February 2, 2025
Angel Reese Becomes First Player Ejected From Unrivaled Game After Arguing With Officials
Although Reese only played seven minutes, she grabbed 15 boards, scored six points, and tallied three assists.
It took a little over a week, but Unrivaled got its first ever ejection, and it was the spirited play of the Chicago Sky’s Angel Reese that earned her two successive technical fouls and a subsequent ejection from the Feb. 1 game between her Rose Basketball Club squad and the Laces.
According to The Athletic, Reese was whistled for a defensive foul as she was guarding Tiffany Hayes, who fell to the floor as she drove towards the basket.
What drew the official’s initial technical foul was Reese waving of her hand, which appeared to the official to be in his direction, but was most likely intended for Hayes.
Following this tech, Reese proceeded to argue with the referee, which will generally earn a player a technical foul in most leagues where officials are given the ability to assess technical fouls, and it did so for Reese, who was ejected from the game after the second foul.
On social media, after the conclusion of the game, Reese had a little fun with her history-making ejection via some posts on X.
Reese posted a video of her appearing to stand in a mock penalty box, which she captioned “free me.”
Later, Reese poked fun at herself, writing “Happy (Black History Month). Y’all know I had to be the first.”
The sequence of events on the court also generated a significant amount of conversation about the officiating, which was also a common objection from fans during the WNBA Finals series between the two founders of Unrivaled, New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart and Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier.
Although Reese only played seven minutes, she grabbed 15 boards, scored six points, and tallied three assists.
Those 15 boards were good for the most rebounds during the night’s slate of games, an honor she shared with Los Angeles Sparks forward Dearica Hamby, who played all four quarters.
Without Reese, Chelsea “Point Gawd” Gray handled much of the scoring duties, putting up 28 points, eight assists, and adding in three rebounds and earning player of the game honors in the Rose BC’s 83-69 win over the Laces.
So far, Unrivaled has been a resounding success both for the players who are participating and TNT Sports (and Max, who has exclusive streaming rights).
According to a press release provided to BLACK ENTERPRISE by Tyger Danger, the senior director of Communications for TNT Sports, the opening weekend of Unrivaled drew two of the most watched women’s basketball games in TNT Sports history, one of which featured Reese’s club.
“TNT Sports’ inaugural season of Unrivaled delivered strong opening night (Friday, Jan. 17) viewership across platforms. The Lunar Owls vs. The Mist and The Vinyl vs. The Rose posted the two most watched women’s basketball games on TNT Sports platforms ever. Max’s B/R Sports’ peak concurrent streaming viewers were 4x the previous women’s basketball all-time high. And Unrivaled content across Bleacher Report platforms delivered 25 million views during opening week,” the press release stated.
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