LSU’s Angel Reese brings fans, inspiration to Coppin State

As Maliyah Warren strolled around the concourse level of the Coppin State Physical Education Complex an hour before the defending national champion LSU Lady Tigers would tipoff against the Lady Eagles, there was no question who the 11-year-old came to see.

“Angel Reese,” Maliyah said excitedly. “I love her game. I’m a big fan.”

For Amber Lewis, the opportunity to see Reese meant nine hours of driving back and forth from her home in Brooklyn, New York — her father served as chauffeur — for her first opportunity to see her favorite player.

“I like Angel because she knows how to handle the ball and she’s aggressive on the court,” Amber, an 11-year-old who’s considered one of the top young players in New York City, said. “I want to see how she plays so I can use that in my game.”

On a night when LSU made history as the first NCAA Division I national champion to play a game at a historically Black college or university, the outcome was predictable: the seventh-ranked Lady Tigers won easily 80-48.

And for the 4,100 fans who packed the building on the tiny West Baltimore campus, it was more than a game: it was a chance to witness, firsthand, the phenomenon of Baltimore’s own, Reese.

“You saw an arena that sold out a long time ago, and it’s because of Angel Reese,” LSU coach Kim Mulkey said after the game. “We came back to her roots. It makes you feel good.”

That good feeling permeated the building in what was the hottest ticket in the arena since the building opened in 2009.

Boxing champion Gervonta “Tank” Davis, a West Baltimore native, showed up at halftime and sat on the baseline near the Coppin bench. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore watched the game from the president’s box, where he shared space with Baltimore mayor Brandon Scott.

“Anytime we can highlight Baltimore in a positive way and highlight one of our own who’s doing great things, there’s nothing better you can ask,” Scott said.

Reese received the loudest applause when her name was announced during pregame introductions, and then proceeded to put on a show. She scored a game-high 26 points (making 11 of her 15 shots), while recording a career-high five steals.

“I remember the first time I came here and there weren’t too many fans,” Reese said, recalling her 2021 game against Coppin during the second year of the coronavirus pandemic when she played for the University of Maryland. “I’m just happy [about] the place that I’m in and the people that I’ve been able to touch were here.”

As well as her longtime supporters and family, including her mother, Angel Reese, who sat five rows behind the LSU bench.

“I’m so excited to see so many familiar faces, and I’m so excited to see so much love,” she said, getting a chance to see her daughter play one night after watching her son, Julian Reese, help lead Maryland to a win in College Park. “And to see this game played at an HBCU, that’s monumental, and I hope it’s the start of something.”

In agreement with mama Reese was Mulkey. While the LSU coach played at HBCU schools while playing for Louisiana Tech, Wednesday was her first experience coaching a game on an HBCU campus.

“It was a great crowd,” Mulkey said, “and it was great for women’s basketball.”

What’s been great for LSU’s team recently: the winning — 12 straight games to be exact — that followed a season-opening game loss to Colorado and the turmoil that included Reese being suspended for four games.

While Mulkey wasn’t asked about that suspension directly during her news conference following the Coppin game, her response to a question about the team’s play this season addressed her approach to coaching.

“You always discipline the same,” Mulkey said. “You never let one player become bigger than the locker room.”

Reese, whose persona and emergence as a top star in the women’s game — The Sporting News Athlete of the Year (along with Iowa’s Caitlin Clark) is also among the top 10 name, image and likeness earners in collegiate athletics — has emerged from that suspension in a different role. Yes, she’s still dominant (averaging 19.9 points and 10 rebounds in nine games), but she’s often not the main offensive option on a team where seven players average in double figures, forcing opponents to pick their poison.

“I feel like this year I have a lot more talent around me, so I don’t have to do a lot,” Reese said. “Me and Aneesah [Morrow] are out there fighting for rebounds, and that takes a lot off my shoulders.” Morrow scored 13 points and 13 rebounds against Coppin.

A weight that will never get heavy on Reese’s shoulders: the influence she carries with the young girls who flock to games to see her. The spotlight on women’s basketball has never been brighter, and Reese has been a main driver of the increased interest.

Her role as motivator of youth was evident during her autograph session that followed Wednesday’s game.

“I’m at a point where I have stretched a lot of these little girls’ minds and little boys’ minds where they know that they can be in this position one day,” Reese said. “Me being able to be a leader and being able to be somebody that they look up to is something that I’ve embraced.”

Baltimore, surely, embraced Reese on Wednesday. Mulkey hopes the impact of that embrace and the historic game between LSU and Coppin State lasts.

“I would say the majority of people out there came to see Angel Reese and LSU, a lot of them will never come back probably unless their child or their relative is playing.” Mulkey said. “Maybe tonight they gain some fans and they’ll come back. Maybe there’s some little girl out there that lives around here, and Coppin State is where she’ll go to school and play ball.”