Maria Taylor Selflessly Gave Seimone Augustus Her Press Pass to Celebrate With LSU

Security wasn’t letting the former Tigers player inside the ropes to celebrate with the national champions at first.

After LSU women’s basketball won the national title on Sunday, one of the most notable Tigers players in team history wasn’t able to join the on-court celebration right away.

Seimone Augustus, who played for LSU from 2002 to ’06, stood outside the yellow ropes as the 2023 Tigers celebrated their win over Iowa and the team’s first title in program history. NBC’s Maria Taylor noticed Augustus on the outside and wanted to help her get to the team.

In a video caught by The Daily Advertiser’s Cory Diaz, Taylor can be seen speaking with security and comforting Augustus. From there, the security allowed Augustus inside the ropes.

It was shocking for fans that Augustus wasn’t immediately allowed inside the ropes, especially since LSU has a statue of her outside of the team’s Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge.

Taylor hasn’t commented on the moment yet, but she did retweet Diaz’s video on Monday.