What They Said: LSU's Angel Reese and Flau'jae Johnson Talk Sweet 16 Win Over UCLA

Reese and Johnson propelled LSU over the Bruins to reach the Elite Eight, dominate once again.

Mar 30, 2024; Albany, NY, USA; LSU Tigers forward Angel Reese (10) reacts to a foul call against the / Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports

Q. Flau'jae, was this the best game of your life?

FLAU'JAE JOHNSON: No. I've played better games. I feel like my whole life, I've been hooping a whole long time. This is just a bigger stage for me, and just give all the glory to God and working. That's it.

Q. Angel, can you talk about that closing 14-2 run? You guys were down 67-64 and it seemed like you had another level there at the end.

ANGEL REESE: Yeah, we've known all year it's going to come down to the last plays and last possessions, and Coach Bob tells us all year, one possession, one possession.

And being able to get stops and scoring and being able to get stops and continuing to score, which is really vital for us.

We also had a thing tonight was, no rebounds, no rings. And I think we kind of did a good job of rebounding. We still got out-rebounded, but as a team and our guards did a great job tonight rebounding.

FLAU'JAE JOHNSON: Yeah, I had more rebounds than Angel.

ANGEL REESE: Just one. Just one.

Q. This question is for Angel. You D'd up Lauren Betts pretty well, especially the second half. It didn't look good in the beginning, but clearly you adapted. But it's not the first type of big. You've played obviously with Cardoso; how does playing her help you?

ANGEL REESE: Yeah, at the beginning of the game I was trying to see how the officials were going to call the game. I think I only had one foul going into the second half, so I was trying to feel out the officials, and I had to be smarter and I think I've matured in that way seeing how the game is going to be officiated.

But playing against a great Kamilla Cardoso and then being able to be teammates with Lauren, I kind of know how she plays. She's great player, great post player, and I give kudos to her.

She worked all night for her points. I think I did a great job, but it was a team effort. My teammates dug in sometimes and got double-teams. It wasn't all on me tonight, and I appreciate my teammates for really helping me.

Q. Angel, how proud are you of your ladies? I know you and I have talked all season long about this is not the Angel Reese Show. When you had to go to the bench in foul trouble they did not allow things to get out of hand. Talk about how the team was able to be a team today and win this as a team.

ANGEL REESE: Apparently people thought we were just a bunch of individuals so we took that personal, and we do have stars on our team, we do, and people don't think that we're supposed to gel together.

We've gelled together all year. Some nights it's me, some nights it's Neese, some nights it's Flau'jae. It's so many different players on any given night, and people don't realize that.

Like we have a purpose, and our purpose is to get to the championship, and we don't care who scores. I didn't lose confidence in my team. I knew they were going to come out and continue to do what they do because we have great players on our team.

The best team won tonight. Also the best individuals on the team won, as well. Let's get that straight.

FLAU'JAE JOHNSON: I agree. When Angel fouled out, it was like, Flau, you've got to step up. Know what I'm saying? You've got the most experience, know what I'm saying? With Hailey and Neese -- we've played in this tournament before, so it was like, you've got to be the one to step up, know what I'm saying?

I think that I wasn't scared of the moment. I really loved the delight. I love that underdog feeling. Coach Mulkey told me go do what you do, and I did.

Q. Angel, looked like you might have said something to Cori Close as you came out of the game and then again in the handshake line. What were you guys saying to each other?

ANGEL REESE: No, she told me good game. It was another coach that was talking a little crazy.

Q. As we cap off March which is women's history month, can you let us know who inspired you to be who you are today?

ANEESAH MORROW: My mother inspired me to be who I am today.

ANGEL REESE: Yeah, I would say my mom. My mom is a single mom, and being able to -- me and my brother being able to go to college for free will always be something that's inspirational for me.

FLAU'JAE JOHNSON: Yeah. I'm going to get emotional. Sorry. My mom, too. Like before the game I was trying -- I'm just emotional. I was trying to figure out what's my why, and I kind of just looked at my mom today like I never looked at her before, and I was like, I know my why now, and I had just a different level of passion.

I knew I was going to play with today, and I seen my mom out there and she just sacrificed so much for me, so it's definitely my mom.

Q. Flau'jae, can you talk about the run to try to repeat, and how did being on this stage before help you guys tonight as you're coming down the stretch?

FLAU'JAE JOHNSON: I think we just take it one game at a time. We're high right off after of this dub, but I think we'll give ourselves until like 4:30 and then we're locked into the next game. You've got to have that mindset going into the tournament. You've got to have a short attention span.

That's the route that I'm taking. Yeah, I had a good game today, but now I have to flush it if we really want to go far in the tournament. I just love this team's togetherness, and we just have that experience. My experience to the team, just flush it. Game was good, okay, cool, but we got to watch film and we got to dominate the next one, as well.

Q. Angel, when you said it was another coach who was talking to you, can you give us more information?

ANGEL REESE: Next question.

Q. Flau'jae, your emotion showed when you were on the court tonight. I was just wondering, I saw you also kind of go over to their fans and kind of point after the game was over. Was there something you were saying to them?

FLAU'JAE JOHNSON: Yeah, it was just their fans talking, saying -- it's just regular basketball stuff. Stuff like that gets heated in the moment.

Q. Angel, it's almost like the world is against y'all. Is it the motivation within because of that? Is that why y'all are out to prove a point?

ANGEL REESE: We're the good villains. I was talking to Kramer about that. Everybody wants to beat LSU. Everybody wants to be LSU. Everybody wants to play against LSU.

You've got to realize like we're not any regular basketball team. Like Coach talks about it all the time, she calls us the Beatles. People run after our butts. People are coming at games. You're seeing sellouts, you're seeing people buying jerseys, you're seeing more sellouts than the men.

We're impacting the game so much and all of us are super competitive and want to win and do whatever it takes to win. We're just changing the game.

We were talking about we're doing the unknown. Me being able to be on the court but also off the court, I like to model and do other things. I can do both.

Flau'jae can do both. Aneesah can do both. We can all do both. That's what people don't believe in. Like they don't think that we're focused, and we prove every single night when we get between those lines, we're focused.

That's what we're worried about. Just being able to have teammates that have my back, have teammates, have coaches just have each other's back this whole time, I don't care what the outside thinks. I know what's going on in that locker room.

Q. Angel, not so long ago we passed the 50th year of Title IX I think in 2022, which was an important fight for women's equality in sports. As we look at women's basketball today, as much as it's grown, can you guys talk about how important it is to be a part of that history, how much you guys have grown women's basketball in general?

FLAU'JAE JOHNSON: Yeah, it's like we're doing it because we're so -- we're kind of setting the blueprint and people always tell us how we should act, how we should dress, how we should talk.

But there's never been people who have done this before and in the light and in the social media before. There's going to be kids after us that follow and we try to set a good example for them, but we have a coach that yesterday she told us, be you.

She's had like a 30-written speech, but the only thing that I really heard was, be you. That's the only thing that I heard because it really struck me in my heart.

As long as I produce on the court she wants me to be who I am, and as individuals I think you kind of need that confidence from your coach. Coach said, I don't care if you're an astronaut, as long as you land on the Moon and come back before 1:30 practice, so to have a coach support us we're able to blaze those trails, we're able to be who we are in this world.

We only get four years to do it so you've got to maximize it.

ANGEL REESE: Yeah, I think it's just important being able to take scary steps. I've said so many things that a lot of people are scared to say and I'll take the hit for it.

But I know I've impacted so many different people, young Black girls that look up in New York City like you said and see Angel Reese. They know they can do this. They know they can be in this position one day.

It's crazy, full circle. It's almost a year since everything has transpired and our life has changed. Since the National Championship we ain't had peace, and it's crazy to say that, that we won at the highest level in college and we haven't had peace.

But I wouldn't want to change this day. I wouldn't want to change where we are right now. I wouldn't want to change the three letters across my chest because it means something, and I want to be a part of history.

I want to be a part of this culture, this sisterhood and just keep winning and winning and winning, and when we look back in 40 years and when we are old and sitting in our rocking chair like Coach Mulkey always say and just be like, we did this. We made history. We were a part of that, and we were trailblazers.