Angel Reese, Alexis Morris Discuss Leadership Roles, Final Four Opportunity
Q. Angel, I saw you a few times late in the game point to your ring finger quite adamantly and then the Sharpie on the broadcast?
ANGEL REESE: Coach Bob Starkey before our game started, he put a Sharpie mark on everyone's finger that they wanted and he told us that every missed shot you had, every back door, if you missed a lay-up, anything, look at that finger and know next play this is what you're built for, and this is what we want.
So he wrote that on everybody's finger, and we pointed at that every single time we messed up, did something wrong, or even just the good things. So we were just super happy and super excited and had a lot of fun tonight.
Q. Alexis, I know you said you wanted your LSU career to end in Dallas. What does it mean to finally get there?
ALEXIS MORRIS: Everything, my journey, everything I've been through with this sport. I love this game. I'm just happy to be able to do it with Coach Mulkey and my teammates and for this program and the people who came before us.
I said it and just spoke it into existence. God did. Texas, I'm coming home, baby.
Q. Angel, I saw before the game you were kind of during warm-ups standing to the side and you're spinning the ball in your hands and kind of had a moment to yourself. I'm curious can you share what you were thinking, your mind set at that moment?
ANGEL REESE: I pray before every game, so that's my time to get my prayer together by myself. I pray in the morning when I wake up. I pray -- I read my demotion every morning, then I pray with Auntie Chanté on staff, then I pray by myself and then I get one more going up before the game.
This year has been something that I've been a lot closer to God, and I think that's why I'm here right now in this position. A year ago -- it's crazy how my life changed in a year. I was back home by this time. So just being able to be in this moment, like Alexis said, God did.
ALEXIS MORRIS: God did.
Q. Angel, in that moment when you hugged Lashae after she had gone down injured, what was going through your head in that moment? What took you out of the game to go give her a hug?
ANGEL REESE: Me and Lashae cool, we go way back. We was talking trash. I don't if y'all saw during the game, all of us was talking trash. So we know each other. This game was fun. We knew what it was going to be in the beginning of the game. Just being able to -- I know she went down and that probably was my fault, so just being able to be there for her and I hope she recovers healthy.
Q. Angel, what did you see from Sa'Myah tonight on the big stage?
ANGEL REESE: Confident freshman. I mean, LaDazhia got in foul trouble early, and for her to come and just being able to be who she is. All year we knew what she was. Those big moments, even coming to the Utah game, she came in and got two big rebounds for us.
So I think Sa'Myah is in a really good place right now. We need Sa'Myah. She knows that we need her. So just keep putting confidence in here every single every moment. I just told me when we were in halftime, I said, no matter how much time you get on the court, make sure you maximize it. And she does that every single time she gets on the court, so I'm super proud of her.
Q. For both of you, just the maturity needed to get through a game like this. Angel said you knew what you were getting into. I'm guessing a defensive slugfest. Even if the offense isn't there to continue to defensively, play your game.
ALEXIS MORRIS: I just think we needed to just relax and calm down and just let the game come to us. We wanted to win so bad. We've dreamed about cutting the nets and I think at first we were just anxious, everybody just wanted to win.
Yeah. I mean we didn't shoot the ball well. We haven't been shooting the ball well in our last two games, but only thing we can control is our defense and our effort. And that's what we did tonight and we let that dictate our game.
ANGEL REESE: Agree with Alexis.
Q. Lex, Miami's Coach Katie was saying you were reason why y'all were cutting the nets and she was sitting in here. Is that vindicating for you to hear from the opposing coach after tonight?
ALEXIS MORRIS: Oh, yeah, she told me when she was walking off, you were the X factor tonight. It's always cool like getting credit, a little recognition. But it wasn't just me, it was also my teammates, my coaches believing in me. Thank you. I appreciate it.
Q. Alexis, what's it like for you to have a front row seat to watch Angel rebound the way she does?
ALEXIS MORRIS: Most of the times I'm just like in awe. I'm like, wow, because it's like -- I can't even describe it. I'm just grateful to have Angel because I don't have to go rebound. Even though Coach Mulkey be like go grab some rebounds. I'm like, for what? Angel is in the paint. Angel is amazing. She's our star. She is who she is.
Q. Angel, what was Coach Mulkey's message to the team ahead of the game, and Alexis, what was the message at halftime?
ANGEL REESE: Just being able to be disciplined throughout the game. We have five goals: Make sure we focus, execute, leadership, defense, and rebounding. If they do all five things, that's when we cut nets and get rings.
So being able to dial in on that, they put their all into us and now it's just time for us to play. When the ball threw up, we knew it was time to go. They just prepared us and then we just executed.
ALEXIS MORRIS: At halftime, we all just talked to each other and just said we've got to believe. Keep believing, keep fighting. We felt like we were destined to be where we are today. It was all about our energy and coming together and being on one accord.
Q. Alexis, as the only returning starter on this team, how did you embrace that role, and how did you see the team kind of gel and come together over the course of the year to get here?
ALEXIS MORRIS: Just being a leadership piece for the team, having that experience, having Coach Mulkey believe in me and push me. Because sometimes being a leader is hard. Having to be the bad guy sometimes and the pressure, the responsibility, sometimes it's really tough.
I've embraced it this year, and it's honoring, and it's paid off. I'm heading to Dallas. I'm ending my senior night where I wanted it to be. Hopefully we can go cut nets in Dallas.
Q. Alexis, just to go off of that, what's it mean to be able to do this in your home state and also in your final year of college ball being able to get here?
ALEXIS MORRIS: At one point when I left Rutgers, I wasn't even going to play basketball anymore. So this moment is literally everything to me. I am the comeback kid. I went through so much adversity. The world counted me out. Media writing bad posts, portraying this image of me.
Now I can just let it all go. I beat it. I beat the odds.
Q. Culturally speaking, what Kim has been able to do in a very short period of time -- you guys have played in a few different college basketball programs throughout your careers so far, what is that catalyst? What has gotten you guys wearing a net around your neck? What's got you guys wearing regional championship hats right now?
ANGEL REESE: Just believing in the coach and then putting in the work. I think it just started when I got here in July. I had a plan just for me and then going within the team, they had a plan for the team. Coach didn't know what we were going to get ourselves into.
We had nine new pieces. This s year two for her. So just being able to be the underdogs all year, and played that role. We were underdogs all year. And then now to be in this moment, it's just so joyful and exciting because it's like we worked hard and we did everything that Coach said and now look at us.
ALEXIS MORRIS: Angel pretty much answered it. You've got to buy in. When you've got a coach like Coach Mulkey who's proven and she's been doing this, you've just got to buy in and commit to the system and the plan. That's all we did. This is the outcome. This is the results.
Q. Angel, you talked about how different or mentioned how different your life is from last year. And kind of following up on this last question, when you came to LSU, what were your expectations, and did you really envision that you guys could get this far in this one year?
ANGEL REESE: A fresh start, that's what I came to LSU for. I just wanted a fresh start. I've done things in my past that I kind of regret. I mean, there's things that I've done. But I came from Maryland and I succeeded at Maryland, but I wanted more. And more was to get better every single day and then cut down nets one day.
So just being able to be within a program where like with Kim Mulkey where she was going to push me every day and keep my humble and to get me to the next level, I think what was important for me. And I needed Coach Mulkey and that's just what I needed. I needed Coach Mulkey.
