Angel Reese entered the postgame press conference room ready.

"How happy are you all to see me? I know y'all are. Let's go. Let's have some fun," she said Thursday night.

The LSU women's basketball star junior forward slid the chair underneath her and took an offensive seated position as she was flanked by Kim Mulkey and teammate Aneesah Morrow.

In her first game back from a four-game absence for undisclosed reasons, Reese put up 19 points and nine rebounds in 30 minutes as the No. 7 Tigers handled No. 9 Virginia Tech, 82-64, inside Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

She knew questions surrounding her absence were coming. While Reese didn't completely divulge specifics behind why she missed LSU's last four game, she did share that spent that time refocusing.

"It felt great (to be back)," Reese said. "It was a long two weeks to be away from the team. Taking time to yourself is really important, I feel like that was something that was important to reset and refocusing within the team.

"I'm just happy to be back. This place was amazing tonight, I'm just happy to be here."

Speculation swirled while Reese, who was the Most Outstanding Player for the Tigers' NCAA championship run last season, was not with the team back on Nov. 17 at Southeastern Louisiana. The game before against Kent State at home, she was bench for the second half, a move that Mulkey called a "coach's decision."

'DON'T ATTACK AND MAKE IT PERSONAL' 'Don't attack and make it personal': Mulkey reacts to questions about Angel Reese's status

ANGEL REESE RETURNS Angel Reese will return for LSU vs. Virginia Tech on Thursday

Reese's only post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, during the time was, "Don't believe everything you read" in regard to rumors and speculation, and she reiterated that point after the win over Virginia Tech.

"I want people to realize that I'm not just an athlete, I'm a human. I go through things, we all go through things. Being able to have so many people that are super supportive to me over this past week-and-a-half really showed me a lot and who really cares for me," Reese said.

"When you're up, everybody loves you. And when you're down is when you see who really loves you. Being able to have such supportive people for me here through a tough time for me was really important."

Cory Diaz covers the LSU Tigers and Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his Tigers and Cajuns coverage on Twitter: @ByCoryDiaz. Got questions regarding LSU/UL athletics? Send them to Cory Diaz at bdiaz@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: LSU women's basketball's Angel Reese on absence: 'Reset, refocus'