Angel Reese Confirms She’ll Go to the White House After Jill Biden Comments: ‘It’s Not About Jill or Joe… It’s About the Team’
The tension between First Lady Jill Biden and LSU women’s basketball player Angel Reese now appears to be water under the bridge.
On Friday’s episode of First Take on ESPN, the sophomore confirmed that she and the rest of the Tigers will accept their invitation to the White House after defeating Iowa in the NCAA national championship. She initially hinted at them possibly skipping the trip when the first lady expressed interest in extending the invitation to Iowa. Traditionally, only the winners go to the White House.
Reese was vocal in her opposition to the suggestion, even claiming at one point that the team would “go to the Obamas“ instead of visiting President Joe Biden and his wife. LSU’s athletic department later released a statement saying the team would accept the invitation.
While it seemed Reese and the department might have been at odds, that’s no longer the case.
“I think it’ll be a fun experience for my teammates, of course,” said Reese, who added she’s already been to the White House before because she’s from the region. “I trust my coaches. I trust President (William) Tate at LSU. They’ve got my back, I mean, through everything.
“We were really upset and kind of emotionally hurt about it because we worked really hard, and I don’t think out of all of this it’s been highlighted that we actually won a national championship. So we’re gonna go celebrate it. It’s not about Jill or Joe. I think it’s just more about the team,” she added.
Reese also expressed appreciation for Iowa’s Caitlin Clark sticking up for her during the first national championship controversy. When LSU secured its victory, Reese did the “you can’t see me” hand gesture in front of Clark, who did the same thing earlier in the tournament. Reese was heavily criticized for it as many viewed it as poor sportsmanship, but Clark saw no issue with the taunt.
“I don’t think Angel should be criticized at all.”
Caitlin Clark said she thought Angel Reese received too much backlash for her celebrations during the championship game. (via @OTLonESPN) pic.twitter.com/i8tZyO8bai
— ESPN (@espn) April 4, 2023
“I appreciate Caitlin,” Reese said. “I mean, we’ve competed for a really long time now. Me and her have never had beef. We’ve always been super competitive every time we play against each other. So I think it just helped grow the game.”
Watch above via ESPN 2
