Angel Reese and her cousin, Jordan Hawkins, made their families proud when they helped lead their teams to national championship victories during the respective women’s and men’s NCAA Final Four tournaments last week.
The student-athletes had a surprise reunion on Friday (April 7) when she appeared on “Good Morning America.” The University of Connecticut sophomore said that sharing the monumental accomplishment with a family member has been amazing. “I’m super proud, man. Just to see your family doing something amazing is crazy,” said Hawkins. “I mean, we’re all proud. Uncle Ro, I know he’s losing his mind right now.”
Reese said she is equally proud of the former BIG EAST All-Freshman Team member. “I’m happy for him, to see everything he’s done and to be successful. I’m happy for him,” said the LSU Tigers forward. Following UConn’s title win, Hawkins announced that he would be entering the 2023 NBA Draft. “Hearing my name called on draft night will be a blessing. I worked so hard for this. Me and my dad, we’ve been through so much,” he told NBA Today on Friday.
Elsewhere in the interview, Reese touched on the media scrutiny she faced for participating in run-of-the-mill trash talk while on the court. As most people know, she was condemned for making the “You can’t see me” hand gesture at Iowa guard Caitlin Clark. Reese has since defended herself in other interviews and online, reminding critics that Clark previously taunted her with the exact same gesture during the competitive match.
“I trash talk. So that’s just who I am, and that’s very passionate of me,” reiterated the Baltimore native. “That’s kind of what we do. Caitlin’s a great player, and she understood that. It was nothing personal towards her or any player that we’ve gone at this year.”
Peep the family reunion below.