NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: REGIONAL 2 FINAL - MIAMI (FL) VS LSU

March 25, 2023

Katie Meier

Lola Pendande

Jasmyne Roberts

Haley Cavinder

Jasmyne Roberts

Ja'Leah Williams

Bon Secours Wellness Arena

Miami Hurricanes

Elite 8 Pregame Media Conference

KATIE MEIER: Got a lot of work to do for sure. Happy to have it. Happy to have this opportunity, be in this situation for sure. Running up against an amazing team.

But I still want to go back to Villanova's performance because what a gutsy comeback by them, what great coaching, and they're just an excellent team. Really happy for women's basketball in general. That was a heck of a game with a lot of storylines to it.

But moving forward, which we're going to do, we're going to do it really quickly and we're going to do it really well. I feel we have some familiarity, a little bit, with LSU, a little bit more than we would have with Utah, just some of the players and stuff. Excellent talent, incredible coaching, obviously, tons of passion, tons of grit. I feel sorry for the referees because they've got two coaches that are going to pour into it a little bit on the sideline.

Yeah, if it's about toughness, you've got two great examples of it in LSU and Miami.

Q. How did you spend last night in terms of getting ready for this game but letting your team bask a little bit in doing something they hadn't done before?

KATIE MEIER: Yeah, I kind of get a little bit separated from that, just because we go straight to scout and I'm out on the court and all that. I honestly took a little bit, had a lot of family in town, and they traveled from all different -- my family story is pretty awesome. First thing I said is like give me about an hour to be a human. Like I wanted to sit there.

I had my nieces and my great nieces, my mom sitting in my hotel room bed, sitting there like all of us in a big picture watching the game, the finish up of the LSU-Utah. I just thought, goodness gracious, it's a moment for a lot of people, not just me. I'm going to share that with as many people as I can.

If we can bring joy to anyone at any time, we're going to do it.

Q. In terms of you making the Elite 8 and the men's team making the Elite 8, what does that mean for the University of Miami and basketball on your campus?

KATIE MEIER: I think it's a really, really big deal. Our arena is right on campus. It's right there. It's been a little bit more lit this year with the attendance and the students, and we have this student organization Category 5, they've done an amazing job, the passion, the grit.

The two programs have a lot in common. We're very competitive, like a big brother/little sister or big sister/little brother, depending on who won that week. We get that way with each other and I love it. Any opportunity you have to have somebody push you. Whether you're laying on the training table next to somebody, one player next to the other player saying, why did you miss that shot? Well, whatever, and you didn't -- and they're right there competing with each other in a very loving way. I think it's elevated both of our programs.

Q. Lola strikes me as someone who's a bit of an underrated player, does a lot that doesn't show up in the box score. I'm curious what makes her so important to you all and how important will she be when you're facing an All-American post player that LSU has in Angel Reese?

KATIE MEIER: Yeah, Lola is a big key and you're smart to grab that. She's pretty cerebral, a lot goes on inside her head. She's really thinking the game. She's really following the scouting report.

You're right about her being underestimated, because if you think about -- I'm going through them right now in my mind, but any big win we've had, there's a Lola stop that gives me faith. There's a Lola stop that ignites our team. There's something she does that just anchors us. Yeah, there's going to have to be quite a few Lola stops.

Q. As you look back to sort of the first five years at Miami when you guys didn't make the NCAA Tournament, if there were any key learnings from those five seasons that changed you as a coach or helped you get to this point?

KATIE MEIER: Oh, yeah, there's a big one, and Brenda Frese, who's a friend, like we're friends, we've been texting through the day, last night and this morning. My first year at Maryland, Carolina and Duke and Maryland was in the ACC, they all went to the Final Four. I think I played those three teams in a 10-day span or something. It felt like it anyway. But Maryland was the last -- if they beat us they won the conference outright, and in warmups, I was like, ooh, we've got a problem.

The good news is we scored 62 points, and I was thrilled, but they scored like 102 or something. I went back to my house, and I just sat by my pool and I was like, what have I done? This is insurmountable, the amount we got beat by by an excellent team.

But it helped give me faith because three weeks later, all those teams are in the Final Four, and I was like, okay. I had perspective on what I had done and why I did it. Because we're not here right now if we didn't get beat up a little bit throughout the year in the nation's best conference arguably. I'm of course going to say it is.

We got beat up and we got outstrategized and we got outcoached and we got outplayed and we got outhustled. And all these things happened to us this year. Thank God for it because here we are.

Q. Obviously you spent some formative years in New Orleans coaching with Lisa Stockton, I'm sure some games against LSU. I'm wondering what memories or formative things happened for you while you were there, and are you as eager to see what Kim might wear tomorrow as the rest of us are?

KATIE MEIER: Number one, my very first call after we beat Indiana the next morning was Lisa, Lisa Stockton. And I called her up and I didn't realize I was on speaker phone. She was in a staff meeting. I said, Lisa, I need you to come. You need to come to Greenville. You're my mentor. I can't do this without you. I need you here.

I could hear her getting a little choked up, I was choked up, but I think you're going to see Lisa here. I need her here. She's done everything for me. A dear, dear friend and somebody that took a chance on me when I had eight months coaching experience. And she got a new job and she thought I was somebody that could help her win some games.

You're not going to find a classier person in college athletics than Lisa Stockton, so that's number one.

Number two, I don't know what Kim is going to wear, but I'm going to wear overalls. Because opportunity is missed by a lot of people because it's dressed up in overalls and looks like work, so I'm wearing overalls. Put it out there.

Q. I'm curious how much do you address -- when you're talking to your team, you've got the X's and O's and the scout and all those things --

KATIE MEIER: Do I? Not yet.

Q. Well, when you talk to them. But the history of -- potentially I think it would be to match the lowest seed ever to reach a Final Four, those types of significance, is there any of that you talk to your team about?

KATIE MEIER: No, that's not in our bubble at all. That's not in our bubble. If that kind of stuff was going to get in our bubble, I think it would have happened prior, when we had this week right now. But we know what we need to do. We know we have a very short time. We're pretty locked in.

We just can't afford it. We just can't afford it. There's only so much capacity in your mind right now, and if you go down that rabbit hole and that rabbit hole and that rabbit hole, then you're wasting what you need.

Jay Bilas is a dear friend, he texted me this morning and he said, you need intensity without tension, and I'm like, what a great quote. I just told my team that in the locker room. Like you've got to play intense but without tension. That's what we're going to try to do.

Q. You guys have won three close games. You've gone through multiple All-Americans and you're going to have to do it again. What has this tournament run -- is there anything extra it's brought out of your team that is something more that you hadn't seen as much in the regular season?

KATIE MEIER: Yeah, I'll tell you, it's kind of why you play tough non-conference games, too, because you get exposed. And as a coach, you understand the moment always. I mean, not always, but after how many years I've been coaching, I kind of get, ooh, this is a big possession or we've got to get to the media time-out. The nuances of the game, scripting the game. You get it.

You're begging your team a lot of times, trying to show them lessons, trying to show them films or whatever. But to understand that -- I saw them and I saw our bench understanding, okay, we're trying to get to the fourth quarter right now, we're trying to get there. And everybody was on the same page, and the starters that were in foul trouble were saying, Coach, put us in. I'm like, we still have the lead.

That whole conversation, that wasn't just the coaches telling the players but the whole group was getting it. That's huge. We're there right now because of these games.

Now they've got the recollection of it, what one rebound will make, what one stop will make, what one scout will make. Going back and saying, yeah, I need to jump left on this, that one moment. We're just on the edge right there on a lot of plays right now that in November there's no way I would have had the attention of my team like I have now. There's just no way, and no other coach would, either.

Q. I'm curious how often you've played against Kim and her teams considering there's not a whole lot of crossover between where she's been and where you've been.

KATIE MEIER: Yeah. Baylor in Orlando, I think we played when she was at Baylor for sure. I coached against her there. Gosh, I'm just remembering this memory about Kim when I -- I'm not trying to give her age away, but I literally watched her in the Final Four in my house and went and got a Louisiana Tech little jacket thing and wore it around because I thought she was really cool.

Q. Yesterday was the first time I had seen you all play in person since the ACC Tournament --

KATIE MEIER: A little different?

Q. Yeah. I was wondering what went wrong against Virginia Tech that day that has gone right since?

KATIE MEIER: Whew. I think I've referenced this quite a bit. First of all, Virginia Tech is amazing. It was like getting beaten by Maryland and then seeing them in the Final Four and going, Okay. There's a little perspective here.

They were amazing and they were on a mission, but they were sloppy. We were sloppy. I kept saying it. We just needed some time. We needed what we call Camp Miami, and after the ACC Tournament, we all went to Camp Miami and we worked on passing and toss backs and catching lower, getting our posture right defensively. We didn't do any schemes, we didn't have an opponent.

And to do that not knowing exactly what your fate is going to be, that took a lot of grit from my team because Camp Miami, we don't have a recess and water balloons. It's not really Camp Miami. It's hard. We do like pick your fate and you don't know which conditioning thing you're going to have. And we do one-on-one and then if you lose, then two-on-two and three-on-three and four-on-four. And if you get 13th place in practice, then you've got 13 sprints. And 12th place is 12 sprints.

We just went at each other, no practice squad, whatever, and we went at each other for quite some time, and an identity emerged from that.

Q. I know the LSU coaching staff has said that they're not sure they've ever seen a rebounder like Angel Reese with both hands and her ability to work angles. What kind of challenge is she to box out and keep off the boards?

KATIE MEIER: Gosh, what is their actual percentage, LSU's actual percentage when they cross half court? I'm talking about possession-wise, if they rebound 50 percent of their misses. You go to that number and you're just astonished. They're just incredible. When the ball crosses half court -- it's not how many shots, they can take five shots, that's one to me. They cross half court one time and they probably score. Their percentage in that situation is incredible, their possession percentage.

Angel is the big reason for it. But there's a lot of grit in their guards, a lot of grit on their backside. You can give Angel a ton of attention, and they hunt the backside like nobody's business. There's a lot of work to do for us, a lot of work to do. I'm really glad I have a team that doesn't mind getting in the mud a little bit because we're going to need to.

Q. Lola, Katie was just saying a lot of y'all's big wins lately, there's been a big Lola stop somewhere in the game that has kind of sparked the team. How much do you pride yourself on your defense?

LOLA PENDANDE: I pride myself very much. I just think that if I can somehow support on offense, I have to give my all on defense. I think defense is a want, so I want to get stops, so I do it.

Q. Destiny, I'll get you to brag about your teammate. How important is Lola to what you do and your success that you've had lately?

DESTINY HARDEN: I think Lola is a big part of our success. I don't think she's talked about enough. I think the Indiana game, she really showcased her skills, offensively and defensively, and I think a lot of people overlook that. But I believe she's been one of our top players on the team, and she hasn't gotten talked about enough.

I think all eyes are going to be on you tonight.

Q. Jasmyne, the men's team also made the Elite 8. I was curious if you guys got to watch and what your thoughts are about two Miami teams both getting a chance to play for the Final Four.

JASMYNE ROBERTS: Yeah, we watched the game, and it was really exciting to watch them and both of us make it to the Elite 8. That's never happened at Miami before. It's a really exciting time for both our men's and women's teams, and we're always rooting and cheering them on. Hopefully we can both keep going and make it to the Final Four.

Q. Destiny and Haley, can you guys pinpoint maybe the moment where the switch flipped? How have you guys been able to make this run during the tournament? And obviously for a lot of people watching it and see whatever the number is beside your team's name, it's obviously been a lower seed in a couple of games, you guys have pulled those upsets. Is there a singular moment you guys can pinpoint what was the turning point?

HALEY CAVINDER: I think after the Virginia Tech game, we had a long break, like 16 to 17 days, and we just got back into the gym and learned what we needed to to get better for the March Madness tournament. I think we're just adjusting. We're playing together. Relying on our defense, and we're starting games off really, really strong, and that's something we're priding ourselves on.

I think just keep it going, keep getting stops, and just focusing on our defense.

Q. Piggy-backing on that, to any of the players, Coach talked about Camp Miami and going to Camp Miami, and it's not a beach, obviously. Can you talk about kind of what you guys did, a lot of stuff without the basketball, a lot of conditioning? How would you describe it?

JASMYNE ROBERTS: I'm assuming you're talking about like the break we had between ACC and -- okay. We worked on ourselves a lot. We did a lot of competitive stuff necessarily, like to make us really compete. Like we were competing against each other in practice. She would put us in teams, and we had a lot of fun, but it was like competitive fun. We worked on our defense.

Just many stuff that we really worked on in August but we weren't able to work on throughout the season. We kind of polished things up. But we competed a lot in practice. We were going at each other. But it was fun. We all got our love back for the game a little bit because we were kind of drained. And it just allowed us to have fun, compete and play for something, and also just get our grit back and our swag back.

It was tough, but it was really fun and competitive, and I feel like that's what we needed to get our -- get back into the flow of things, and it worked.

Q. Ja'Leah, you guys have blown a big lead, you've come back from a big deficit, you've won on a last-second shot. You've kind of done a little bit of everything in this tournament. I'm curious what it's like to be on a ride like this where it's just been so wild from game to game and yet you keep winning and dancing.

JA'LEAH WILLIAMS: Honestly, I don't think it was wild. I think we've been here before. We've done it all, been down, been up, been tied, maybe had -- we ever been to overtime before? No. But I think if we did, we'd know how to handle the situation.

But yeah, it's been ups and downs, but we always bring it through no matter what, as long as we're together and have each other's backs.

Q. Ja'Leah and Destiny, I was talking to Coach Meier's first coach at Duke who said she gives this team heart but these players also give her heart, your coach. I was wondering what this ride has been like with her as your leader getting to this point right now.

DESTINY HARDEN: Yeah, it's been amazing, just because we're doing it together for the first time together. I think that's like a blessing because Coach never been here and so have we. We're just going to keep riding out together. And to do it for her, it means a lot because she's been at Miami for a very long time. We can always say this group has been Coach Meier's first run in March Madness right now, so I think it's a blessing, and we're going to try to continue this run.

JA'LEAH WILLIAMS: I honestly think Coach Katie is a wonderful coach. She's the type of coach that comes to her players when she knows something. She's not going to beg you to come to her, but she's going to let you know she's there for you. From this point on, Coach Katie has been there.

She comes to us in practice and she has this look in her eyes and she shakes our hands like she's a magician or something and she can see your soul. And if she sees something wrong with you, she'll walk you out and be like, let's talk. I think that's the connection we need with our coaches, and Coach Katie, she definitely pours into us and we definitely pour into her.

Q. Haley, sort of piggy-backing on what I was asking Ja'Leah, considering you guys have won in multiple ways, you've won by a combined eight points in three games, I imagine confidence was never a problem for you guys. But has this helped confidence even more to win the way you have on the biggest stage and to keep figuring out a way to do it each time?

HALEY CAVINDER: Yeah, I think it's just the mentality we have. We've proven we can win in close games. We can come back from 16. It's a 40-minute basketball game, and we're going to play, and that's the mentality we have at Miami. Being able to close out close games, come back from a 17-point deficit and then understanding that it's a 40-minute game and they can come back.

But we always tell ourselves, like we're a down 20 mentality, I think that's allowed us to be successful in this tournament. And it's March, so we're trying to win every game no matter what it is, no matter what lead we have. If it's by three, it's by three; it's still a win.

Q. Lola, your coach said that she's happy she has a team that's not afraid to get in the mud, meaning to play scrappy. How will that attitude be important in this game with Angel Reese and LaDazhia and some of their rebounders?

LOLA PENDANDE: Well, we have a tough matchup coming up, but we're tough, too. We've been in situations like this. We've played teams like this, and this is a team that is pretty similar to our game, too. It's not going to be an easy game. It's going to be a dogfight, and it's been a dogfight since we started.

I'm pretty confident in our team. We're going to get out there, compete like we have been so far, and see what happens.

Q. Yesterday you guys got a FaceTime call from Lil Wayne, and then after the LSU game he tweeted about Angel Reese. Who's Lil Wayne rooting for tomorrow?

JA'LEAH WILLIAMS: You got to ask Lil Wayne.

HALEY CAVINDER: I think he likes women's basketball and that's a win for women's basketball. Hopefully he comes to the game if he likes Angel Reese and our team. Lil Wayne, if you see this...