NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - MIAMI HURRICANES VS OKLAHOMA STATE

March 18, 2023

Katie Meier

Destiny Harden

Haley Cavinder

Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall

Miami Hurricanes

Media Conference

Miami 62, Oklahoma State 61

KATIE MEIER: Even though I've had a lot of time waiting here, it's still shocking what just happened. Not surprising, just it is physically like shocking to have to flip the switch and play a completely different style of basketball 20 minutes verse the first 20 minutes.

I'm so proud of my team. Obviously Oklahoma State, like what a great season, what a great team. They were sharing the ball. They were just way better than us in the first half.

They were unselfish, stronger with the ball. They had intention in what they were doing. We really did want to press them. It was part of the plan. But it was very hard to press them when you only score 20 pins in the first half. Not many field goals or opportunities to press.

The team was really talking when we walked in at halftime. Like really talking. They have to write something on the board and I was ready to be mad. Like why didn't you say anything on the board? Because we been sitting here talking, figuring this out. I was like, well, don't let me interrupt. What do ya'll got? They started giving some information and we start giving some information.

I'm getting texts saying great adjustments, great this, great that. I would love say we made all the great adjustments. We played better and more together, and they knew it and we knew it. It wasn't like we didn't want to bail them out and say, okay, we're going to reinvent the wheel, we're down 17.

We left at least 12 points of layups on the board and they banked in two threes and banked in a two when we ran the shooter off the line, so that's eight points, plus 12, we're down 17, and we can control that. Like we got this.

I think they really actually believed it, even though I'm like, we got to go, like in a hurry, fast.

So third quarter defense, I don't believe they scored for the first four and a half or five minutes, and that really fueled us.

But I do -- I told Jacie, you were very, very good. Like she's a fantastic coach. I know it's very, very hard to lose a lead like that in this type of a situation, but she's very good. Runs great stuff. I really want to compliment them.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes?

Q. Haley, you were leading this team in the second half. You outscored Oklahoma State 42-24. Just talk about being down 17 to just going on that big run.

HALEY CAVINDER: Yeah, the team's mindset coming out of halftime was we knew from the start of the third quarter we had a jump on them and just focusing on defense.

That's our bread and butter, so being able to just get stops and play our game, speed up the game, and hitting our shots. We just poured into each other and shot with confidence and stayed with it.

Q. Ladies, coach told us yesterday that these 8-9 games are just -- can be wild. I think we witnessed that out there today. What are your thoughts on being part of a game that has such a crazy comeback and comes down to one possession?

HALEY CAVINDER: I think that that's March. I think that it's a 40-minute game, so we just stuck with it. I think that credit to them. They played a really good basketball game at the end.

It was nerve-racking, but finished the game strong. Yeah, it was something I'll remember forever.

Q. Two things for either of you: I think your coach also said these games are fun. I don't know if this was fun for you guys tonight or not. Can you speak to that? Also, can you give us a little more detail about what the conversations were like at halftime?

DESTINY HARDEN: Yeah, I think it was fun. Even though we was down, we knew that we wasn't playing our best defense in the first half.

So like coach was saying, how we was talking in the locker room during halftime, the main point was we got to pick it up on defense. Our shots going to start falling, but we got to pick it up on defense.

Once we start playing defense you could see us having fun out there, because like Haley said, that's our bread and butter. Our energy come from our defense, so we look like we didn't have no energy in the first half.

So picking it up in the second half with defense made the game more fun and opened up better for us offensively, like transition and stuff.

Q. Haley, anything to add?

HALEY CAVINDER: Yeah, the conversations at halftime were all about 20 minutes left of this game. Come out strong. Be confident. Play our game. Get stops. That's what we had to do and we did it.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for coach?

Q. I asked you this yesterday and you didn't want to go into it because you hadn't won yet. Now that it's official and both IU men and women will face Miami men and women, how do you feel about that?

KATIE MEIER: That's awesome. I mean, what a great situation. I know our athletic director was on a plane going back and forth with someone from Indiana as well.

It's awesome. Indiana is known as a basketball school. I grew up in Illinois. I'm fully aware of that. I know the history here. It was a great place to play, just a great environment.

We're looking forward to playing Indiana, and hopefully the 'Canes come out on top in two.

Q. What scouting have you been able to do on Indiana so far? Obviously Mackenzie Holmes didn't play today, but Grace Berger, what did you see from them that you've seen on tape and what do you guys think you need to do to attack them?

KATIE MEIER: You're really not going to believe this, but I haven't looked at Indiana. My mind is way too -- like there is too much going on.

If I start looking at Indiana before we play, I can't do it. I start getting things confused.

So we were singularly focused on Oklahoma State. Fitzroy Anthony is on it, my associate head coach, and he does most of our defensive game plans anyway.

So we're going to of a nice dinner tonight and talk about it.

Q. I'm curious if you've been -- you've been in the coaching game for a long time. Curious if this compares to any kind of game that you had in the past?

KATIE MEIER: Well, okay, yes, the Louisville comeback last year in the ACC tournament was in my head. We did that very quickly, did that in like five minutes.

When we took the lead in the third or we tied it, Shae Dwyer had a layup that felt very similar to a Louisville thing. What happened is that Oklahoma State then scored the last four points of the quarter and had the lead going into the fourth.

I was like, wow, like was that our moment? But then it just became a slugfest and Des and Haley -- like I said my mind is still spinning -- but they hit some huge shots for us on very well executed plays.

So what I said in the locker room to the girls, and I'm an emotional coach if you haven't noticed, but I got teary eyed to remind them when life gets hard and doesn't look good, just remember this moment. I really want to you remember, look at your teammates and what it took for you guys to make the comeback.

Not that we are down 17, but like why. The why was because you finally -- we got very unselfish, poured into each other, looked each other in the eye. To say encourage means to put courage into somebody's heart, and we had to put courage into each other's hearts, including mine.

They had to convince me. They game me courage. So I think those moments -- I mean, this is a huge, wonderful memory, sport memory, but it's going to be a lifetime memory, too.

Q. You said when you got to the locker room the team had already been talking and had had things discussed.

KATIE MEIER: Yeah.

Q. What you learn about what they said? What did you say to reinforce or provide any other encouragement?

KATIE MEIER: First of all, the reason my team is required to write in the locker room when they come in is from Pat Summitt, so shoutout to Pat and Holly back there, because this is who I learned it from.

They're required to put the positives and negatives on the board and they have to have it solved before the coaches walk in.

So that's my one shoutout.

Secondly, they were saying -- like we were just -- without giving too much of our game plan away, we were getting beat on players -- they were going to their scout but forcing some switches.

So maybe it wasn't the player who was her assignment, right? But then we would switch off and then we didn't do our job. So have your teammates' back. That was important.

She was like, well, it was a screen. No, it wasn't a screen. It was a screen. I said, okay, come on. Everybody knows the scouting report. Everybody knows the personnel, who does what for that team.

Nice try. That's not an excuse. Change it. And they were like -- they were willing to do it. That was huge.

Q. We talked yesterday about bench contribution and how the numbers may have been misleading with you guys ranking high in the NCAA in bench points. Today your starters go 56 of your 62 points and play the majority of the minutes. How proud are you, one, of those seniors that were able to come out and really carry the load there when you needed them to do most, and, two, of your younger starters that came in and really steadied the ship for you today?

KATIE MEIER: It's crazy. That's the lowest bench points I'm sure we had all year. But if I can tell that you those six points were so crucially important, they did their job, did it at a very, very important time. Hanna did her job in the first half and we couldn't make a dang layup.

She got in there. And then Shae with the steal and the layup. That's what Shae needs to do for us. And then Lola saying I'm tired and I was like, you're not tired. She was like, I am tired. No you're not tired. Okay then, then Kyla comes in and does her job.

So the bench, that doesn't seem like a lot, but how productive and important was that? That's the faith we have in each other.

We're not even close in this game without Jas Roberts. I know she's not up here, but, boy, did she keep us in it. She did her job, too.

Q. Having grown up in Illinois, had you been to games in...

KATIE MEIER: Yeah, I've been here before. It looks very different though. It's renovated. I'm old. It looked different last time I was here. I don't remember when it was.

Q. Any particular fond memories?

KATIE MEIER: Listen, I mean, we are basketball family. I'm the youngest of eight. My biological father played basketball DePaul for Ray Meyer. He was killed in a plane crash. Brady Bunch family. Four kids, four kids, two widows. Widow and a widower got married in 1970, and I have the greatest family in the world. We know basketball.

We know basketball.

Q. Can you talk about Lola's performance in the third quarter. She stepped up big. Struggled a little bit in the first half.

KATIE MEIER: Oh, yeah.

Q. She had big...

KATIE MEIER: She did. Lola is a somebody that wants you to check her. She wants to you check her. She takes it very personally at first. When you don't coach Lola hard she's mad at you after the game. So at halftime, it was one of those -- you know, where is your head? Get it somewhere different. It wasn't there.

And layups and it's very frustrating, but I thought Ja'Leah Williams actually got Lola off by giving her some really nice passes.

I think then when Lola is a warrior and confident, I thought -- that's a great question because that really changed the game. Really thought Ja'Leah Williams was intentional.

We weren't passing to the post for nothing in the first half. That's one thing we really did talk about at halftime.