NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL FOUR: LSU VS VIRGINIA TECH

March 30, 2023

Kim Mulkey

Angel Reese

Alexis Morris

American Airlines Center

LSU Tigers

Semi-Finals Pregame Media Conference

THE MODERATOR: Good morning. Welcome to the Division I national semifinal Game 1 press conference featuring the LSU Tigers. We'll hear an opening statement from Coach Mulkey and follow with questions for student-athletes Alexis Morris and Angel Reese.

KIM MULKEY: I don't have an opening statement, so let's do it.

THE MODERATOR: Let's go straight to the questions for the student-athletes.

Q. Alexis, just Georgia, I'm sure you saw her game, a game that she plays commanding that team. I guess just from a guard's perspective, what kind of matchup is she?

ALEXIS MORRIS: She's a great player. What kind of player am I? It's going to be a good matchup.

Q. For both players, would you talk about the last four days and the gamut of your emotions and how this is different from being in the NCAA Tournament, being at the Final Four.

ANGEL REESE: I was just telling my teammates I don't think it's hit me yet that I'm actually in a Final Four. It's just like another game, another tournament. I'm actually in the Final Four.

I don't realize how big this is yet. Maybe when I see the arena tomorrow, yeah, tomorrow, and like get to the game. But I'm excited.

We're trying to keep our emotions down of course because this is a lot of our first time. Just trying to be focused. We've been really focused on scout these last four days, so just being able to do what we've been doing all year.

ALEXIS MORRIS: Like Angel said.

Q. You have a lot of young fans, girls and boys, who look up to you. I'm curious how you prepare yourself to show up to play for them and how you show up for your team and also the young ballers?

ANGEL REESE: I'm at a point where everything I do is being watched, so just trying to be a leader and trying to influence the youth. I've always had people when I was younger to look up to. Just being that person when they get older -- I don't know if you saw that picture of me and Seimone when I was young, 7 or 8, and she was in the WNBA. Hopefully one day I can remake that picture with someone.

I never know the impact on somebody's life and how somebody's day is going. So I just try and inspire as much as I can.

Q. Angel, I was curious, what's been the key for you this season that I'm sure even though most opponents, the number one goal is to keep you off the glass and keep you from getting second-chance shots, you're still able to do it?

ANGEL REESE: Just focusing on finishing around the basket. I think coming to LSU I've gotten in way better shape and I've gotten much stronger. Just being able to -- I think that's helped me a lot.

I haven't been in foul trouble until these last few games all season. So just trying to stay together, and I think my teammates and coaches are putting me in a really good position where they give me the ball a lot. And whenever they miss a shot, I try to get the rebound as best I can.

Q. Angel, you mentioned you guys are really focused on the scout. I want to know what types of information is most useful to you from the scouting report.

ANGEL REESE: Personnel. Just paying attention to your player that you'll be guarding or players that you'll potentially be guarding, knowing their tendencies, knowing their positives and negatives. Just knowing their strengths and weaknesses. I think that's important within the season.

Right now you can look at the conference, out of conference, and look at NCAA and how they're performing right now. So just being able to pay attention right now.

ALEXIS MORRIS: I agree personnel is most important. Knowing their tendencies, team tendencies, offense and defense. Just details to small things, sweating the small things.

Q. Lex, back in your home state also. How are you feeling? But where's your cowboy hat?

ALEXIS MORRIS: When I seen Coach Mulkey coming down the stairs in her cowboy hat, I was like, man, I wanted to wear mine. I forgot to put it on.

I'm super excited. I've changed my goal now. I'm in Dallas. Now I want to have my senior night on Sunday. My focus has shifted. I know my team focus is the same as mine.

Q. Same for Alexis. You have kind of been a part of the point guard position changing - scoring, being able to pass the ball. I'm curious what you look for in games for when you know to go get yours and when it's best to get other people involved?

ALEXIS MORRIS: It kind of starts in film, just knowing the type of team we're going to be facing. Just getting a feel through the game, like during the course of the game, and being cognizant of when it's time for me to go score the ball and when I do need to pass the ball and be poised.

It's always just based on a feel what my team needs at that time. I'm listening to Coach Mulkey, what she needs me to do for the team.

I don't know if you know, I've always been a point guard my whole life. This is just my natural position and what I'm used to doing, so yeah.

Q. I saw a report last night, and I want to get both of you guys' thoughts on it, where walk up to the door, standing room tickets for the women's Final Four is more expensive than the men's tournament in Houston. As a player in women's basketball right now -- this show is just as valuable as elsewhere?

ANGEL REESE: It's exciting. I'm happy. The tickets are expensive, and it's tough probably on us because we can't get that many tickets. So it's exciting the women's game is growing.

Being able to see that many people coming to our games -- honestly, when I came to LSU, I knew what it was going to be. We get 15,000 fans coming to our games, even on the off-night.

Just seeing the game growing like this and in a Final Four for the first time, I'm just excited, and I'm excited to see all the people that are coming tomorrow.

ALEXIS MORRIS: I think the most exciting part about it is being a part of history. We're literally watching the game grow and change right in front of our faces, and we're playing a huge part in it. It's an honor, and I'm just super excited to be a part of it.

I'm watching Angel, like Angel is one of the main faces, and it's inspiring as well.

Q. Angel, the matchup with Liz, people are going to be talking a lot about that. How do you balance trying to put your imprint on a game like this, but not trying to do too much to win a matchup like that?

ANGEL REESE: It's never about a matchup. It's all a team effort. We're going to take her as any other post player we played all year. We played South Carolina as well.

So just being able to pay attention to detail, like I said, on scout, knowing her tendencies, the positive and the negative. All together, we're going to have to take care of her. Not just her, they're also a great team. They play together as a great team.

I don't think they could win with just her. I think we have to take care of business all five positions, and everybody has to guard the ball.

Q. Angel and Alexis, if you guys both want to answer this. You guys obviously saw Seimone's statue go up outside the arena. You guys have been part of this -- "resurrection" may be too strong a word, but you know what I mean, the rebuilding of LSU. What does it mean to you to be part of that, and the feeling you're getting from these longtime LSU fans who remember the Sylvia Fowles days and the Seimone Augustus days that they're able to experience this with you?

ANGEL REESE: When I came to LSU, I told Coach Mulkey, I wanted to bring this program back to where it was. And Coach Starkey was already here with them on the Final Four run. Just being able to do it for the fans, they waited a long time to see this program get back to where they want it to be. So just being able to do it for them and making history again, just coming back to what Alexis said. I'm excited.

ALEXIS MORRIS: When I played at Texas A&M, I was with Coach Starkey. He would talk about his days at LSU. E just loved LSU. I'm like, Coach, I think you should go back home. You love LSU. And I'm actually here now, and I can experience it, and I feel what he was talking about when I was at Texas A&M. The fans, the history -- it's like a marathon.

It's just so exciting to be a part of it and to be part of the rebuild. I came -- I rejoined Coach Mulkey to rebuild the program. So it's just an amazing feeling.

Q. Two quick ones for you. You talked about Alexis being this is a homecoming for her. Obviously you want to -- this is a full team effort, but the homecoming for her, Sa'Myah, how much do you want it for them? My second one, we talked about the underdog role just about all season. How much does that motivate you?

ANGEL REESE: The first question, of course I want to do it for my Texas girls coming back home. No better place than home. Being able to do it for the seniors. This is their last time. These could be the last two final games of their college career. So just being able to go out with a bang. I told Alexis that we'd get to Dallas. Now she has a new goal to get to Sunday. So just being able to do it for them.

Playing an underdog role, I think that has got to us to where we are right now. All year, our nonconference schedule was weak. The SEC Conference was weak, and we're here now. Just being able to stay humble and staying down, I think that's what Coach has emphasized all year. Play the underdog role because it's like, when you do beat them, it's like okay.

We believe in each other in the locker room, and as long as we have each other, we'll go as far as we can.

Q. How important has Kateri Poole been over the last three, four games on this tournament run, and how do you expect her to perform?

ALEXIS MORRIS: Kateri has been a key piece to our success. She's taken every role that Coach has asked her to be, whether a point guard position, a defensive stopper. Whatever it is, she's been coachable and willing to do whatever the team needs.

It also helps me being confident in another guard with experience. She's been amazing. She's been a great piece to our puzzle.

Q. Angel, what have you seen from Lex knowing this is her home state? She's shifted her focus now, and this is -- I mean, could potentially be it for her with you at LSU?

ANGEL REESE: I know Lex has been on a journey, and there's no better place than finishing at home. I know this is exciting for her. I'm happy for her that she never gave up, and being able to be in this moment where she has rise.

I know she's not done yet, but just to see how much she's grown throughout the season and her maturity is amazing. Being able to do it, not just for Alexis, but all the Texas girls able to come back home. I know Sa'Myah, we went to DeSoto yesterday, so being able to play at her court.

I think it's really fun for all of us.

Q. Angel, you're obviously at the top of the women's game on the court, but also with NIL deals. How have you been balancing being at the top both on and off the court, and like particularly during the tournament?

ANGEL REESE: It's been a lot. I kind of set myself to only post on certain days. Today, before 12:00 is the last time I'll be posting. So just trying to have a schedule of everything going on because social media has taken over.

NIL is just what the game has come to. It is hard and stressful, but the lady I work with, Janine, she has been amazing and has helped me with a lot of this stuff. So shout out to her, but it's hard. It's hard.

Q. For either of you, what have you liked about how your team has been playing defensively lately that you want to replicate and recapture tomorrow? And then offensively, is there any areas of improvement you're looking to build upon from the Miami game?

ALEXIS MORRIS: As far as defense, I think we're playing pretty solid defense right now. We're all on one accord. We're clicking. We're communicating. Our offense, we haven't shot the ball well, and that's obviously a goal. We haven't put on our best showcase yet. It's going to be key these last two games, for our next game on Friday, that we come together and play a complete game.

But we're not stressing the offense. That's going to come. The only thing we can control is our defense.

ANGEL REESE: Same thing Alexis said. I mean, I know if we can't make shots, we'll play defense. That's just something that we've emphasized on.

I don't know, we've had a handful of games where we pulled a full game together offensively and defensively and we shot well, and we're here. Luckily we get to see another day. As long as you get to see another day, we get to see tomorrow and have the opportunity to play again. So I'm just excited.

Q. For both ladies, I know LSU has been to this Final Four five different times but never gotten to the championships. Kim obviously has. Has she told you that anything changes when you get here? Anything to be prepared for? Anything to take that next step?

ANGEL REESE: It's win or go home. I mean, the teams that stay together, the teams that fight together, the teams that just are focused, those are the teams that excel to the championship game.

She's been to championship games, and she has won championship games. She even told us in the Sweet 16 game, she said, y'all get us to the Elite Eight, and we can get you to the Final Four. Now it's you win this game, I'll get you to the championship and win that championship.

So just trusting in the coaches. Of course they've been here before. And just trying to believe as much as we can.

ALEXIS MORRIS: What Angel said, but I'm also going to say, I think all four teams here are great teams. We're all good teams. We wouldn't be in the Final Four if we weren't. But I think the teams who have made it to this point were the mental tough teams, and the team who's going to be the last one standing, it will be based on who can be the more mental tough team.

It's going to be based off who can fight through adversity, who can fight through bad calls, who can fight through physicality. It's going to come down to the little things. We've been preparing for this, for these moments.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, ladies.

Q. How much does experience play into the Final Four? You've been here many times with other teams. Virginia Tech, it's their first time. How much does that help dealing with not just on the court, but media, all the other events that go into the Final Four besides actually what happens on the court for an hour and a half?

KIM MULKEY: Doug, I'm the only one in our locker room that has done this, but I'm not going to shoot, dribble, pass, guard any of them. So it's not a matter of what I have done.

I look at it this way. It may be their first time to be in this situation, but they're all seniors. They're all seniors. It's the first time for my group to be in this situation as well, and we're not all seniors. So I think they have the edge on experience.

All I'm going to do is tweak a thing here or there throughout the course of the game, but it has nothing at all to do with coaching and how long a coach has been somewhere or how many times a coach has been somewhere.

Q. I just want to shift gears real quick, just kind of talking about you've mentioned Tickfaw so many times, where you've grown up. Is there one or two athletic memories you can share with us, whether it's pickup games in the gym at the middle school or why you had the nickname "Spark plug" playing? Two, is it more satisfying for this Final Four run since the connection you have, basically essentially doing it in your own backyard?

KIM MULKEY: There are lots of memories when you're growing up that are impactful. I think Dixie Youth Baseball was a big impactful moment in my life when I was kicked out of a dugout because I was a girl and it was the All-Star Game, and I couldn't even sit in the dugout. The impact of that, I won't ever forget.

Growing up, going to the gyms down Highway 51 in Tangipahoa Parish, playing on Sunday nights with older guys and my dad, they let me play.

But memories are all we have in life until they're gone. Coming back to Louisiana was easy. The only thing different is all my family and friends were fatter, were older, were more wrinkled, we have more gray.

The second part of your question, it's ironic kind of that in two years at LSU my LSU team is in a Final Four in a state that was very good to me, not far from an institution that was very good to me. I would imagine there are going to be lots of Baylor people sitting in our section. I just had breakfast with Odyssey Sims, one of the greatest to play here. I've been on the phone with lots of former players.

Before we walked down these stairs, I said, oh, nothing's changed. We're going to go down these deep stairs that are real narrow. A lot of wonderful memories.

Q. Over the past several years, obviously the women's Final Four has grown so much. In your opinion, what would you like to see the NCAA do to continue to grow it to make it even bigger?

KIM MULKEY: I'm not smart enough to give you those answers right now. I've seen things I agree with through the years, and I've seen things I don't agree with. But I can't invest much time in all of that. I just try to coach basketball.

I'll give opinions, certainly, but yeah, it's pretty neat that it's sold out. The cheapest ticket is more expensive than the cheapest ticket in Houston for Men's Final Four. I thought that was eye catching. And Angel is right, these young ladies and their families have to sit up high. I would like to see their families be able to sit down low and buy those tickets or save a section for the families where they can go hug their families afterwards.

The way it's set up now is you only get a certain allotment of tickets, and their families usually are not close to the court. What is it, $325, I think I was told, for them to go buy extra tickets for everybody because they're only allotted so many tickets. Maybe those are things that come to mind right off the top of my head.

Q. Just going off of what you said earlier, just about all the Baylor fans just cheering you on personally. I spoke to one of your first point guards at Baylor, Nicole Collins. She's now one of the high school coaches out here at Cedar Hill. Can you just talk about the relationship you have with your former players and how special that is just to keep in contact after all these years.

KIM MULKEY: First of all, let me make it clear. You're not in contact with all your former players. Some don't like you. Then you've got those that you stay in contact with.

Those that don't like you, it's usually one of three reasons: You either had to discipline them really hard, dismiss them, or they didn't get enough playing time. But you hope that, when your career is over, you have more that love you and like you and appreciate you than don't.

I think, as I tell them all the time, college are the greatest years of your life, period. They're the greatest years of your life. You're not paying bills. You're not changing diapers usually. You're just getting to do what everybody would love to do, go to school for free and play basketball.

Nicole, I inherited as Baylor. She was one of my, if not -- well, she and Sheila Lambert were my two guards. So proud of her. She's been able to go to state championships in the state of Texas, and it's going to be good to see them. I'll have some of them out on the court in a minute who were part of the 2005 National Championship team.

That's why you coach. You coach to impact lives, and you may not realize it as a student-athlete the impact a coach has until 10, 20, and 30 years down the road.

Q. Congrats on getting back here, Coach. I have two questions about the scouting. What's the inputs that are most useful for you? Is it film on common opponents, opponents you think resemble Virginia Tech? Or just the most recent tape? And then what's the process of getting that down to the players in kind of sound bytes that they can use on the court?

KIM MULKEY: A lot of our film sessions are done together, first of all. Throughout the course of the year, we will do individual clips of people they will guard and sent to them individually.

Bob Starkey, my associate head coach, is a film junkie. I have to basically run him out of the room. I'm more of I want to see the most recent films. I want to share the most recent films with our team. Does that answer it? All right.

Q. What makes Georgia Amoore such a tough guard to defend, and how do you decide what kind of matchups you want to throw at her with the variety of guards you have?

KIM MULKEY: Her range is unlimited. You could put her in the category like Caitlin Clark. If I'm not mistaken, after Clark, you probably have her for the second or third most three-point shot attempts in the country. She has an unbelievable step-back move which takes her even further away from the three-point line.

She gets her teammates involved. They use Kitley in such a way where she's just not a back-to-the-basket big girl. She can face you up. She can put it on the floor. They push the ball extremely well in transition. You have to fan out and not get caught and sucked in into the paint.

She's just, from the time I saw her in the bubble till now, whew, somebody has done some tremendous work with her.

Q. Congratulations about everything.

KIM MULKEY: Thank you.

Q. Just curious, you just referenced it a little while ago about being in the dugout, being kicked out of the dugout. So you've experienced in your career being kicked out, being left out. My question, now there's this tug of war with transgender athletes. Has you being kept out informed how you feel about this new tug of war about transgender athletes? Do you see this kind of being worked out in the next 5, 10, 15 years?

KIM MULKEY: I hope I answer this in a very sensitive way because I think we all know transgenders. I think we all know people who may not be like we are.

I had a conversation with Debbie Antonelli. She has a special needs child, and we found the Special Olympics for them, didn't we? We found a place for them to compete. And I think that with time, maybe you will see a league or something for transgender athletes.

I just think that I'm sensitive to those on one side, and yet I'm also sensitive to those on the other side. Does that make sense? Is that a good, politically correct answer so I don't get in trouble?

You're going to find this extremely interesting. When this topic became apparent, when I was at Baylor, I had that conversation with the athletic director, and I'll leave it at that. So I was kind of ahead of the curve. I had a conversation. What if? I never got an answer. And I'll leave it at that. But I was very much aware.

But I also want you to know that I have conversations with transgender people who don't believe that they should be competing against biological females, and I find that real interesting. So you ask questions. You're human. You want to hear sides of stories and come up with what you think, but at the end of the day, nobody cares what I think. Nobody cares. But thanks for asking that.

Q. Making this move as you did to a new school, in this era with the transfer portal and NIL, all the challenges that didn't exist when you started coaching, how difficult has that been? What's been invigorating about making this move to try to rebuild a program? Maybe it's a little different than building from nothing basically at Baylor, but how has that been for you personally?

KIM MULKEY: Well, it's energized me, to go back home, to see familiar faces, and know that those people will now buy season tickets just because they know me.

What I didn't know would happen so quickly was the transfer portal and the number of student-athletes I would get in the portal.

I don't deal with NIL. I don't deal with all of that because it's too much. I don't even have social media. If somebody tells me something's on social media, they will have to send it to me.

So what I did, if you'll remember, I put one of our assistants in charge, and she got a new title to work with the NIL department in athletics at LSU because I don't want to learn all that, I don't want to know. I have no clue what Angel and Flau'jae, I don't know who they have deals with. I don't want to know. All I care about is it doesn't affect anything in that locker room, and it doesn't.

They share whatever things they get from their call it sponsors or NIL people. They share it with their teammates. They give out purses and headphones and all kinds of stuff. I don't have a clue.

Now, you also have to know there is that component of each institution has the collective now, where student-athletes within the athletic department and have those donors. I don't deal with that either. That's someone on my staff. Don't want to deal with it. It's too much. I just want to coach.

But it's here to say, so we'd better embrace it. Go back to when it started, LSU may have been the first big-time institution that embraced NIL, and it was all over Times Square. It was "NILSU," if you remember. Olivia Dunn, our gymnast, was all over Times Square in the big screens.

So kudos to LSU for being proactive because I think it's here to stay.

Q. Having played Virginia Tech two years ago, as you prepare for them this week, are there certain ways you found Tech to be a tougher challenge this time around or a different kind of challenge this time around to prepare for?

KIM MULKEY: Well, heck yeah, I just told you, they're all seniors. They're battle tested. Now, I don't have the same team that I had at Baylor, so you can't compare that.

But they're seniors. They're experienced. They're on a roll. They're confident. They've been together a while now. He's a great coach, love him to death. Sure, they'll be nervous, but my team will be nervous too because they'll all be doing it -- both teams will be doing it for the first time.

Q. Coach, can you talk a little bit about how Angel's been successful against all different types of defenses? I know you said earlier obviously Kitley is not just a low block player, but she's big. How Angel operates against those types of players versus maybe other types of defenses.

KIM MULKEY: Well, first of all, I don't know that Kitley will be guarding Angel, and nobody knows if Angel will be guarding Kitley.

Angel has been double-teamed. She is outstanding at passing out of the double-team and finding the open player. She has been guarded one-on-one by the bigger player. Angel is not a true back-to-the-basket player. She likes to take you off the dribble. Sometimes she tries to do too much, and I just tell her to relax. We'll find you on ball reversal.

I don't think Virginia Tech is the Kitley show or the Angel show. There's too many weapons around them. But Angel figures out a way to get in there and battle, rebounding. She gets a lot of her own misses, and she just is strong. She's very, very strong. Sometimes I forget how big Angel is until you stand next to her. She's a little bit bigger than you realize.

But it's not anything she hasn't seen. We know Kitley's going to block shots. She should. But it doesn't mean that we're going to change our approach on the offensive end because of size.

Q. Coach Mulkey, Lex has said she's shifted her focus. Many the games we've seen from Lex, when she doesn't shoot well, she's really able to clamp down defensively. What have you seen from her and especially the guard play that you know you will face from Virginia Tech?

KIM MULKEY: Alexis can hit big shots. She may go oh-fer for a while, but shoot it again, and she's going to hit the big three. Her speed and quickness is just an asset. She can get through screens, under screens, up screens. She just has that quickness about her.

The latter part of your question was? Well, she's faced a lot of great ones, so let's give some little props here to the SEC. There's a lot of great players in the SEC. There's a lot of great guards in the SEC.

I don't think she takes the approach -- I think that's probably why -- I'm not going to answer for your question a while ago, but she feels like she's good too. It's going to be a great matchup. I don't know that great players ever stop each other. They're all going to get what they need to get for their teams to be successful. I think always it's going to end up being somebody that's the unsung hero.

Q. Two weekends ago as a true freshman Flau'jae comes out and has the kind of performance she has on the biggest stage for her up to that point. Is that still on the Final Four stage, is that still your expectation of how she will be able to sort of embrace the atmosphere and be able to perform? And then too is the hat a "when in Rome" type situation?

KIM MULKEY: Let's go back to the South Carolina game earlier this year. I think Flau'jae would sit here and say, what a learning experience. If you know Flau'jae, that child outworks anybody probably that I've ever coached. She never sleeps. She leaves practice and goes and starts doing rep stuff.

Since the South Carolina game, I have seen little things improve in practice -- I'm talking about on the floor, but in practice that she took to heart. If I had to just say the difference between the big stage tomorrow and that big stage at South Carolina, I'm going to go back to the experience factor. Virginia Tech hasn't been where South Carolina has been.

Even though they're seniors, I have to think they're going to have nerves, just like Flau'jae may have nerves, whereas when you're playing on the court where South Carolina's got 18,000 people, you're comfortable. So I hope that, if Flau'jae has that moment again tomorrow, that maybe Virginia Tech will have those moments too, and it won't be such a dominating performance by the opponent like South Carolina was.

I mean, from the tip they scored when we played South Carolina.

The hat? They gave us these hats, and I was looking for some cowboy boots. They didn't have that. But I love country music, and I just thought it was appropriate. I was going to come in here and sing, (singing) All my exes live in Texas.

Which is true. I only have one, though, only been married once. But then I'm going to end with this:

(Singing) I'm the happiest girl in the whole USA.

Who sang that? Tell them, baby. Y'all have a good day.

THE MODERATOR: You have one more question, Coach. This is the last one.

KIM MULKEY: Can't trust the media. You said just two more.

Q. Sorry, that would have been a perfect ending. You talked about former players, you talked about Baylor, so I have to ask.

KIM MULKEY: You don't have to ask. You choose to ask.

Q. Yes, but it's part of my job. Have you had any conversations or been in touch with B.G. since she was released?

KIM MULKEY: No. But I'm glad she's back. I'm glad she's safe, she's sound. I think everybody is. But no, I have not.