LSU Professional Athletes

Angel Reese Owns the Record Books

Angel Reese didn't ease back into the WNBA season. She detonated.

In her first game after returning from the 2026 FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup — where she helped Team USA win gold — the LSU product dropped 30 points and 10 rebounds in just 25 minutes against the Connecticut Sun, leading the Atlanta Dream to a 103-59 blowout. The performance was efficient to the point of embarrassing: Reese shot 11-of-14 from the field and finished with her 30th double-double of the season, a new WNBA single-season record.

That's not a record in the sense of "most in a few years." That's all-time, and Reese got there in dominant fashion.

The win was also the largest in Dream franchise history, a 44-point margin that sent a clear message to the rest of the league. Reese's own postgame quote made the intent explicit: "Gotta leave a taste in everybody's mouth." Consider it done.

The record-setting night drew immediate attention to Reese's MVP candidacy. Former WNBA star Tina Thompson went on record stating she believes Reese already belongs in the conversation — and after a 30-10 line in 25 minutes, it's hard to argue otherwise. Reese also joined an exclusive club of just seven WNBA and NBA players to achieve a specific statistical feat in the 21st century, per reporting this week.

She followed that historic Thursday with another double-double Saturday, putting up 23 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, and 3 blocks in a 106-81 Dream win over Chicago — a +26 performance that underscored just how locked in she is heading into October.

A Note of Concern for Atlanta

The Dream's playoff picture isn't entirely clean. Atlanta announced that four-time All-Star Brionna Jones will miss the remainder of the season due to injury — a significant loss in the frontcourt as the team prepares for the postseason. How much that affects the Dream's depth will be something to monitor, but with Reese playing at this level, Atlanta remains a genuine threat.

Flau'jae Johnson Lights Up the Box Score

Elsewhere in the LSU diaspora, Flau'jae Johnson had a big individual night Friday for the Seattle Storm — 25 points against Las Vegas — even as the team fell 114-77 in a lopsided loss. The Storm's -32 plus-minus for Johnson tells the broader story of the game, but the scoring output signals she remains a legitimate offensive contributor as Seattle closes out its season.

Aneesah Morrow suited up for Toronto against Indiana on Friday, though box score details were not available.

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The bottom line for LSU fans: Angel Reese is playing the best basketball of her professional career at exactly the right time, and her record-setting week has the Dream — and the rest of the WNBA — taking notice.

LSU in the WNBA | Week of Aug. 30–Sept. 5

Angel Reese didn't just win a basketball game Sunday — she rewrote the record book.

The Atlanta Dream forward recorded 15 points and 11 rebounds against the league-leading Minnesota Lynx, notching her 29th double-double of the season to surpass the previous WNBA single-season record held by Alyssa Thomas. The Dream backed her up with an 89-81 statement win over the top-ranked Lynx, a result that reverberated across the league heading into the WNBA break for the 2026 FIBA Women's World Cup.

The performance was vintage Reese: relentless on the glass, physical in the paint, and clutch when it counted. She finished a plus-15 on the night, the kind of two-way impact that's made her the Dream's engine in her first season in Atlanta. It also earned her a second consecutive Eastern Conference Player of the Week award — a back-to-back honor that's generated as much noise on social media as the record itself.

The milestone drew immediate celebration from sponsor Reebok, which marked what it called a trifecta of season achievements for its marquee athlete. Former ESPN reporter Cindy Brunson went further, making a bold prediction about Reese's trajectory in the league. The WNBA world largely agreed: the history books have a new name at the top of the double-double column.

The game wasn't without its edge. Reese got into a heated on-court exchange with a Lynx veteran during the contest — par for the course for a player who has never shied away from the competitive fire that made her a phenomenon at LSU and now in the pros.

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Flau'jae Johnson Drops 19 for Seattle

While Reese was making history in Atlanta, fellow Tiger Flau'jae Johnson was putting together a strong showing of her own across the league. The Seattle Storm guard dropped 19 points against the Los Angeles Sparks on the same Sunday, adding two assists, three rebounds, and a steal. The Storm lost 90-74, and Johnson's minus-24 plus/minus reflected a tough team outing, but her individual performance underscored the scoring punch she's brought to Seattle this season.

Two LSU alumni, two eye-catching stat lines, same night. It was a fitting week for the Tigers' WNBA contingent — one writing history, the other reminding the league she belongs among its most dynamic young guards.

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Aneesah Morrow and the Atlanta Tempo dropped a 69-101 decision to the Phoenix Mercury on Sunday; no stats were available from that contest.

Angel Reese just had one of the most historically dense weeks in WNBA history — and she did it in a Dream uniform, in her first season in Atlanta.

31 Points, a Playoff Berth, and Franchise History

The week opened Sunday, Aug. 23, with Reese torching the Phoenix Mercury for a career-high 31 points to go with 14 rebounds and four steals in a 99-89 Atlanta win. The performance clinched a playoff berth for the Dream and made Reese the first player in franchise history to record 20-plus points and 10-plus rebounds in the same game ten times. The WNBA world took notice immediately — social media buzzed with takes ranging from "unreal" to comparisons that put her ahead of Caitlin Clark in terms of week-to-week impact.

26 Rebounds. Read That Again.

Then came Tuesday. At Crypto.com Arena against the Los Angeles Sparks, Reese put up 11 points, three assists, three steals — and a staggering 26 rebounds, eight of them offensive, in a 78-71 Dream win. The number shattered Chamique Holdsclaw's single-game record of 24, a mark that had stood since 2003. In the same game, Reese also surpassed A'ja Wilson for the most rebounds in a single season in WNBA history. Two all-time records, one night, on the road.

Sparks head coach Lynne Roberts was among those heaping praise on Reese after the game. Teammate Allisha Gray summed up the locker room's reaction in four words. The WNBA's official accounts celebrated the milestone publicly. Comparisons to Dennis Rodman and Pistol Pete Maravich — in spirit, if not in style — flooded the discourse.

Reese herself fired back at a reporter who questioned aspects of her game beyond the glass, making clear she wasn't interested in parsing the noise around a historic performance.

A Rough Friday, But the Records Stand

Friday brought a speed bump: Atlanta fell 101-83 to the Portland Fire, with Reese posting 16 points and 16 rebounds in a losing effort. Even in defeat, the Dream announced another rebounding milestone reached. The records don't pause for losses.

By week's end, Reese had earned a WNBA weekly honor — a formal acknowledgment of what any box score could confirm: no one in the league's history has ever rebounded a basketball quite like this.

A Note on Other LSU Alumni

Flau'jae Johnson had a pair of solid outings for the Seattle Storm, scoring 23 points in a loss to the Wings on Sunday and following it with 20 points in a win over the Tempo on Thursday. Neither performance broke records, but Johnson continued to show she belongs at this level. Aneesah Morrow logged minutes for the Tempo across three games during the period; full stat lines were not available.

The broader LSU alumni story this week, though, belongs entirely to Reese. In seven days, she claimed the WNBA's all-time single-game rebounding record, the all-time single-season rebounding record, a career scoring high, a franchise first, a playoff clinch, and a weekly award. There may not be a rubric for a week like that — because it hasn't happened before.