead right here I didn't have a you you had your hand up go behind then you did Ben Pikman from the athletic um this is for and Angel it seemed like Angel when you fouled out yo
u walked over to the sideline and you put your arm around and F put your arm around you um just what did you guys say in that moment and what was that moment like for you both yeah just telling her just to keep leading the team um and don't give up and keep fighting I mean f has done a great job when I'm down or not having my best game being able to have a player like a teammate like f as a sophomore only a sophomore step up and just lead the team and through everything she's led the team throug
hout the whole year so we've had that relationship and just being able to talk to her in that moment was great yeah she was just just like they said she was just holding me accountable you know I was telling her cheer us on cheer us on keep us going you know what I'm saying that's all I could do right there Erica L with CBS sports.com Angel this question will be for you if if you are willing to share what was going through your mind as you heard your two teammates Ates right here on the de just
taking the the opportunity to to really stand up for you and and what your journey has been like that we don't get to see I don't really get to stand up for myself I mean I have great teammates I have a great support system I got my hometown I got my family that stands up for me I don't really get to speak out on things just because I just try to ignore and I just try to stand strong like I've been through so much I've seen so much I've been attacked so many times death threats I've been sexuali
zed I've been threatened I've been so many things and I've stood strong every single time and I just try to stand strong for my teammates because I don't want them to see me down and like not be there for them so I just want to always just know like I'm still human like all this has happened since I won the national championship and I said the other day I haven't had peace since then and it sucks and but I still wouldn't change I wouldn't change anything and I would still sit here and say like I
'm unapologetically mean I'm going to always leave that Mark and be who I am and stand on that and hopefully the little girls that look up to me and hopefully I give them some type of inspiration that know hopefully it's not this hard and all the things that come at you but keep being who you are keep waking up every day keep Mo being motivated staying who you are stay in t toes don't back down and just be confident this is for uh cam can you talk a little bit let's wait till they leave sure sur
e um only players right now thank you sorry about that this for Ang uh can I same question for Angel and all three of you what what is the impact of the LSU Iowa rivalry on women's basketball let's start with angel thank you um I think it's just great for the sport just being able to be a part of History um like I said no matter which way it went um tonight I know this was going to be a night for the ages and just being able to be a part of history is great playing against another great player o
f course is always amazing and our viewership going up and I'm sure so many different people watched us tonight so I'm just happy to be here I'm happy to just keep raising women's sports not just women women's basketball but just women's sports in general flj yeah um it's good for the game um women's basketball has going to new heights I'm happy to be a part of it just happy to happy to be a part of it you know it's not all the times you get to see players like Caitlyn Clark and Angel Rees you k
now what I'm saying and I'm just blessed last year I was a freshman seeing everything this year I'm a sophomore able to con um you know contribute next year I'mma leave my mark grow the game Haley yeah like they said I mean you know it's an honor to be a part of it it was an honor to be in that moment um and the best thing about rivalries is they don't end so LSU and I will will play each other again and um you know we'll have another opportunity last one last one is here angel uh it seemed like
you had a nice uh U exchange with the Caitlyn the handshake line you mind sharing kind of what what you seem you know what you told her yeah um she just told me continue to be a great player and I told her um continue to be a great player as well and keep elevating the game and go win it thank you to the student athletes for your time this week we appreciate it thank you good job good job baby good job y'all thank you thank you we'll now take questions for the coach start here second row hi coa
ch uh two quick questions first you know it seemed like where are you from sorry yes identify name and affiliation sorry M Adler from the next uh two quick questions just what went into the strategy in terms of how you wanted to defend uh Caitlyn Clark um and then also just wondering you know it seemed like you had a long Embrace and some kind boards for after the game in the handshake line just wondering if if you wanted to share what those were well there's not a whole lot of strategy you got
to guard her nobody else seems to be able to guard her we didn't even guard her last year when we beat them um she's just a generational player and um she just makes everybody around her better that's what the great ones do I think they had a kid that scored 21 and 18 she had 12 assists Kaylin Clark's not going to beat you by herself it's what she does to make those other teammates better that helps her score points and them score points to beat you um what did I say to her I said I sure am glad
you leaving I said girl you something else never seen anything like it right here and then up here Michael Cobell WBZ TV uh were you surprised at all at the pace of that first quarter yes I um been talking to my team we played to their pace and um back we ended the first quarter with the lead no but no back first I think their Pace dictated um that third quarter I think it really it really hit us in the third quarter that pace Kim Nancy armor USA Today sports how hobbled are how limited was Ang
el and can you talk about the performance that she had despite that injury um I didn't ask anybody you know how bad the sprain is and honestly I'm assuming it's the same ankle that she sprained in the SEC um tournament um but you're In the Heat of the Moment you know she's playing um trainer never came to see me to give me any details you know so I don't know that angel or I either one would ever make an excuse that her being hobbled was why we lost the game Dan zesi outkick.com coach your team
wasn't on the floor during the national anthem uh first part was that a conscious decision on your part second uh can you say what the team was doing during that time honestly I don't even know when the anthem was played we kind of have a routine where we are on the floor and then they come off at the 12 minute mark um we just I don't know we come in and we do our pregame stuff um I'm sorry I listen that's nothing intentionally done uh jacqu did you say wfv and Baton Rouge uh coach your player s
aid some very passionate and animated comments just now about angel and treatment and um criticism and whatnot I just your thoughts of what you just listened to um I'm going to assume something here now I'm going to assume they're talking about social media attacks and I don't I don't see all that I don't do social media I thought it was heartwarming I thought it was um touching they are young people that are on social media and that is their teammate and um it sounded like to me they've been wa
nting to get that off their chest so I just listened like you guys [Music] did re read Darcy with the advocate in Ben Rouge coach when you look back at this season what do you think you're going to remember and feel the most proud I'm going to feel very proud um I'm going to um think of the little things that we overcame that um put us in an elite eight you're one game away from going back to the final four and I'm going to eventually think of how did we get here how did we get here what what di
d we do as a team and as a staff to get to this moment so basically I guess what I'm telling you is you learn you learn I learn every day as a coach um I look at this stat sheet and I just put a lot of little notes down there and I'll file it away and think about it when the emotion of a loss goes away um we shot the ball y'all almost 20 times more than they did so that's the pace I'm talking about and then you look at that second and especially the third quarter where we just miss shots um you
you'll dissect things like that and um yeah I could probably tell you a bunch of things you'll dissect X's and O's wise um reverse the ball just a little bit tougher in the moment um depth I mean you could you could just sit and talk all day about the game um only one team finishes the season happy and boy we got to do that last year and somebody will get to do it this year but everybody else is going to come up here and be sad and you know there's nothing wrong with being sad if you're not sad
that means you didn't invest much so those tears are tears of investment P Rob from the Associated Press Kim your players have talked about how since a calendar year ago they have become world famous for good for bad how has that strengthened your team changed these young women and what does it mean for these the group going that that will be coming back and going forward T I've been doing this almost 40 years that doesn't count as a player we've changed people we've changed and we've changed in
so many good ways and these young people will have a memory of being a part of something that was this great tonight being many of them being a part of winning a championship last year um I Can't Describe to you how good it is right now in women's basketball that's why I wish this game could have been at that the final four wow sure was good for an Elite 8 game and um we're proud to be a part of that um good bad indiff um our world our world has has changed a lot when you talk about what they w
ere just talking about social media I am honestly so oblivious to what those kids see hear and even participate in when it comes to social media I know things when I need to know them from coaches or administrators or I need to address things but I don't I don't invest in any any of that I just I don't so if you want me to know something you better send it to me otherwise I don't see it unless a family member or a team member or some somebody you know brings it to my attention here and then the
last one in the middle go ahead hey coach Asar Johnson from MV Sports um I wanted to ask you at Haley van LIF is clearly her last last game um if you could just and I'm pretty sure having a night she had um if you just speak to the contribution that she brought to this team and everything that she's done cuz one game doesn't Define anything I'm pretty sure if anybody can speak on haly and her contribution you can well I hope it's not her last game but if it is I'm proud to have been her coach fo
r a year you know she's got another year if she wants to come back so does angel uh I know they have to make decisions but um the thing that we talk about a lot on the men's side we talk about one and done right and how you know terrible that is you know you go through a period you can't have you know these players for long periods of time man they're selfish going to take care of them themselves look everybody's different and they got to do what they have to do Haley van lith came to LSU after
being an abundant shooter shot it a lot at at Louisville had great success was on good teams but she wanted she graduated in three years with a finance degree she wanted to experience all the things I guess she saw from on from afar with our championship last year and for her to take that leap of faith and leave her comfort zone at Louisville you don't see many players do that when she's was that big a piece to their puzzle um she has embraced learning a new position uh taking less shots our las
t game against UCLA I thought her stats were very good but I'm an old point guard and I see all that um forever indebted to Haley and her unselfish play to come to LSU to play with a lot of great players and learn a new position last one go ahead just the growth that we've seen from FL ID again in affiliation Michael Cobell WBZ TV and Baton R the growth we've seen from and for Angel to sit there and say you know the leadership qualities that she showed this year what does that do for your team c
oming back next year well all three of these young ladies were um voted captains and for FL to be selected as one of the captains as a sophomore um pretty much sums it up uh she is just a a person of Joy she just plays the game with a lot of um heart and she's learning to become a leader at a young age and um I'm glad I get to coacher coach thank you very much for your time this week you're welcome for
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