LSU's Angel Reese Plans to Attend White House Celebration After Jill Biden's Comments

LSU superstar forward Angel Reese confirmed on SportsCenter she will join the Lady Tigers in accepting an invitation to the White House despite previously expressing her disappointment that First Lady Jill Biden wanted to invite runner-up Iowa as well.

When asked what the reaction in the LSU locker room was to Biden's comments, Reese replied:

"At the beginning we were hurt. It was emotional for us. Because we know hard we worked all year for everything. And just being able to see that, that hurt us in the moment. But just going back on it, you don't get that experience [of going to the White House] ever. So being able to go back, and I know my team probably wants to go for sure, and my coaches are supportive of that. So I'm going to do what's best for the team, and if they would like to go we decide that we're going to go, then we're going to go."

Jill Biden made her remarks during a speaking engagement at the Colorado state capital in Denver the day after LSU's victory.

"I know we'll have the champions come to the White House, we always do. So, we hope LSU will come," she said. "But, you know, I'm going to tell Joe I think Iowa should come, too, because they played such a good game."

Reese gave her opinion on the matter.

Iowa ultimately will not be visiting the White House. President Joe Biden has since clarified that LSU and men's champion UConn will be making appearances.

Press Secretary Vanessa Valdivia issued a clarification on Jill Biden's comments on Tuesday:

Reese later said on the I Am Athlete podcast that she would not accept an apology for Jill Biden's comments and appeared to suggest she wouldn't attend the White House:

"I don't accept that—I'm not going to lie to you, I don't accept that apology because she said what she said," Reese said.

"You can't go back on certain things that you say. You felt like they should have came because of 'sportsmanship,' right? (Iowa) can have that spotlight; we'll go to the Obamas. We'll see Michelle. We'll see Barack."

LSU spokesman Michael Bonnette said Thursday that the team would be accepting the invite without providing specifics on whether individual players would attend, per USA Today's Cydney Henderson.

Reese, who transferred from Maryland before this season, averaged 23.0 points, 15.4 rebounds, 1.8 steals and 1.6 blocks per game.

She was named Most Outstanding Player for the tournament after posting double-doubles in all six games, averaging 21.3 points and 15.2 rebounds per game.