Charles Barkley said it took away from the game and the accomplishment.

A day after LSU’s Angel Reese waved her hand in front of her face while staring down Iowa’s Caitlin Clark in the final seconds of the NCAA women’s national championship, the opinionated Barkley weighed in on the national, hot-button topic of the last day.

The gestures late in the Tigers’ 102-85 victory in the NCAA championship game Sunday lit up social media, with comments supporting the “Bayou Barbie” for trash talk that’s just part of the game and condemning her for lacking grace in victory.

“Well, I thought it took away from the game,” Barkley said. “In fairness, Caitlin did that in the game before. I thought it took too much attention away from a great performance. She’s amazing.”

Clark, the scoring sensation who was the first with consecutive 40-point games in an NCAA Tournament, made the face-waving gesture to no one in particular during an Elite Eight victory over Louisville.

“You have all these folks on the Internet and on television,” Barkley said. “First, they gonna make it about race, which is part of it. … They deserve to celebrate. I thought it was unfortunate because people are talking more about that than what a great performance (it was).”

LSU’s Angel Reese caused a social media uproar Sunday after taunting Iowa’s Caitlin Clark in the final seconds of the Tigers’ 102-85 victory in the NCAA women’s national championship game.

Reese waved her hand in front of her face, then later pointed toward her finger as if to say a ring was coming.

Reese isn’t apologizing.

Here’s what the LSU star had to say when asked about the incident and if she is glad people are talking about women’s basketball.

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“I’m happy,” she said. “I mean, all year I was critiqued about who I was. Nobody — I don’t — the narrative, I don’t fit the narrative. I don’t fit in a box that y’all want me to be in. I’m too hood. I’m too ghetto. Y’all told me that all year.

“But when other people do it, y’all say nothing. So this was for the girls that look like me, that’s going to speak up on what they believe in. It’s unapologetically you. That’s what I did it for tonight. It was bigger than me tonight. It was bigger than me.

“Twitter is going to go on a rage every time, and I’m happy. I feel like I’ve helped grow women’s basketball this year. I’m super happy and excited. So I’m looking forward to celebrating in the next season.”

Mark Heim is a sports reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim.