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

March 26, 2023

Katie Meier

Jasmyne Roberts

Destiny Harden

Bon Secours Wellness Arena

Miami Hurricanes

Elite 8 Postgame Media Conference

LSU 54, Miami 42

KATIE MEIER: Congratulations to LSU. Just such a tough basketball game. I mean, if you like defense, effort, scrappy intensity, it was a great game. If you like three-point shooting, not a very entertaining game. 1 for 27, is that right? Total?

We kept fighting, and we never quit, and we never pouted. Things were not going our way. We knew it wasn't going to be easy, but that was really difficult to have the plays -- I'm so proud of my team. We were executing exactly what we wanted to do. It was hard to do. They were screening for each other, being great teammates to each other.

Great teammates to each other. Setting screens, setting up back door cuts, getting -- defensively, the rebounding effort. Angel Reese not having a field goal for however long was remarkable. So we did everything we were supposed to do. And there was one really frustrating part of the game. The little round thing didn't go in the big round thing for Miami. That's a tough time for that to happen.

I've got to credit LSU's defense. I know we were exhausted because we were pouring our heart and soul into the defensive end and the rebounding effort. So on the offensive end, unfortunately you get a little bit of like a oh, my god, I can rest a little, and I think that got us a little bit. And that's all the credit to LSU for being so hard to guard inside and for taking our legs out so much. And for all of our intensity and all of our focus and all of our effort to be on the defensive end -- which was a phenomenal defensive performance and a great, well executed game plan. To have all those things going your way, but then just to not have that final punch on the offensive end, the final punch.

And Jas did everything in her world to keep us in it, and Destiny took every shot I wanted her to, and she's sitting up here because she's an admirable, honorable, incredible person. I know she probably doesn't want to be sitting here right now. But she is a proud -- and she should be proud and her shoulders should be back and her chin should because she carried this program. And she carried it with her attitude, with her effort, with her toughness and her loyalty.

I want her up here because I'm celebrating you, Destiny Harden, because you have changed this program and we are never looking back thanks to you.

Q. For either of you guys, it seems like Coach Mulkey spent a couple seconds talking to each of you in the handshake line. What was her message to you guys at the end of the game there?

DESTINY HARDEN: She just basically was just telling us that we played good, one of the toughest teams they've played. Just telling me that she loved my game, she loved that I played hard, and that's basically what she was saying.

JASMYNE ROBERTS: She told me that I had a great game, and we brought the team somewhere that it's never been. We've never been here before, so she basically just told us keep our head up.

Q. Jasmyne, you had another 20-plus point game today. Again, a big stage, the NCAA Tournament. What's been working for you and what specifically worked for you today?

JASMYNE ROBERTS: I would say just getting to the basket. That's my game, getting to the basket. Also my pull-up jumper, and my teammates just feed me a lot of confidence, and we all feed off of each other.

I'm just taking what the defense is giving me, and that's what's been working.

Q. Destiny, I know it's difficult now, but how soon do you think you'll be able to concentrate on what Coach Meier says, what Coach Mulkey said and think, yeah, I did help take this team places it hadn't been before?

DESTINY HARDEN: Right now, I mean, it hurts because we competed, we gave it our all. We took the program somewhere it's never been.

But I think I'm going to just go back in the past and remember this forever. Right now it stings, but I'm glad I'm able to say that we was one of the first teams to make history for Miami. I mean, I'm proud of this team. I'm proud of how hard we fought all season long.

Yeah, I don't know, I'm just proud of the team. I know the younger players are going to do well.

Q. What does it mean this weekend for the university, having both the men's and women's team in the Elite 8 and what does it mean for both programs in the future?

DESTINY HARDEN: I think it's amazing to have two teams in the Elite 8. Congrats to our men for making it to the Final Four. It shows that Miami is not just a distraction state. We come here to play basketball. We come here and put our priorities first. We come here to do work.

I think it's amazing. I think we're going to continue this at Miami. I know the young classmen, like I said, they're going to be well in the future. They have great people ahead of them right now as far as the seniors.

Somebody sitting next to me is going to carry the program just like I did, and I have no doubt about that. But yeah, I'm excited for what Miami has in the future.

Q. Destiny, I was going to ask you about Jasmyne. It feels like she put her name on the map in this tournament. What can you say about her and this program's future with her as kind of the leader?

DESTINY HARDEN: I think Miami is in good hands with Jas. I think the world is just now just seeing her, but we seen it all year long, all last year. She gave it her all. Like I said, I call this girl my twin because every time she's goes out there, she's fearless. She wants to work hard all the time. She wants to be coached. She's asking questions all the time. She's starting to understand. She's young, but she's maturing very fast, and I can't be prouder of her, and I can't wait for her future. I know she's going to do amazing things in the future.

Q. Coach Meier mentioned it. For either of you, anything you can particularly pinpoint in terms of the three-point struggles tonight, put your finger on what might have went wrong there?

DESTINY HARDEN: Just weren't hitting tonight. Can't always have a good game. That's just what it is. Just wasn't hitting tonight.

Q. Jasmyne, how difficult is it to get as close as you did to that Final Four and yet tonight doesn't go the way you want it to? Can you describe the feelings of that moment and what that's like?

JASMYNE ROBERTS: It really sucks. I mean, we put in a lot of hard work, and we thought we were going to win today. We competed to the end.

It's a good feeling to make it this far, but we were so close to making it to the Final Four. And, yeah, I'm very sad, but I'm going to keep my head up, keep working, because there's other opportunities ahead. Like we've always got next year and the year after.

Q. Katie, it seemed like in the third quarter that's when the game kind of got away from you. What went wrong in that stretch do you think?

KATIE MEIER: I mean, got away from us because it was a 12-7 quarter. I never felt like the game got away from us. I never felt that way, even at the end. The official was like 48 seconds, do you want to use your time-out. I was like, no, we're going to score two more times and I'm going to need an advance time-out to get a tie.

I never really felt like the game got -- we missed really huge opportunities in big moments. But 7-12, if you sit here and tell me that LSU is going to shoot 30 percent, 8 percent from the three and 50 percent from the free-throw line, I'm thinking I'm cutting down a net right now.

But that's gritty they are and that's how gritty we are. And I'm so impressed with the job that Kim has done in two years there, revamping this roster and having these amazing players.

I think both coaches have a ton of respect for -- as individuals we have respect for each other, but the respect we have for the other one's team and how much when we would watch on film and we were like, I really like how they play love. I really love that they're that gritty. And I think we both coach really hard and bring a lot of love.

But I mean, we got them to play not as well as they can, and they still beat us. I've got to tip my hat to them.

Q. I was going to ask about the defense. LSU, that's a season low scoring total for them, a season low for Angel Reese. How impressed were you with the execution on that end?

KATIE MEIER: It was incredible with a day. Because literally we weren't preparing for anyone else besides Villanova. And Fitzroy Anthony, my associate head coach had LSU and Shenise Johnson had Utah. And we obviously didn't know which one we were going to play. That defensive game plan -- a lot of people have tried to play that way. They've played them that way.

But Alexis Morris is the reason that they're out there and I'm sitting here right now. It was Morris. The job we did on LaDazhia Williams and Angel Reese -- I'm sorry, I think 3 for 15 -- even though she got another double-double, that's just an incredible performance.

We did it last year at South Carolina with Aliyah. We have that in our DNA, but the problem was it took so much out of us that we then just couldn't get that lift on the offensive end. And I'm sure that wasn't -- it's just unfortunate because the people that were playing their guts off, Destiny and Jas and Lola, were the ones we were trying to go to on the offensive end. And we needed somebody else to step up and take some of the pressure off of us.

Q. Not necessarily an officiating question, but just the foul line, the fact that they were able to get to the line so much, and in a game where points were at a premium, how difficult was it to deal with that?

KATIE MEIER: Yeah, it wasn't difficult. You know what, I wasn't -- it didn't feel unwarranted, though. I think we started the game, we were boxing out, we protected the rim, we protected the paint. As it wore on a little bit, they kept coming and kept coming and kept coming.

But we didn't have a free throw at halftime. And some coaches would blame the officials, but I'm blaming myself and my team saying how about we get to the free throw, Miami, and the very first play we got to the line. That's the kind of adjustments we needed to make.

We did have those flair threes from my two special players that have been carrying us this whole tournaments. The same reason we're here were those shots. But maybe dipped our hand in the cookie jar too many times and didn't rack it and go to the rim.

If you're standing out there, they've got some length. And they did a nice job, and they blocked some shots and they protected the rim and that might have got in our head a little bit too. I've got to give credit to them for that, I really do. They earned it.

Q. In general were you good with the shots that were taken from three despite the fact you have a night where none of them go in?

KATIE MEIER: Only at the end. In the fourth quarter there, I thought we had the matchup where I thought a couple times we could have -- what we say racked it. And I think we just -- eight-point game, I think -- eight-point game, I think we had three possessions -- Lashae Dwyer doesn't go down, this might be a different story. No excuses there, but I still can't believe what I saw on that play when she got that steal.

Did she get the ball above Angel Reese? I think that happened. I'm not sure. That was amazing. She just -- her two fouls in the first -- Shae was a big part of our game plan, she really was, and she got two early fouls and then we were coming back, feeling back, looked like Miami.

Lazaria Spearman had an incredible game, great performance. We had the lineups and I think that really killed our momentum quite a bit, because Shae could have gotten us downhill and gotten us a little. And she was fresh because she had been on the bench with here foul trouble.

I think the game really changed there in terms of was there another magic moment for Miami? That might have been it. That might have been the reason.

Q. Katie, when the shots don't go down early, I know probably every coach in this game would say, all right, well, they're going to fall eventually. Could you sense any frustration among your players in the offensive side as they kept taking shots?

KATIE MEIER: Well, I mean, the players we could get open for the three, because of their size and because of their match-ups -- and I'm not trying to give away the game plan -- but LSU, there's a way to get some of those kids open depending on who's guarding them, and I thought we did a fantastic job of it.

There wasn't a lot of other options because of -- I think Lola, we probably could have gone inside a little bit more early. And then when Spearman showed up late in the game, I think that's the flash -- signs of the flash of -- flashes of what's coming with her. I think she's a pro.

But we asked too much of Jas Roberts and we ask a lot out of Destiny. And when you see them killing themselves on the defensive end when they had given up five or six inches on the match-ups, what more can you ask? You can't blame them, but we needed somebody else to step up and hit a couple shots for us.

Q. I know this loss stings right now, but I was looking at your roster and thinking with Destiny as the outlier, five of your top six scorers have eligibility left if they want that extra COVID year. How excited are you about kind of building off of this?

KATIE MEIER: Yeah, you know, right now I'm going to deal with my current roster, and you know how things have changed so much that who knows. Like you said, as a coach, you don't know.

But I do think that what we've done in this run has shown what Miami basketball is all about. I think we've shown absolutely raw emotion. No one steals our joy, never can, never will. You're always going to see a joyful, intense team.

I think we're attractive, and I think if people have an option to come back, they probably will because they've had just a great time and because we take care of our players so well.

Yeah, I'm going to stay with this team right now, but I am certainly not going to worry about the future. I think it looks pretty darned good.