ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 4, 2022

Katie Meier

Destiny Harden

Naomi Mbandu

Miami Hurricanes

Postgame Press Conference

Miami 61, Louisville 59

KATIE MEIER: Safe to say we're off the bubble?

I really don't still know. I was looking for a book to figure out what happened. Did Destiny go on a 14-0 run by herself? Is that true? 15? Wow.

And we finished -- Ja'Leah Williams' steal, I think, right? She shot a terrible shot or turned it over or something and I was screaming at her mad and what Ja'Leah does is bounces back, gets a steal and looks at me like, you forgive me? I think that started it. We were dead in the water, no question about it. We looked tired, we looked lazy.

I thought they did a great job of throwing zone at us, which is not a Louisville thing normally, and we were very short in the perimeter. And their size was really bothering us, and the only people I could call for are sitting right here. They were the only two that I thought were hunting shots against the zone and their size helped. We could find them. We couldn't see Mykea, we couldn't see Kelsey, we couldn't see Ja'Leah and Karla.

I was frustrated. I was like hand-tied. I said in the locker room, it came out, everyone is like that's great coaching. That was not coaching. That was my players. Do not give me any credit for that, that was 100 percent starting with these two who never lost faith. There was some kind of bickering in the huddles when we got down, and these two were always the ones saying no, no, no, we got this, we got this, and even I believed them, and I really wasn't thinking we had it.

They were great, so I think that's what makes our team so special.

But the performance by Destiny Harden is one for the ages. It's one for the ages.

We absolutely -- on that last play, we had two plays that go to Destiny. Coach Fitz and I immediately looked at each other, we wanted this one call for Des. I went to the huddle and Kelsey Marshall, who's smarter than me, was talking about another call that she had seen Louisville get beat on. And she almost talked me of it and then I said no, no. Like I had this conviction, no, we're going to this play, and we got the switch and the shot we wanted.

Q. How would you describe what your experience was like for you, 15 unanswered by you for the end of the game plus the last shot?

DESTINY HARDEN: I just think it's March basketball, and you got to do everything you've got to do to win. It's either win or go home, and we're not ready to go home yet.

Q. Destiny, the play where you got the and-one, that was -- right after you just kind of screamed. At that point did you feel like you had kind of swung the momentum a little bit for your team?

DESTINY HARDEN: I actually think I had momentum maybe the last five minutes of the game, and I think if I keep attacking, something will go. We knew we had to get the score down by 10 and after 10 points, just keep attacking and keep attacking and after that we had the game.

Q. Destiny, on the three that you tied it and the jumper at the end, the turnaround, did they both feel good, like no doubt when they left your hand?

DESTINY HARDEN: The three definitely felt good. The last shot was -- it's my scout, but I had 1.3 seconds to get it up. It felt good, but I played for it to go in.

KATIE MEIER: You sure ran off right away. The three for Destiny, I'll just tell you guys, we have a play call that we usually run for Kelsey. I called it, I was trying to save time-outs, so I called it for Kelsey, and Kelsey Marshall looked at me and she said, no, run it for Destiny. So that's what makes our team so special.

Q. You guys have kind of done this a lot this year where you kind of fight back late -- well, obviously not 17-0 run at the end of the game by one player -- but you fight back late. Is that something that you guys have been verbalizing all year or do you guys have to say, like hey, we're in this, we're in this, keep your head in, or do you always have your head in?

DESTINY HARDEN: I think with this squad that we have this year, we're very blunt with each other, so we can say literally anything we want whether it's positive or negative, and they don't take it negative because we know our role on the team this year. Once we keep on talking with each other and nothing goes to heart, nothing, anything to win the game.

NAOMI MBANDU: Yeah, I just wanted to say that for my part, I know that the team needs my energy, so I just brought my energy, and that's it. I know that with my energy, I could help the team like in any type of way. I could shoot, I could pass the ball, and I'm glad that all the team stayed up, and this -- I don't know what to say. I'm still -- honestly.

KATIE MEIER: You didn't have any assists, though, Des. You've got to work on that.

Q. What about for you from where you were standing? She got a good catch and shot. Did you feel pretty good about the look?

KATIE MEIER: I felt great when I saw the switch because we had to raise up and shoot over, and we got the switch. Normally that play it's for our 5, and we were going to run it for her, and we brought our size up. They had a big on the ball, and I thought if we get this in, we can get the shot. But the pass was tough, too, because they had a big on the ball and blocked going to the basket. I'll have to look at it again, but I think the pass by Kelsey was amazing. It was very difficult.

They did a great job, Louisville did a great job to take that away, but then we got that switch, and I thought, if Des catches this, from the minute we saw her recruiting, she hits that shot. That's what she does.

Q. We've talked a lot about kind of the shots that were made in the last five minutes, but you guys also held Louisville scoreless and turned them into five turnovers, and the shot-clock violation at the end. What was the emphasis on defense?

KATIE MEIER: Well, you know, you could see how tired we were, and we shouldn't be. We play a lot of people, but we were, so we early pressed, and Louisville took advantage of the press, so we had to save it in our back pocket.

We're a tough team to play when you have a lead on us because you know what we're going to do. But your kids are thinking, eat the clock, eat the clock. They weren't as aggressive. They were aggressive really early against our press and made us look silly. It's the situation that helped us.

But we stunted a little bit more in our presses. We weren't obvious. We were a little bit more sophisticated and we were just going for it. And then we changed our ball screen scheme only because we were down. If we had done it early, which we did, they would burn us for it.

I literally told Coach Walz that because of this loss they probably won't lose another. They could go ahead and win the whole thing now because that'll spark them. They're that good.

Q. Is there any way to compare any game you've been a part of? That's not something many people see ever no matter how long they watch basketball.

KATIE MEIER: No, I really -- it was funny, I was watching something on Coach K, and I played at Duke and I went to all his practices, whatever. But somebody is talking about how he's going through his last season, and they tried to get him to say the past or the future, they try to get him off topic, and he's just in the moment.

So I'm looking at the score, I'm looking at the clock, and because I saw that and I thought, wow, if he's in the moment, I can be in the moment down 12 or 14 going into the fourth. I really do go back to that in my mind mentally. It was just like, well, we're not playing as well as we need to play, so coach the moment. And then the moment got bigger and bigger and bigger, so I really still don't know what happened, but I do know that we weren't playing very well and then we started to play well, and that's what I had to coach.

Q. Destiny, I don't think anybody has asked you about you going on a 15-0 run like on your own to bring your team back into it. When did you realize the zone that you were in or whatever and you were able to kind of finish this game off the way that you did?

DESTINY HARDEN: Just the will to win. I'm going to do whatever it takes to win the game. Whether it's scoring or rebounding, I'm going to do whatever it takes. I'm just a team player and my team believes in me to take any shot, so I just did and came out with a good result.

Q. I'm sure it was a lot more fun there, but it was fun to watch on TV. Could all three of you, just exactly what your feeling was when that shot went in? I know the players sprinted immediately to the locker room. Katie, you were just going insane. Can you talk us through that moment?

KATIE MEIER: I lost my composure. I did.

Going through my mind when the ball was in the air, I actually didn't think it was good, and I was thinking, okay, overtime, and then it went in and I was like, oh, my God, I think we just won. We just won.

It was funny when we went off the court, honestly. One of the people that I ran into was Muffet McGraw, and I thought, well, that was kind of like that Arike turnaround jumper. So I had those two thoughts.

DESTINY HARDEN: Oh, the final moment, just like Coach said, when they switched a guard on me, I automatically looked at Coach, and Coach was in her head like going around. So I was like, okay, we're on the same page, and once they switched a guard on me. I knew I could raise up and shoot over, and also that's my scout, so I do that a lot of times.

NAOMI MBANDU: For my part when I saw Destiny's shot, I said, okay, that's in, and I was ready to sprint on the court, and then I don't remember what happened.

KATIE MEIER: You Forrest Gumped it, didn't you? Didn't you just take off like Forrest Gump?

NAOMI MBANDU: I don't remember what happened. I still don't remember.