Kim Mulkey refuses to reveal Angel Reese’s absence from squad citing ‘locker room issues’ and ‘player protection’

The LSU Tigers beat the Texas Southern Tigers 106-47 on Monday Night without star player Angel Reese. Following the impressive win, LSU coach Kim Mulkey didn't explain Reese's absence.

Additionally, she cited dealing with "locker room issues" while also protecting her players, as per ESPN's Katie Barnes.

"You always have to deal with locker room issues," Mulkey said. "That's just part of coaching. In 40 years, I can never think of a time where I didn't have to deal with issues. That's what coaches do. Sometimes ya'll know about it and sometimes you don't. Sometimes you wanna know more than you're entitled to know. I'm going to protect my players. Always."

"They are more important to me," Mulkey added. "It's like a family. ... That's a family in that locker room."

From Mulkey's comments, it's not certain at this point what kind of "locker room issues" the team is dealing with and its connection to the absence of Angel Reese. Nevertheless, Mulkey remains unfazed through it all as her team has continued their win streak without Reese in the rotation.

It's simple for Mulkey at this point, making sure that what stays in the locker room, stays in the locker room. She's aware that the media and fans will remain curious and think of headline material on discovering the reason behind a star player's absence from a team.

From that point of view, Mulkey considers her LSU Tigers family and doesn't allow outside distractions. While the team continues to win ball games without Angel Reese, they can only wait and handle the situation within themselves.

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Angel Reese's cryptic tweet regarding being away from LSU Tigers

Last Sunday, the LSU Tigers forward broke silence in response to being away from her team through a cryptic tweet via X.

"Please don't believe everything you read," Reese said.

Speculations can get chaotic whenever a player or a team doesn't disclose the reasoning behind one's injury or absence from the rotation. At this point, it's yet to be seen when the WNBA prospect will return to the court for the LSU Tigers.

Moreover, in the four games Reese has played this season, she has averaged 17.0 points (46.9% shooting) and 10.3 rebounds per game.