Former LSU star Angel Reese claps back at critics with graduation celebration snaps: “Somebody without a college degree said sum”

Chicago Sky rookie Angel Reese made her WNBA debut on Wednesday night as her team lost 87-79 to the Dallas Wings in the season opener. It didn't affect her performance, as she was dialed in, registering 12 points and eight rebounds in the game.

Off the court, the former NCAA star graduated from LSU, and on Saturday, she clapped back in an Instagram post at some of the critics who had been belittling her academic achievements over the years.

She captioned the post, which included pictures of her graduation photoshoot:

"So now what? what was said? oh okay that’s what i thought. I graduated from THE LOUSIANA STATE UNIVERSITY IN 4 YEARS ON TIME💋 i thought somebody without a college degree said sum.😘"

The Angel Reese GPA issue explored

The Angel Reese GPA issue became a major talking point last year during a fateful few weeks in November when the then-LSU Tigers star missed four consecutive games, and coach Kim Mulkey confirmed that it was due to issues behind the scenes.

Speculation about Reese's absence abounded on social media, with the LSU coach deliberately vague about the issue during her news conferences. The most widely accepted version was that Reese had been suspended due to her grades, which were apparently not up to scratch.

The reason speculation pointed in that direction was because of a spat between Reese's mother, Angel Webb, and teammate Flau'jae Johnson's mother, Kia Brooks, on social media, which revealed the personal details of their daughters' lives.

Angel Webb seemed to send a pointed message to Flau'jae Johnson with an Instagram Stories message, taking a shot at the LSU star's grammatical errors in a text sent to her.

"Folks pls do not send me long text msgs with a bunch of grammatical errors it gives me a headache, how do I know you said what you said if I can't understand what you're saying?” Webb wrote.

Johnson's mother came to her daughter's defense immediately, lashing out at Angel Webb in a social media barrage that alluded to Angel Reese having low grades, which was the reason for her absence from the team.

"You definitely know about grammar errors when your daughter got a 2.0-or-less grade point average," Brooks wrote. "Stop being petty, fake and hateful, and take responsibility for you and your daughter's actions."

Although Angel Reese was reabsorbed into the team, she avoided the topic studiously, only telling fans to not believe everything they read on social media.

Reese went on to have a stellar season, leading the Tigers to the SEC Tournament championship game and the Elite Eight of the 2024 NCAA Tournament, where they lost to Caitlin Clark's Iowa Hawkeyes.

The Chicago Sky star was drafted No. 7 overall and graduated from LSU, finally putting an end to the speculation about her academic capabilities in her social media posts.