Maryland’s Okananwa explains viral moment between Coach Frese in loss
· Yahoo Sports
When it comes to the NCAA basketball tournaments, men’s and women’s, little goes unnoticed.
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On Sunday, playing against North Carolina with a spot in the Sweet 16 on the line, Maryland women’s basketball coach Brenda Frese’s intensity was on full display in an exchange with forward Oluchi Okananwa.
With the Terps trailing by eight points and struggling to keep up with the former Atlantic Coast Conference rival Tar Heels, the longtime coach engaged with Okananwa, the Maryland junior who was off to a slow start offensively. As Okananwa came off the court, Frese got up close, firing off a string of comments, one of which appeared to be “I believe in you” as the star player made her way to the bench.
Okananwa was asked about the confrontation in the postgame news conference and proceeded to squash any suggestion that this was something negative.
“Coach understands [that] I’m a competitor at heart, and I’ve told her this before and I’ll keep on telling her,” Okananwa said. “I love to be coached hard. And that’s what she does with me every single day.”
Okananwa added that the exchange served as a “regroup moment for myself and her telling me she believed in me.”
After the game, which the Terps lost, 74-66, Frese said her goal was to “challenge” Okananwa. The longtime coach also posted on social media “Elite players want to be coached hard! Love coaching @oluchi_okananwa!”
“I think for me, it’s always been, you know, a pulse that I’ve been able to have with individuals and players, and we do at times have to have those tough conversations. You can’t have them without a relationship; you’ve got to be able to have that. The best of the best, the elite of the elite, want to be coached hard, and at that moment, you know, I kind of had watched [Oluchi] struggle within this tournament, and she’s just too gifted,” Frese said. “So, you know, I kind of wanted to implore just how much belief I had in her and just kind of challenge her. I know what a winner and competitor she is and just challenge her — do you want the moment? And I knew it was like, give it a minute, get her back in and you saw, she went out, she got a bucket, she got a steal and never looked back. And sometimes that’s where you’ve got to, you know, know your players and the relationships that you have.”
Held to six points in the first half, Okananwa responded to Frese’s remarks, rallying to finish with 21 points on 9 of 18 shooting with six rebounds and a pair of steals. It was the final display of a strong season turned in by Okananwa, whose skill set earned her an All-Big Ten first-team selection this season.
With the defeat, Frese and Maryland failed to emerge from the tournament’s first weekend for just the second time over the past seven years. The Terps have won 14 conference titles and one national championship under Frese.
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