Flau'Jae Johnson raves about Arike Ogunbowale before WNBA star faces Angel Reese, Rose in Unrivaled league

LSU guard and rap artist Flau'Jae Johnson is hyping Dallas Wings star Arike Ogunbowale, who debuted in the newly launched Unrivaled 3-on-3 women's pro basketball league on Friday.

Arike Ogunbowale is a part of the Vinyl Basketball Club, along with Aliyah Boston, Rae Burrell, Jordin Canada, Dearica Hamby and Rhyne Howard. They played Rose Basketball Club, which had Johnson's former teammate, Angel Reese, Kahleah Copper, Chelsea Gray, Lexie Hull, Azura Stevens and Brittney Sykes.

The two teams played in the second game of the upstart league and Johnson, who has signed an NIL deal with Unrivaled alongside UConn star Paige Bueckers, made herself known on who she was cheering for in the six-team competition.

Ogunbowale and Vinyl BC didn't disappoint — to Flau'Jae Johnson's delight — minutes later after the Vinyl secured its first win of the tournament, taking home a 79-73 win over Angel Reese and Rose BC.

Rhyne Howard top-scored for Vinyl with 33 points, six rebounds, one assist, one steal and two blocks, while Dearica Hamby added a double-double of 17 points and 13 rebounds. Ogunbowale finished with 10 points.

Kahleah Cooper led Rose with 24 points, while Chelsea Gray added 21 points and Reese contributed 10 points and 14 rebounds.

In an earlier game, Lunar Owls outplayed Mist 84-80 after Skylar Diggins-Smith buried back-to-back 3-pointers to guide Napheesa Collier's Lunar Owls to a come-from-behind victory.

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Flau'Jae Johnson hails Unrivaled in its season opener

Flau'Jae Johnson was all over Unrivaled in its season opener on Friday night and tweeted a three-word description of what the new league is like.

The 5-foot-10 basketball player-cum-rapper watched the league's first day from start to finish and gave her assessment on social media, describing it as:

"Unrivaled is gas 😂😂🔥"

Flau'Jae Johnson may play for an Unrivaled team sometime in the future — possibly after the 2025-26 season, as she's still in her junior season with the LSU Tigers (19-0, 4-0 in SEC).

Speaking of the Lady Tigers, Johnson has been one of the major contributors in LSU's unbeaten run in the 2024-25 women's college basketball season. She's one of the team's leaders, averaging 20.0 points, 6.2 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.6 steals per game.

Flau'Jae Johnson and the No. 5-ranked LSU Tigers will visit the Stephen O'Connell Center in Gainesville to play Florida (11-8, 2-3) on Sunday afternoon. A victory over the Gators will help the Lady Tigers' morale and their record when they take on South Carolina (17-1, 5-0) on Thursday at the Colonial Life Arena in Columbia.