Behind LSU women's basketball star Angel Reese's TikTok dance during game vs. Lady Vols

BATON ROUGE – The play Angel Reese made was celebratory dance-worthy.

In the heat of a tight battle between Southeastern Conference unbeatens No. 3 LSU women's basketball and Tennessee on Monday night, Reese pick-pocketed Lady Vols' star Rickea Jackson then raced down and finished through contact for the and-1 that put LSU up, 60-52 with 6:10 to go.

The sequence was a much-needed confidence boost for the LSU star sophomore forward. To inject further confidence, Reese commenced to breaking out a viral TikTok dance underneath the basket mid-game after licking her fingers in front of a Pete Maravich Assembly Center record crowd for its new configuration at 15,157.

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"Me and Rickea are cool," Reese said. "So I was just going at her, playing the competition, being competitive with each other. She's a great player, I'm a great player. It was just in the heat of the moment.

"I needed some confidence and that was my confidence bucket to get going. So that's what got me going."

LSU went on to win, 76-68. Reese, who had just four points and four rebounds at halftime against the Lady Vols, ended the night with her 21st consecutive double-double, 18 points and 17 boards.

Reese's dance wasn't the debut of the choreographed dance that's been making the rounds on social media. Before LSU's game at Alabama last Monday, Reese brought LSU coach Kim Mulkey into a TikTok video with her and teammates LaDazhia Williams, Alisha Williams and Amani Bartlett to perform the dance.

"Y'all remember the video that went viral? Coach is in it," Reese said.

Picked up by ESPN and other sports accounts, the video has since gone viral.

"We were walking off the court at practice at Alabama and as they all do, they turn the music on," Mulkey said earlier this week. "They're doing stuff and said, 'Come here, Coach. Just do what I'm doing.' That's hard to do, to just follow somebody and that's how that got started. Is it viral? Is that the new word? Whatever that means. I've had viral infections before.

"That's why I have young coaches. The young coaches keep me abreast of things, the players keep me abreast of things. But I do dance. I dance much better than that. But I followed their lead pretty good, I guess."

Emotions were at a season high against the Lady Vols (16-8, 8-1), the first game LSU has played against a team with a top-20 NET ranking.

Reese had to battle for all she got against Tennessee. She admitted that earlier in her career, she may not have been mature enough to handle her first-half struggles.

"I didn't care, we were winning. I've matured in a way that I don't let that get to me," Reese said. "My coaches told me just to play. I played and did whatever it took to win."

Taking a moment to dance, during the game and before with Mulkey, also helps.

"They have that relationship with me. What you guys see is game-time, game-face intensity," Mulkey said. "We have those moments in the locker room, we have those moments in film room, the things that come out of my mouth. They're like, 'Coach, you could be a comedian.'"

Cory Diaz covers the LSU Tigers and Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his Tigers and Cajuns coverage on Twitter: @ByCoryDiaz. Got questions regarding LSU/UL athletics? Send them to Cory Diaz at bdiaz@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: LSU women's basketball star Angel Reese dances in win over Lady Vols