LSU Star Angel Reese Returning To Team After 4-Game Absence

The "Bayou Barbie" is slated to return this week -- LSU Tigers head coach Kim Mulkey just announced Angel Reese will be back on the court this Thursday ... ending her mysterious 4-game absence.

Mulkey made the revelation during her press conference ahead of the Tigers' key matchup against 9th-ranked Virginia Tech ... telling reporters, "She will play tomorrow."

It's unclear whether Reese will start or come off the bench.

What also remains fuzzy is why exactly Reese wasn't playing in the first place ... as Mulkey has been consistently tight-lipped about the details surrounding her absence.

Reese's time away started when the 6-foot-3 forward was benched in the 2nd half of LSU's win against Kent State on Nov. 14 ... and she missed the next few games, including the Cayman Islands Classic tournament.

Rumors were circulating around social media that it may have been her grades, while Outkick reported she was suspended for an "attitude adjustment." Neither rumor has been confirmed.

"That’s what coaches do. Sometimes y'all know about it and sometimes you don't," Mulkey said of the situation last week. "Sometimes you want to know more than you're entitled to know."