Maryland basketball coach has intense moment with player during March Madness game

Maryland Terrapins women’s basketball coach Brenda Frese came face-to-face with guard Oluchi Okananwa in an intense coaching moment on Sunday.

Frese and Okananwa came nose-to-nose during the Terrapins’ 74-66 loss against the Tar Heels in the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament. Maryland came into the game as the No. 5 seed, while North Carolina was the No. 4 seed.

The longtime head coach was unhappy with Okananwa’s sequence in the third quarter. She turned the ball over, missed three free throws and missed a layup before she was subbed off the floor. Frese met Okananwa on the sideline.

“I believe in you, but you got to want this moment,” Frese said.

Okananwa scored 21 points, leading the team. She grabbed six rebounds and notched two steals. However, she did end up with six turnovers.

She told reporters after the game that she loves the hard-nosed style of coaching.

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“Coach understands I’m a competitor at heart,” she said, via The Athletic. “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.”

Frese has been the head coach at Maryland since the 2002-03 season. She is 688-208 as head coach. She also had stops at Ball State and Minnesota.

“It’s always been a pulse that I’ve been able to have with individuals and players,” Frese said. “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.”

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It was her first season with the Terrapins after spending two years with the Duke Blue Devils. She finished the season, averaging 17.7 points, 5.4 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game. She was an All-Big Ten Conference selection during the 2025-26 season.

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