With one shot, Diamond Miller hit the game-winner and made an impression on Kevin Durant.
With 15 seconds left in one of the final ACC/Big Ten Challenge games Thursday night, No. 20 Maryland was tied 72-72 on the road with No. 7 Notre Dame. The Terps had the ball and Miller, a Montclair native and four-year starter at Franklin High School in Somerset County, got a pass from Shyanne Sellers just inside the top of the key. Miller bobbled the ball at first but then gathered it, took half a dozen dribbles as she drove to her left, pulled up and let it fly.
The ball swished through the hoop and MIller was swarmed by her teammates as they celebrated the 74-72 victory. It was Maryland’s first road win over a top 10 team since 2016.
“I just wanted to take the last shot. I didn’t want them to get another possession,” Miller said. “I just kind of got to my spot and shot it… This is what we do at Maryland. You come here to play in these big-time games.”
The night got even better when Nets star Kevin Durant, a Maryland native, gave Miller a shoutout on Twitter.
“Aye Diamond Miller, u a killer for that Dirk fade at the buzzer, good win Terps,” he Tweeted.
Asked about the Tweet after the game, Miller, a projected top-5 pick in next year’s WNBA Draft, was awestruck.
“That is really, really cool,” she said. “Wow. That is something I have to process later. The fact that he’s in the NBA and that he supports women’s basketball is really huge. We’re just going to keep growing the game and people need to watch us because we all can ball and we all are talented. Just because we’re women doesn’t mean we’re less than any man.”
Durant has also praised Iowa star Caitlin Clark, who went for 45 points Thursday night in Iowa’s 94-81 loss to N.C. State in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.
“It looks like everybody on that court is way slower than her, when she gets into her stuff,” he said last year on his podcast, “The ETCs.”
Clark said last season she texts with Durant “quite a bit” about life on and off the basketball court.
“He’s not only a really big fan of me, but a big fan of the women’s game, and that’s what you love to see,” she told The New York Times. “He’s a huge supporter, so I have a lot of respect for him.”
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Adam Zagoria is a freelance reporter who covers Seton Hall and NJ college basketball for NJ Advance Media. You may follow him on Twitter @AdamZagoria and check out his Website at ZAGSBLOG.com.