LSU's Angel Reese Says 'There Is No Beef' with Caitlin Clark After NCAA Title Game

LSU star and NCAA women's tournament Most Outstanding Player Angel Reese said there was no rift between her and Iowa's Caitlin Clark after Reese's trash-talking gestures in the national championship game went viral.

"No, there is no beef," she told Brandon Marshall and Ashley Nicole Moss on the Paper Route podcast (6:27 mark). "There is actually no beef."

Reese gave Clark both the "you can't see me" gesture and pointed to her finger while looking at the Iowa star, an indication of where a championship ring would go, late in the national championship game.

She also told ESPN she felt Clark had disrespected her teammate, Alexis Morris, and the South Carolina Gamecocks in the Final Four.

"Caitlin Clark is a hell of a player for sure, but I don't take disrespect lightly and she disrespected Alexis," Reese told ESPN. "South Carolina, they still my SEC girls too. You're not gonna disrespect them either. I wanted to pick her pocket. But I had a moment at the end of the game... I was just in my bag, in my moment."

Her gestures ignited a firestorm on social media between those who felt that Reese's actions were unsportsmanlike and those who pointed out that Clark had directed similar gestures toward opponents in previous games and that a racist double standard was being applied to Reese.

And Clark was fine with the whole thing, as she told ESPN's Jeremy Schapp on Tuesday's Between the Lines (h/t Shea Dixon of On3):

"I don't think Angel should be criticized at all. No matter which way it goes, she should never be criticized for what she did. I'm just one that competes and she competed. I think everybody knew there was going to be a little trash talking the entire tournament. It's not just me and Angel. So I don't think she should be criticized, like I said. LSU deserves it. They played so well. Like I said, I'm a big fan of hers."

Trash talk has long been deeply ingrained in sports, especially at the highest levels, where competitors seek even the smallest of edges. While the debate rages on across the Internet, neither Reese nor Clark is taking the trash talk all that seriously or extending it off the court.