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March invokes the most intense of emotions from players and coaches alike. Star Maryland guard Oluchi Okananwa has told her coach, Brenda Frese, she expects nothing less than the most impassioned direction.So in the third quarter of what became a 74-66 second-round NCAA Tournament loss to No. 4 seed North Carolina, the broadcast showed a clip of Frese unloading on her guard. In a span of three minutes, Okananwa had a travel, went 1 of 4 on free throws, and missed a layup before getting subbed out.
Inches from Okananwa’s face, Frese delivered a vehement oratory to the junior.
Among the roughly 11 seconds shown on the broadcast, common lip-reading could pick up one prevailing sentiment near the end of Frese’s diatribe for Okananwa.
“I believe in you,” the longtime Terrapins coach could be seen saying. “But you gotta want this moment.”
It’s exactly the coaching the first-team All-Big Ten guard has asked for. It’s a visceral reflection of her own internal passion.
“Coach understands I’m a competitor at heart,” Okananwa said postgame. “I’ve told her this before, and I’ll keep on telling her this forever. I love to be coached hard. That’s what she does with me every single day.”
She averaged 17.7 points per game and 5.4 rebounds on the season, leading the fifth-seeded Terrapins.
Frese has seen the scope of coaching in her 24 years at the helm of Maryland women’s basketball. She’s led them to three Final Fours, 14 conference titles, and a national championship in 2006. Her 688 career wins are the most in program history and rank in the top 20 all time.
So she knows what’s needed to extract the best from her players.
“It’s always been a pulse that I’ve been able to have with individuals and players,” Frese said postgame. “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.
“At that moment, I watched Oluchi struggle within this tournament. She’s just too gifted, so I wanted to implore how much belief I have in her and challenge her. I know what a winner and competitor she is. Just challenge her, do you want the moment? I knew to 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.”
Okananwa finished with 21 points, six rebounds, and two steals on 50 percent shooting from the field. Behind her, freshman guard Addi Mack added 13 points, and senior guard Mimi McLean poured in 12 points and 14 rebounds, but the group effort wasn’t enough to overcome the Tar Heels. North Carolina sophomore guard Elina Aarnisalo’s 21 points and 20 more from sophomore guard Lanie Grant were enough to advance North Carolina.
While the season is over for Maryland, Okananwa went out playing strong basketball. She did so with the stern redirection from her coach, who knows her star responds to only the stiffest correction.
“Really what that was was a regroup moment for myself and her telling me she believed in me,” Okananwa said. “Sometimes that’s all you really need to hear to get back out there. It’s a long game, lots of ups and downs.
“I feel like after that conversation, that’s when I really went back out and just did what I had to do for my team in that moment. I’m forever appreciative of that.”
North Carolina moves on to the Sweet 16 in Fort Worth, awaiting the winner of No. 1 UConn and No. 9 Syracuse.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Maryland Terrapins, Women's College Basketball
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