It drew attention when the broadcast cameras spotted Angel Reese having ink reapplied to her left ring finger by teammate Sa'Myah Smith late in the win over 9th seeded Miami, but it started earlier in the day.
Earlier in the day LSU assistant coach Bob Starkey brought the idea of having every Tigers player -- at least those who wanted it -- draw the faux ring on their hands as a reminder of what their final goal is this season.
“He told us that every missed shot you had, every backdoor, if you missed a layup, anything, just look at that finger and think, ‘next play, this is what you’re built for,’ " Reese explained after the 54-42 win over 9th-seeded Miami, the black circle still visible on her hand.
It was a bit of motivation that was particularly timely for Reese, who struggled by her lofty standards. The sophomore made just 3 of 15 shots from the field and also missed three free throws, but landed her clockwork double-double with 13 points and 18 rebounds. She also hit a dagger push shot late on an inbounds pass that came in with less than 2 seconds on the shot clock that helped squash a late Miami run.
Reese could be seen pointing to the ring mark throughout the game, and it could've been misconstrued as a celebration -- such as what you'd see after hitting a big shot or making a big defensive play. Often it was the opposite, actually, as the Tigers salted away a 54-42 win marked most with high-caliber defense to take the Greenville Regional and punch LSU's first Final Four ticket since 2008.
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“We pointed at that every single time we messed up, did something wrong or even just the good things," Reese explained. "So we were just super happy and super excited and had a lot of fun tonight."
In the end, the win over the Cinderella Hurricanes marked the next step in a remarkable ascendance since Kim Mulkey signed on as LSU's head coach less than two seasons ago. The Tigers are now 31-2, and Reese has officially set an LSU record with 32 double-doubles. Anything can happen in Dallas starting on Friday, where the Tigers will meet the winner of Virginia Tech-Ohio State on Monday night, but as Mulkey has declared throughout the year -- this is ahead of schedule. She has high hopes, but knows there will be no true disappointment no matter the result.
“We don’t have to win a championship to see how much they love us," she said. "I think they are going ‘what are we doing in Year 2. Are you kidding me?’ "
That said, she couldn't help but envision the excitement of a pair of SEC teams meeting in the national title game. She also was pretty confident that the only question was whether her team might get there. No disrespect to Iowa, but South Carolina is that good. If it did happen, the Tigers would get a chance at revenge for its one regular season loss.
"The greatest thing for me is we’ve got two SEC teams," she said, punctuating her words with a slap on the table, "in the Final Four. Write that story.”
That shouldn't be a problem. The story is writing itself.
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