WATCH: $1.1 million Flau’Jae Johnson has WEIRD reaction to Angel Reese’s bold move in handling MTSU’s frontcourt…

LSU stars Angel Reese and Flau

LSU star Angel Reese was not satisfied with Friday’s first-round 70-60 win over the Rice Owls even though she registered a double-double of 10 points and 19 rebounds.

Before the second-round clash against the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders, a reporter raised concerns that the Tigers would struggle to deal with the Blue Raiders’ front court, which contained players as tall as 6-foot-5 and 6-foot-6.

The players referenced are 6-foot-6 center Anastasiia Boldyreva and bench option 6-foot-5 Iullia Grabovskaia, who collectively have 108 blocked shots this season.

During a pregame news conference, the confident Reese was adamant that the Blue Raiders (30-4) would also have a hard time dealing with her talented LSU (29-5) team.

“They have to go against Angel Reese, Aneesah Morrow, and Aalyah Del Rosario,” Reese said.

“So they have to work on that and figure that out first.

“Secondly, we focus on our matchups, of course, in our film room.

It’s going to be a team effort.

It’s not going to be just two matchups.

We have great guards, too.

It’s going to be a team focus.

If they focus on two players, they’re in trouble.”

After Reese’s defiant answer, $1.1 million NIL-valued Flau’Jae Johnson (as per On3), who attended the news conference, almost burst into laughter, clearly loving the defiant attitude from her illustrious teammate.

Angel Reese bemoans “ugly” win

The eighth-ranked LSU Tigers opened as 28.5 points favorites in their 70-60 win against the Rice Owls in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, but it ended up being a sloppy performance and closer than the scoreline suggested.

The Tigers turned over the ball 24 times in their clash against the Owls, their highest number this season.

Angel Reese was responsible for six of those turnovers and was among those criticized by LSU coach Kim Mulkey afterward.

Despite ending the encounter with a double-double, Angel Reese also started on 1 of 7 shooting, scoring eight points on foul shots.

Afterward, the outspoken star acknowledged how scrappy the performance had been.

“Ugly win. It’s March. Survive and advance,” said Reese. “I couldn’t make anything tonight. But it’s like that, it happens sometimes.

If you’re not impacting the game offensively then there’s other things you can do.

Defense and rebounding is something that I also try to bring to the table as much as I can.”

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The NCAA Tournament is unforgiving for top teams who start slow, as less illustrious opponents often punish them.

If Angel Reese and crew are to repeat as national champions, they’ll have to clean up their act quickly.