BATON ROUGE – LSU headlined Wednesday’s USA Today postseason SEC Honors as Angel Reese was the Player of the Year, Aneesah Morrow the Newcomer of the Year of the Year and Flau’Jae Johnson on the Second Team All-SEC.
The Tigers also had great success in Tuesday’s SEC Honors selected by the league’s coaches. Reese was the Player of the Year there with Morrow on the First Team All-SEC and Flau’Jae Johnson on the Second Team All-SEC. Mikaylah Williams was the SEC Freshman of the Year and Aalyah Del Rosario joined her on the All-Freshman team, but the USA Today version did not include any freshman accolades.
Reese led the SEC in scoring (19.1 ppg) and rebounding (13.0 rpg) to become the first player since Wendy Scholtens from Vanderbilt in 1989 and 1990 as the only players to lead the league in both stats multiple seasons. Reese has recorded 20 double-doubles this year, including nine in a row, to give her a total of 54 at LSU after setting the NCAA record with 34 last year. Reese has one game with 25 points and 20 rebounds against Auburn, her seventh 20/20 game and sixth 25/20 game. Reese leads the nation in offensive rebounding, hauling in 5.6 offensive boards each game. She also ranks No. 2 in the country with 214 free throw attempts and No. 6 with 156 free throws made. On the defensive end, Reese has been an impact player too, ranking No. 14 in the SEC with 1.8 steals per game and No. 13 with 0.9 blocks per game.
Morrow, in her first year at LSU, has been a big time play maker for the Tigers on both end of the floor. Like Reese, Morrow is a double-double machine with 18 this season (No. 7 in NCAA). Morrow and Reese have recorded double-doubles in the same game 10 times. The Chicago native Morrow is averaging 16.7 points (No. 6 in the SEC) and 10.0 rebounds per game (No. 5 in the SEC). Her most exceptional performance came this year at the Cayman Island Classic where she led a shorthanded LSU squad to victory over Virginia with 37 points and 16 rebounds. Morrow has shined defensively, leading the team with 81 steals (2.7 spg, No. 4 in the SEC). She has nine games this season with 4+ steals and has one game with nine steals. Over LSU’s past two games, Morrow has also excelled as a passer with nine assists at Georgia and against Kentucky.
Johnson has stepped up her game this year as a sophomore after being last year’s SEC Freshman of the Year. Her all-around game has been elite this season, scoring, rebounding and guarding the opposing teams’ top perimeter players. She is scoring 14.5 points with 5.0 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game. Johnson recorded one double-double this season with 17 points and 11 rebounds at Southeastern. She has four games with 20+ points.
USA Today Postseason SEC Honors:
First Team
*F Angel Reese, LSU
*C Kamilla Cardoso, South Carolina
F Rickea Jackson, Tennessee
G/F Aneesah Morrow, LSU
G Sarah Ashlee Barker, Alabama
Second Team
G Honesty Scott-Grayson, Auburn
G Flau’jae Johnson, LSU
G Te-Hina Paopao, South Carolina
F Jessika Carter, Mississippi State
F/G Madison Scott, Ole Miss
Coach of the Year
Dawn Staley, South Carolina
Player of the Year
Angel Reese, LSU
Newcomer of the Year
Aneesah Morrow, LSU
Defensive Player of the Year
Kamilla Cardoso, South Carolina