“I think it was a really hard-fought basketball game,” Miami head coach Katie Meier said. “There were two teams who really wanted to win and battled hard.”

The Miami football team will finish its 2021 season in the Sun Bowl game, as announced in a Miami Athletics release Sunday.

“We want it to bring all the energy, all the hype, all the explosiveness. Everything you love about UM, we want to bring it to UM basketball.”

“This is like Christmas a month early – the NCAA tournament is the best time of the year, and the selection show kicks off the entire thing,” Miami head coach Jose “Keno” Gandara said.

“They were just faster than us,” Miami head coach Jim Larrañaga said. “They beat us down the floor, they drove the ball to the basket, they got layups and got open threes. We couldn’t stop the dribble penetration and we couldn’t contest the threes well enough to make them miss.”

“There was never a point where we surrendered,” Miami head coach Katie Meier said. “We were stubborn, and we fought hard. The ball still needs to go in more, but when Kelsey [Marshall] got hot, the team really adjusted. We held an incredible team about 25 points below their average and that’s necessary right now. I’m really proud of them.”

The Hurricanes outscored North Texas 41-23 after halftime behind 14 second-half points from third-year sophomore guard Isaiah Wong.

“There’s no question that we are very disjointed and aren’t really a smooth offensive team,” Miami head coach Katie Meier said. “Washington State made some great adjustments at halftime and really got after it and we couldn’t overcome that gap.”

“We really need to rise to the challenge,” Meier said. “This is like an Elite Eight in women’s basketball, without question.”

“He really quarterbacked the team,” Miami head coach Jim Larrañaga said. “He scored the ball, he passed the ball and really got everybody involved.”