Angel Reese reacted to winning the SEC Player of the Year award after posting strong regular-season numbers with the LSU women’s basketball team under head coach Kim Mulkey.

LSU women’s basketball forward Angel Reese hinted that she feels vindicated by defying critics to earn SEC Player of the Year honors for 2023-24.

After the conference announced Reese’s recognition this week, the 21-year-old wrote on X, “So many things I could say right now but all ima say is thank you God.”

She’s commented on the widespread negativity sent her way on social media throughout the season, so it was surely sweet to be named the SEC’s top competitor and put an exclamation mark on the conference slate.

Reese faced adversity in the first half of the campaign, spending multiple weeks away from LSU for unexplained reasons. Her mysterious absence led to misguided speculation about her academic standing, which spread like wildfire on X, Instagram and TikTok despite holding no factual basis.

Soon after Reese returned to the court for a non-conference game against Virginia Tech, she wrote, “Just make sure that apology is as loud as the disrespect.”

More recently, following an SEC Player of the Week recognition last month, she commented, “Have a GREAT day to LSU fans and LSU fans only.” Additionally, LSU was miffed by mock drafts deemed disrespectful to the post player.

In 16 SEC regular-season appearances, Reese averaged 18.8 points, 14.3 rebounds and 2.8 assists. She recorded a double-double in her final nine games and 13 of her last 14.

Whereas LSU head coach Kim Mulkey ripped her players early on for a lack of effort, particularly on the defensive end, Mulkey has praised her squad for stepping up over the past few months. Reese is the anchor in the paint, averaging more than a block and steal apiece since the beginning of SEC action.

“We’ve improved defensively,” Mulkey said recently via The Advocate. “We know a little bit more about each other now than we did months ago. I think we have a hunger in that locker room still.”

Reese has produced at a high level despite being scrutinized more than almost any women’s college basketball player. Ever since her competitive clash with Caitlin Clark at last year’s NCAA Tournament, a legion of detractors has seemingly tried to bring down the Tigers standout.

“I thought she handled it beautifully,” Mulkey said of Reese’s celebrity status and performances in the SEC. “Her career is winding down in college and so you start counting probably in her mind how many more games I have in my college career. And every game is maybe magnified more.”

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LSU is preparing for its first SEC Tournament game this Friday. Having lost out on the regular-season conference crown to undefeated South Carolina, the SEC Tournament presents an opportunity for the defending national champion to snag silverware before the NCAA Tournament tips off.

The Tigers are on a crash course with the Gamecocks for the SEC Tournament final if both take care of business until then. It would be a rematch of a meeting in Baton Rouge earlier this year when South Carolina stormed back in the second half to hand LSU a home defeat.