LSU Basketball Star Angel Reese Has 'No Beef' With Iowa's Caitlin Clark

It's been an exciting but hectic few days for Louisiana State University women's basketball star Angel Reese after winning the NCAA championship. Much of the focus since the big win has been on momentary hand gestures between Reese, 20, and Iowa State's Caitlin Clark, so she hasn't fully grasped that she's won a championship.

Reese recently had the opportunity to discuss the past few days' events during her first sit-down interview since the great championship win.

Late in the game, Reese was seen flashing a waving hand gesture toward Clark. She was subjected to criticism, saying the motion was not sportsmanlike and classless. Clark, who also used the same gesture two games earlier, was not subjected to the same complaint, which has sparked many conversations on double standards.

During the Paper Route interview on I Am Athlete's YouTube channel, Reese was asked if she realizes the moment she's in right now, and she said no and explained that it'd been a lot all at once. "I still don't realize it. I still don't realize that I won a national championship. I can't even grasp the feeling because I don't think I've had the time to enjoy my moment," she said.

"It's just so much going on. Everybody's coming at me from different directions. I mean, it's hard; I am only 20 years old and here in Baton Rouge; my family is back home in Maryland. It's just me, my mom, and my brother, so I'm doing much of this alone. I'm taking many of the good and the bad by myself."

Host Ashley Nicole Moss explained that the game's focus should be on the team's performance and not the hand gestures and pinning the women against each other.

"It was unfair that we were even having these conversations because the focus should be on the dominant performance you girls had in that game. I mean, that fourth quarter, you turned the jets on, and it was over," Moss said.

"The focus should be you girls, what you accomplished bringing a championship to this campus, and we're not. We're talking about something so trivial and something that I feel like if this were happening during the men's championship game, we wouldn't be having this conversation."

Reese said she feels there's a positive side and a negative side to all these conversations. She said support was positive for her. "But at the same time, why are we going back and forth as women if we're supposed to grow the game together? Why can't we be together?" she explained. "I feel like we've gone into a place where it's Black women against white women, and that's the negative part."

When the chat discussed Clark, Reese was asked if she had any "beef with Caitlin," She responded, "No, there is no beef. There's no beef." The two haven't spoken since the game, but Reese said there's no issue between the two players.

First Lady Jill Biden said she would like to invite the winning team to the White House and Iowa "because they played such a good game." Traditionally, only the national champions are invited to visit the White House. If Iowa also gets an invitation after losing to LSU, it would be the first time that both title game teams were invited.

When Reese heard this, she quickly took to social media to share the link to ESPN's story and captioned it, "A JOKE" with three laughing emojis. And she's far from alone in that thinking.

Stephen A. Smith, the ESPN analyst, also took to social media to leave his thoughts on the possibility of both teams being invited to the White House.

"Hey @Reese10Angel, I mean absolutely zero disrespect to the First Lady, but you are 1000% correct. That is a bad suggestion. Runner-ups don't get invited to the White House. Why are we trying to change it now? I completely agree with you, Angel."

During the interview, she explained how she felt when asked about the possibility of both teams being invited to the White House.

"I just know if the roles were reversed, it wouldn't be the same. If we were to lose, we would not be invited to the White House, and I remember she commented thatthat both teams should be invited because it would be sportsmanship, and I'm like, are you saying that because of what I did?" she said.

"Stuff like that bothers me because you are a woman at the end of the day. White, Black, it doesn't matter; you're a woman and supposed to be standing behind us before anything."

Reese also mentioned that after the men's basketball team at San Diego State lost to UConn, the first lady didn't suggest extending an invite to them as she suggested about Iowa.

When Clark heard about the possible invitation, she instantly shot the idea down. During an interview with ESPN, she gave her thoughts.

"I don't think runner-ups usually go to the White House," Clark said. "I think LSU should enjoy that moment for them. And congratulations. They deserve to go there. Maybe I could go to the White House on different terms, though. But I think that's for LSU. That's a pretty cool moment, and they should enjoy every single second of being a champion."