LSU Kim Mulkey LOSS to South Carolina postgame, addresses court melee & Angel Reese

no opening statement we're just ready let's rock yes ma'am welcome to the LSU Tigers press conference we're joined by head coach Kim mky and student athlete Angel Reese a reminder to the media that the locker room after today The game is not open, we will start with questions for Angel and then we will answer questions for coach Maly Jess, Chess with NBC NBC 33 and Baton Rouge Angel, have you ever been part of a game like that? No, I've never been. part of a game like that, but of course, you know two heavyweights that we are going to fight, we are not afraid of them, they are not afraid of us, we came in and we know what we had, they came and they know what what they had and that.

We showed up and we went down paths that we didn't want to, but I'm, I'm proud of this team that we fought, fought, fought with five, maybe six healthy players, if that, um, just know that we're not afraid and we're in a place where this moment that I'm proud of and happy where we are now Cory, yes Angel, up to that point I wanted you to elaborate a little bit more on how this team was just as undermanned as you guys are. and how beaten and beaten you were, this is the number one team in the country and you gave them everything they can handle again today, we are not going to use that as an excuse, we are not afraid of South Carolina and I repeat that we are not We are afraid of South Carolina and a lot of people are afraid of it and we came and we fought and we fought and we fought and we fought and we fought until the end and of course we came up short, but we'll see.

I'll see them again or whoever I see them again, but I'm happy and I'm going to give credit to my teammates first because Jana Aaliyah came off the bench and did great things for us. Michaela, I was frustrated because I had to do minimum numbers and minimum time, but she went out and did what she did, defended and played as hard as she could, so being able to be proud of this team I'm not going to give them all the credit because I know how hard we played, we played hard, we played hard, we did everything necessary to win and unfortunately we came up short, but I'm happy where we are now and anyone who sees us moving forward should be scared.

Chessa, you mentioned a minute. a big leyah minutes away from her and she wasn't scared either, what did you see from her? I told her that she is the real bad foreigner around here Aaliyah, the freshman and the confidence of her coming into this game. I told him you can fuck Camila Cardoza. you match up with her and you keep doing it and you keep hitting and being confident every day in practice, she goes against me and understands how she's improved in the last few months and how she's gained confidence and she's being conditioned and ending up around a basket and I'm not scared, I'm super proud of where he's at and his confidence continues to grow at the back with respect to Darcy with defender Angel this weekend overall, you know, how would you describe it?

How was the? It was fun. I mean. In some ways we can see where our team is right now, how tough we are, we can't hang our heads for everything we've been through this weekend, but again, I'm not going to make that an excuse, let's get back, We're going to rest and we'll have this week and a half to see where we're going to be placed for the NCAA tournament, so we're in a great place right now, let's take a look. Go back and see what mistakes we made, of course, but I think we're happy with where we are now.

Cory Angel, how can a tournament like this Ju? Just getting them ready for the next step, yeah, I mean, the SEC is what one of the best, if not the best, conference in the country and I think seven to eight teams should be in the tournament. There are so many teams we faced this year that have held our own or beaten us this year that they should be in the tournament. I'm happy for the SEC and where we are now. I think that helps us prepare to play these other teams and these other conferences, but I'm proud of our team and where we are. right now to finish in the championship where last year we fell short against Tennessee and didn't get there.

LSU as a program, we're happy with where we are, read Angel, are you feeling fatigued at all, given three games out of three? days and everything you went through this weekend, I think my adrenaline is still high, like I could get another quarter and I think a lot of us, if we had five more minutes, we would want to go back out and fight, I mean, this team We've been so relentless, all the adversity we've faced, the injuries to lost players, so many things that have happened to us, um, we may, we may be tired, but we're not tired and, like I said, I think everyone finds it.

I'd love to have another five minutes if we could. any other questions for

angel

thank you

angel

now we will answer questions for coach Moi job baby good job Chessa chess with NBC and Baton Rouge coach Moi in a game like that I mean where do you start what goes through your mind all the time? things that did exactly what I thought, what I thought they would do, I have some champions, guys, you have a kid with a lame ankle, you have two starters, basically, Michaela has some minutes, she was cleared to have some minutes, we are in a Good point Angel is right, we are playing pretty good basketball right now and that is the truth of God, they have a lot of depth, a B kid basically hurt us today and that was a complete wall; look at the statistics, how can you not leave?

Here and we go God I wish the playoffs started next week but we will have everyone back everyone is ready to go so to the NCA you don't need to call me and ask if Michaela Williams is good you don't need to you ask. Yo, if Angel Ree is good, you don't need to ask me about po, she's just in concussion protocol. We are playing our best basketball. Congratulations to South Carolina. They made plays when we cut the lead. Turnovers killed us today. The turnovers and um. It was very, very physical, Cory cam. I, for one, have to ask what your point of view was or what kind of thing shook you in the last few minutes of the game.

Well, let me tell you this. Do you realize there was only one? foul called on each team with two minutes left in the fourth quarter, are you kidding me? That might have created some of that's not the way we play, we're going to foul your butt, not the way they play, they're going to foul your butt, but just you. He blew that whistle once, think about that now. F what I saw committed an intentional foul. F against the wall because she took away her big move because she was going to make a layup right there and then they started talking to her and another player and then the next thing I know Cardo a little later and then I ran because someone came out of the stands.

I think it was F's brother trying to stop him from doing something crazy, but that's all I know. I can't tell you from my bench how many were left. on the

court

they obviously saw it on film and said everyone had to leave and then I think a South Carolina player didn't leave the bench, but my question is, I don't really know the rules, why didn't they eject the coaches? Yeah? they left the bench, wouldn't that be an amazing ending, but I guess it's just the players leaving the bench area. I don't know, it's ugly, it's not good, no one wants to be part of it, no one does. take care of seeing that ugliness, but I can tell you this: I wish she had pushed Angel Reese, don't push a six year old, don't push someone so small, that was unnecessary in my opinion, let those two girls who were jaw agape let them do it coach reed just to clarify, will any of your players be suspended for the next tournament?

We didn't have any ejections, they had one ejection, I was told that Cardoza was the only one ejected for fighting and, in general, Weekend, do you know what you think you learned about your team over the course of this weekend? Pretty tough, pretty tough, resilient, if they had supported each other, they wouldn't have been nervous, I fought through adversity with Po's injury last night to even get to this point and I'm sure everyone thought, oh, we're going to be tired , we are not going to be able to compete, they are going to defeat us. I think you got a different answer today, which was a ball. game available today, any other questions for coach Moi Corey Kim, this team's ability to overcome not being top-tier and Angel dealing with her ankle issue and Michaela fixing a foot issue and the myriad of other things, uh for you guys as The Coach, how much level of confidence and comfort does that give you when you're in this part of the season where the next game is going to be an NCAA tournament and you're about to start that hopeful path of winning six games in a row? games I said let's start playing tomorrow I love where we are I love where we are We're not going to see South Carolina again unless we make the final four So I feel like we'll get a good seed.

Organize the first and second round and I feel very good. I feel very good. Any other questions are fine, thanks coach.