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Maryland star Oluchi Okananwa defended coach Brenda Frese after a clip of Frese getting in Okananwa's face on the sideline during the Terrapins' 74-66 loss to North Carolina in the second round of the 2026 NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament went viral on social media. 

"Coach understands I'm a competitor at heart, and I've told her this before and I'll keep on telling her this until forever: I love to be coached hard, and that's what she does with me every single day," Okananwa said. 

Okananwa and the Terrapins got off to a frustrating start in Chapel Hill on Sunday, and were still down in the third quarter when the broadcast caught Frese yelling at Okananwa and poking her with her finger. While it certainly looked like Frese was upset, she was just trying to boost her star's confidence. At one point, it appears she said "I believe in you, but you have to want this moment."

The pump-up speech worked. Okananwa briefly took over the Terrapins' offense late in the third to help tie things up heading into the fourth. 

"Really what that was was a regroup moment for myself, and her telling me she believed in me," Okananwa said. "Because sometimes that's all you really need to hear to get back out there. It's a long game, lots of ups and downs and 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."

Okananwa, who was named to the All-Big Ten First Team this season, finished with a team-high 21 points and six rebounds, but it wasn't enough. As a group, Maryland shot 17 of 36 on layups, 3 of 23 from 3-point range and 17 of 31 from the free throw line in the eight-point defeat. 

"I think for me, it's always been a pulse that I've been able to have with individuals and players. And we do have to at times have those tough conversations," Frese said. "You can't have them without a relationship, you've gotta be able to have that. The best of the best, the elite of the elite want to be coached hard. At that moment I had watched [Oluchi] struggle within this tournament, and she's just too gifted. I wanted to implore how much belief I had in her and just challenge her. 

"I know what a winner and competitor she is, and just challenge her, 'how much do you want the moment?'" Frese continued. "I knew it was like, give it a minute, get her back in. And you saw. She got a bucket, she got a steal and never looked back. Sometimes that's where you gotta know your players and the relationships that you have. You can't have those conversations if you don't have a relationship with them."

After spending her first two years of college at Duke, Okananwa transferred to Maryland for her junior season and averaged 17.7 points, 5.4 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 2.3 steals on 51.9% shooting -- all career-highs save for rebounds -- to help the Terrapins go 24-8 and earn a No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament.