Aneesah Morrow never was coming out of that game.
Not a chance. Not with LSU trailing by five points in the fourth quarter of an Elite Eight matchup with No. 1 seed UCLA. Not with a trip to the Final Four on the line.
When Morrow crumpled to the court in the final 90 seconds of the third quarter, blood dripping from her nose onto the hardwood, it seemed that LSU’s chances were about to collapse with her.
It was a fluke collision. Teammate Sa’Myah Smith slammed Morrow’s face with the back of her head after being knocked backward by UCLA star Lauren Betts. The accident forced Morrow to the locker room during one of the most crucial stretches of the season for the Tigers.
There was no time for a mask or any other measures. So Morrow played the final 9 minutes, 34 seconds of her college career with her face unprotected, the bridge of her nose visibly swollen. She set screens with her shoulders squared firmly, grabbed offensive rebounds and poked at loose dribbles.
With 74 seconds remaining, Morrow made a layup off a dish from Flau’jae Johnson to cut the lead to seven. But no act of heroism from Morrow was enough to lift the Tigers over the top-ranked team in the nation. She fouled out with 26 seconds left as UCLA grinded out a 72-65 victory.
It wasn’t the ending Morrow wanted. She finished her college career with the third-most rebounds in NCAA Division I women’s basketball history. After starting out at DePaul, Morrow elevated herself into a potential WNBA lottery pick during her final two years at LSU. But Morrow wanted more — a trip to the Final Four, a chance to fight for a championship.
Still, the final outing of Morrow’s prestigious college career proved the point she has been trying to make since she first picked up a basketball in Chicago: She never will back down.
“I put a lot on my shoulders to come out and do what I did every night,” Morrow said after the loss. “Nobody in the country did what I did every night. Nobody in the country did what I did over these four years. I’m honestly just proud of myself for overcoming as much as I overcame and being able to do it at the biggest level.”
Morrow never shook her identity as an underdog.
She was a standout at Simeon — winning the city championship as a freshman, making All-State as a senior — but didn’t garner interest from the elite programs. Her best offers came from DePaul, St. John’s and Rutgers. And despite being an NCAA statistical leader throughout her two years with the Blue Demons, Morrow rarely was mentioned in national conversations.
“I do feel like I’m kind of overlooked,” Morrow told the Tribune during her sophomore season with DePaul. “I feel like numbers don’t lie — and at the end of the day, my numbers are not lying.”
It happened again this season as a senior at LSU. Despite leading the conference in rebounds, tallying 26 double-doubles and winning SEC Defensive Player of the Year, Morrow was passed over for SEC Player of the Year in favor of Texas center Madison Booker. The snub only added to Morrow’s postseason campaign.
Part of this phenomenon was fueled by her perceived disadvantage. At 6-foot-1, Morrow is shorter than most elite forwards in both college and the WNBA. But she has been trying to explain this for years: Size doesn’t matter.
Morrow will scrap with any player for a rebound, including her own teammates. Former LSU teammate and current Chicago Sky star Angel Reese joked about this on social media after Morrow grabbed 19 rebounds against N.C. State: “Me (and) Nees gon be killing each other for rebounds in the W.”
This is nothing new. Morrow led the nation in rebounding (13.8 per game) in her first season at DePaul, earning multiple national freshman of the year awards and becoming the only freshman finalist for both the Wooden Award and Naismith Defensive Player of the Year.
She set DePaul’s single-season scoring record (25.7 ppg) as a sophomore before transferring to LSU, where she was named first-team All-SEC as a junior and was a finalist for the Cheryl Miller Award that goes to the nation’s top small forward. She scored her first 1,000 points in only 43 games.
As a senior, Morrow became only the second Division I men’s or women’s basketball player to record 100 career double-doubles — joining new Chicago Sky assistant coach Courtney Paris, who reached the milestone in 2009 for Oklahoma.
Skills can be coached. Physicality can be improved. But Morrow’s motor is something that can’t be taught. And at every turn of her career, her success was predicated on a simple, unimpeachable desire to dominate her opponent.
“That kid — she just works,” LSU coach Kim Mulkey said. “She just is one you want on your team. She plays that hard in practice every day. Sometimes you put her on the side because it’s like, ‘Nees, this is one of those days where you can take a deep breath.’”
There were plenty of reasons Morrow initially chose DePaul. She didn’t have many offers. Her mother, Nafeesah, had been recruited by longtime Blue Demons coach Doug Bruno decades earlier before she ultimately chose Nebraska, where she led the Cornhuskers to the program’s first NCAA Tournament win and met Aneesah’s father, Ed.
But mostly — if she was being honest — Morrow didn’t want to stray far from home.
She never has shied away from the hard parts of growing up on the South Side. Life wasn’t always easy. She saw shootings in her neighborhood, outside her grandfather’s house, on the street outside her family home.
But Morrow loves Chicago. She loves being from Chicago. Even when she headed south to Baton Rouge, La., to challenge herself in her final two years of college, that part remained the same — a love and gratitude for her community, her family and the city that raised her.
“My parents have been through a lot of stuff and I’ve been through a lot of stuff,” Morrow said. “I’ve seen things that I shouldn’t have seen. I’ve been in crossfire. I’ve been through it all, honestly, being on the South Side.
“The sacrifices that they’ve made for me — I just never want them to worry about anything. And I never take anything for granted.”
A return home to Chicago won’t happen this year. The Sky traded away the No. 3 pick to acquire Ariel Atkins earlier this year. And with Morrow predicted to be a top-six selection, she’s likely to be long gone by the time the Sky are on the clock at No. 10.
If anything, Morrow’s draft stock has been held back by her unconventional fit on college rosters. She carved out an identity as an undersized forward, battling against posts who towered several inches above her. But analysts and front offices are wary about her lack of 3-point shooting volume, which could make her an awkward fit at either the four or five positions as a professional.
In the NCAA Tournament, Morrow previewed her potential to answer those questions, knocking down a pair of 3-pointers in the Sweet 16 against N.C. State and one more against UCLA.
“For you WNBA scouts — I think she lit it up from out there,” Mulkey said after LSU’s Sweet 16 win. “I think they forget she can shoot the 3-ball because that’s all she did when she was at DePaul. But for us, it’s not needed.”
Wherever Morrow is headed next, Chicago will follow. She will carry the city’s legacy — toughness, intellect, a refusal to be intimidated — on her shoulders when she enters the WNBA.
And the city will carry its own point of pride: that everything Morrow accomplished started right here.
