Angel Reese Will Play Thursday Following Unexplained 4-Game Absence, LSU Coach Kim Mulkey

Angel Reese of LSU Basketball will return to the court against Virginia Tech on Thursday after an unexplained four-game layoff.

Reese, 21, has missed the last four LSU games, and head coach Kim Mulkey’s cryptic explanations for her star player’s absence have fueled fan conjecture.

Mulkey, 61, revealed during a media appearance on Wednesday that Reese would return to the field on Thursday.

“Angel is back,” Mulkey stated before even sitting in front of the cameras.

“She will play tomorrow,” the head coach said, as reporters demanded more information regarding her mysterious absence.

When asked how much “figuring out” LSU will have to do to keep Reese on the court, Mulkey said the situation with Reese is “not that difficult” to “figure out,” and she believes Reese “knows our system” well enough to catch up after her absence.

Throughout Reese’s absence, Mulkey kept her answers ambiguous and provided brief responses when reporters pressed her for additional information.

“You always have to deal with locker room issues,” Mulkey said after Reese missed a game for the second time this month.

“That’s just part of coaching,” she added. “In 40 years, I can’t recall a time when I didn’t have to deal with problems.” That’s what coaches are for.”

“Sometimes you’ll know about them, and sometimes you don’t,” Mulkey said of the aforementioned “issues” confronting her team.

“Sometimes you want to know more than you’re entitled to know,” she said.

Mulkey remarked after LSU’s 59-point win over Texas Southern on Nov. 20 that her team is “like a family,” and she drew a hypothetical comparison to the inner workings of a varsity team.

“Permit me to ask you a question. Do you believe we have a right to know if you discipline your own children? That locker room is a family.”

Mulkey concluded the discussion by telling reporters, “You’re not entitled to that information, okay?”

Angel was not dressed in his uniform tonight. Angel plays for this basketball team. And Angel will return sooner rather than later. “I’ve given you my response.”

Reese has remained relatively quiet despite the missed games, but suspicions began to circulate after a teammate’s mother said that Reese was absent from the team due to a low GPA.

According to Outkick, the online feud between Reese’s mother, Angel Reese Webb, and teammate Flau’jae Johnson’s mother, Kia Brooks, began after Webb questioned Johnson’s grammar.

Brooks responded to Webb in an Instagram comment, according to the site. “You definitely know about grammar errors when your daughter got a 2.0-or-less grade point average,” he said. “Stop being petty, fake and hateful, and take responsibility for you and your daughter’s actions.”

Reese took to X (previously Twitter) after the tweet went popular on social media to allegedly address the rumor.

“Please don’t believe everything you read,” she said in a Sunday post.