Olivia Miles found her joy at TCU. Now the Horned Frogs are back in the Elite Eight

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Olivia Miles let out a yell of excitement, knowing she was going to be playing in her first Elite Eight.

After falling short during her three years at Notre Dame, Miles reached a regional final in her first season at TCU. She had 28 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists for the third-seeded Horned Frogs in a 79-69 win over Virginia in the Sweet 16 of the women’s NCAA Tournament on Saturday.

“Happy about that,” Miles said of reaching the Elite Eight. “That’s just another bonus as to what I wanted to do here. Ultimately, I wanted to find my joy back. That’s very broad and can happen in a lot of different ways, but I truly feel like the people around me have helped me to love basketball again.”

As soon as the final buzzer sounded, Miles wrapped a TCU flag around her back. The Horned Frogs reached the Elite Eight for a second consecutive season.

The senior All-America guard transferred to TCU from Notre Dame after playing 101 games for the Irish. She decided to postpone her entry into the WNBA for one last year in college.

She’s played with a sense of urgency and renewed excitement, upping her play in the NCAA Tournament. Miles is averaging 19.3 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists in three games.

Whether it’s no-look or behind-the-back passes or one-handed layups, Miles is always putting on a show.

“I think just being around coaches growing up who have allowed me to be me and be creative and try things,” she said. “I said this before, but luckily I haven’t run into a coach that’s like, ‘Girls can’t do one-handed layups or girls can’t make one-arm passes.' My coaches have always been like, ‘If I see you do it in practice, go ahead and do it in a game.’”

Miles said she practices those plays so much that they are basically second nature at this point.

“I’m just so confident when I do it,” she said.

Miles also enjoyed bantering with the crowd during the Virginia game. She ended up getting the last laugh.

“I think they were telling me that I can’t go left and I can’t make a lefty layup,” Miles said. “So it just makes me laugh because ultimately we’re the ones out there playing and if it were the reverse, I don’t know if they could kind of take my place and do what I’m doing out there.”

Miles said comments from opposing fans fuel her at times.

“It just kind of makes me laugh. but I love banter like that,” she said. “It gets me going. It’s part of the game. Fans are going to be passionate. They’re going to want to win. so I love making them upset at the end of the day.”

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