ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 3, 2023

Katie Meier

Hanna Cavinder

Karla Erjavec

Miami Hurricanes

Postgame Press Conference

Virginia Tech 68, Miami 42

KATIE MEIER: I mean, just a very, very immature poorly played first quarter by us. You know, when you play with the intention and the shot doesn't go in, you're going to see us cheering, and you can tell. You can tell, we stayed faithful. Don't worry about it, that's a Miami shot, you're doing what we want you to do. Players know it, they're comfortable, they stay faithful. But when we kind of went off the reservation in the first quarter and took so many early shots that were just rushed and immature, it set us back, obviously.

But I do not want to take away anything from that performance by Virginia Tech. I can't believe they only scored 68. They were making such tough shots. They're incredibly talented. Kenny and I were joking around before the game because they can just score at every position, and they buy in. They share the ball extremely well. Really, I was like 68?

Every time I thought we just needed a stop or two stops in a row, they would hit a really difficult, a very high-level difficult shot. It wasn't like they were getting steals and lay-ups. They were executing their stuff and then they were hitting turnaround jumpers and stepback threes. Just really sophisticated stuff offensively.

Obviously we weren't.

I hate that we had such a great performance last night and so together and so intentional, and to sort of splinter and then try to get it back together. I thought our bench -- if our starters are going to give us one assist, we've got a problem, and that's what we had. We had one assist from our starting lineup. Besides the field goal percentage numbers, it's -- and I thought our bench, I thought Hanna played extremely well and was a heck of a competitor. I thought Kyla Oldacre, Karla, Shae Dwyer, I mean, we're happy with that. They really kind of represented what Miami was doing.

We've just got to play a heck of a lot better next time we get an opportunity and need to be a lot more grateful for the opportunity to have another game.

Q. For the players, your coach talked about the first quarter. What did it feel like was happening for you guys when it got away from you right away?

HANNA CAVINDER: I think just watching it on the bench, I think they kind of hit us first and instead of hitting back, we kind of froze a little bit. Obviously they're a really good team. They know what they want on offense and moving the ball. It was hard to guard. I think starting off in the first and third quarter, we've got to adjust it out and make adjustments, but a lot of lessons to be learned.

KARLA ERJAVEC: The only thing I would just add to, on offense we were really impatient. We were taking the first shot that was open. That's how it looked from the bench. Like Hanna said, this is a lesson to be learned, this is where we have to grow and learn.

Yes, they hit a couple big shots to open the quarter, but we need to learn how to settle down, find the right shot, and be calm in our heads to hit it when we need it.

Q. Coach, I'll cut to the chase: Why does this team deserve to be in the NCAA Tournament?

KATIE MEIER: Oh, body of work, there's no question. Virginia Tech is going to -- they're a very, very high-level team and one poor game against a great team like that that had revenge in their hearts, that absolutely -- we beat them at home. We beat them in a week where we beat them and North Carolina, and both teams are high level, and Miami is very good.

We've had some adversity and some injuries, but we'll be fully healthy. Lazaria Spearman is going to come back. She's walking around and shooting around a little bit today, so that'll help us, help our depth.

To beat Virginia Tech -- our four position, Destiny Harden, who actually spent most of the morning getting medical care, so she was really not herself. I don't usually say that, but you want to know what kind of happened to Miami. Des was not with us, and we weren't sure she was going to play. I thought that was reflected in her performance, as well, and that's all I'm going to say on that one.

But she gave us what she could, but she wasn't herself. That was a big matchup for us and something we weren't really planning on and something we weren't expecting. So to not get that performance from Des, there's a reason.

Q. We saw you roughly through the third quarter switch into that 2-3. What was the process behind that?

KATIE MEIER: Oh, actually we were -- 2-3 to start the game on made shots, as well, just a full court kind of version. We had to go small. Listen, who was competing? Whoever was competing, okay, that ended up being four smaller players and Kyla, so that's who we played.

Playing a zone, yeah, you've got to switch your defenses up against Virginia Tech. They are in such a rhythm right now. When is the last time they lost? Is it in 2023, because it doesn't feel like it. They are on a ridiculous roll right now, and they should be, and they're locked in and they're dialed in.

We just kind of had a little bit of a panic. The response wasn't to say, okay, stay faithful, stay confident. We kind of panicked, and we didn't have, I think -- Des and Lola didn't pull us out of it tonight. They didn't step up and pull us out of it, and we need them, and they have all year.

Q. Katie, with the rebounding, they had multiple players with double figures. They got 25 second-chance points. How difficult are they to keep off of the glass?

KATIE MEIER: Yeah, Taylor Soule and D'asia Gregg -- you do your job on Kitley, you do whatever you can. You stunt, you double, you make a choice, and then you're saying, okay, then what do you do about Georgia? And then it should be number one on the list, which is the backside rebounding, but they're trained.

Everybody is -- listen, if you play in this league and you're great, people are going to show you what they think stops you. And when we played them at home, they played pretty well when we played them at home. We had a great performance in our 4 spot, which is Jas Roberts. If you can get that, you've got a pretty good shot.

But you know, tonight they were ferocious on that backside, and we were a little bit smaller. A lot smaller than the last time we played them.

Q. I think you shot like 54 percent from the field in the first meeting. Were they defending you differently or better this time?

KATIE MEIER: Yeah, they absolutely were way more fueled defensively, and they knew it. They were way more fueled. They were way more intentional. They were way more stubborn than they were the first time we played them. When they play defense like that and then they're locked in, you've got to give them credit.

I'm not going to sit up here and say, oh, well, Des wasn't well and that's -- no. Virginia Tech was ferocious tonight, and they're special, and they represent our league very, very well. Their last month has been ridiculous. There's not a flaw in their game. We ran into it.

Q. Virginia Tech went with a bigger lineup of points in the game which they don't normally do. How did that affect your approach on both sides of the ball?

KATIE MEIER: Well, I mean, at a certain point it was like, we have to get some points on the board. When they went big, I think that's when we could go a little bit of zone. But then they got a lot of the offensive rebounds on that backside like we talked about.

Yeah, like I said, we were going to play our competitors tonight, and our competitors happened to be a little bit shorter.

I want to answer that question about the NCAA again. That should not even be in doubt. We have too many Quad 1 wins and we have had a heck of a resume. And we're sitting at 19 wins in the nation's best conference, and we had 11 ACC wins. And in my lifetime 11 ACC wins is -- we're not even on the bubble in my opinion. We're in.

Thanks.