Last season, Iowa and LSU faced off in the national title game. The Tigers took home the championship and have since become one of the most talked about teams in sports. Often, many of LSU’s players are criticized for their on-court behavior.
LSU star guard Hailey Van Lith believes there’s a racial aspect at play.
“We do have a lot of black women on this team, and unfortunately, that bias does exist still today, and a lot of the people that are making those comments are being racist towards my teammates. I’m in a unique situation where I see with myself, I’ll talk trash and I’ll get a different reaction than if Angel [Reese] talks trash. I have a duty to my teammates to have their back. Some of the words that were used in that article were very sad and upsetting,” Van Lith said.
Van Lith referenced a Los Angeles Times article that referred to Tigers players as “dirty debutantes.”
“Calling us the dirty debutantes, that has nothing to do with sports. That’s not motivating. But in my opinion, I know for a fact that people see us differently because we do have a lot of black women on our team who have an attitude and like to talk trash and people feel a way about it. At the end of the day, I’m rocking with them because they don’t let that change who they are. They stay true to themselves, and so I’ll have their back.”
LSU and Iowa are set to tip off at 7:15 p.m. E.T. on Monday evening. The game will air on ESPN.
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