After leading No. 9 Miami (Fla.) to a historic upset in the 2023 NCAA women’s basketball tournament, head coach Katie Meier opened her press conference by recounting an apology to Villanova head coach Denise Dillon.
“I apologized to Denise in the hallway because I was so excited I forgot to shake their hands, and that’s just not my style. That’s the first thing I wanted to say,” said Meier.
Miami upset No. 4 Villanova, 70-65, to advance to the Elite Eight for the first time in program history and continue its NCAA Tournament Cinderella run after toppling No. 1 Indiana in the Round of 32. Miami is just the second No. 9 seed to reach the Elite Eight of the NCAA Women’s Tournament. The first program to accomplish the feat was Arkansas, which made it all the way to the Final Four in 1998.
“It feels great because now we’re the only eight teams in the country playing right now. And we’re going to continue to stay humble and blessed and take advantage of this opportunity, stay together and just enjoy these moments,” said Destiny Harden, who had 15 points and a team-high nine rebounds.
The Hurricanes were led in scoring by Jasmyne Roberts, who recorded 26 points nine rebounds.
“Her efficiency numbers are incredible,” Meier said of Roberts’ performance. “She’s beasting, she’s bullying. The whole team was on the Jas train.”
Miami also had to contend with the nation’s leading scorer in Villanova’s Maddy Siegrist.
“Maddy is everything she’s been advertised. And we really pride ourselves on our defense, and only thing I can kind of brag about is it took 29 shots for her to get 31 points,” said Meier.
With those 31 points, Siegrist extended her NCAA record of 20-point games to 36 straight.
“You’ve got to kind of respect her game,” added Harden. “We always said if she scores and we win, then it don’t matter how much she scored. But you do have to respect a player like that.”
Next up for the Hurricanes in the 2023 NCAA Tournament is an Elite Eight matchup against No. 3 LSU on Sunday (7 p.m. ET on ESPN).