Everything Indiana Coach Teri Moren Said After The Hoosiers Beat No. 24 Stanford 79-66 On Sunday

Teri Moren was pleased that the Hoosiers rose to the challenge of beating Stanford to stop a two-game losing streak.

Indiana Head Coach Teri Moren during the Indiana versus Stanford women's basketball game at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall on Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024. / Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Teri Moren’s voice was failing her on Sunday during her postgame press conference with the media, but it wasn’t because of anything the Hoosiers failed to do against No. 24 Stanford.

Moren was able to breathe a sigh of relief after the Hoosiers stopped a two-game losing streak with a 79-66 victory over the Cardinal. Chloe Moore-McNeil had 21 points, Shay Ciezki had 19 points and Yarden Garzon had 18 in an Indiana victory that gave the Hoosiers a 2-2 record.

Here’s everything Moren had to say after the Indiana triumph:

Opening statement …

Moren: I'm not gonna lie. That feels so much better than how we felt the last two games. I just give our kids so much credit for how they have bounced back and been resilient, but we had no doubt that they would be. When you go through some rough patches, I think you find out quickly what you're made of. I think we found out today that we're capable of a whole lot. And my hope for this group is that they can see themselves in this game today and know that they can come out and perform like this every night.

It helps when your shots go down and they certainly did. From the beginning we just asked them to be physical. We asked them to stay connected. We asked them to be aggressive offensively. We wanted to play in space. We wanted to play faster. I thought Shay did a great job of getting us going early which created energy for us. When your shots go down, and it's typical for a lot of teams, it does do something for your defense. So happy for all of those kids that have been disappointed for sure in how we have we underperformed. Shay was great, Yarden, all of them were great offensively, When Chloe shoots the ball the way she did today, and she's aggressive like that, we look like a whole different basketball team. I think we can all agree with that.

My MVP tonight from the defensive side of the ball was Jules (LaMendola). She came in and did a great job on No. 3 (Nunu Agara), just giving her some resistance. She took a big charge down in the second half. We knew it was going to take a bunch of us, a bunch of pieces. This is a (Stanford) team that averages right around 15 threes. They only (made) two tonight. Certainly, they missed shots, but you got to be in their space. I thought we did a great job of that. So really happy with how we came out and did our job to follow the scouting report and execute it.

On Indiana’s defense …

Moren: (It was) really good. We wanted to be physical with them. Stanford is a very skilled team and we wanted them to feel us without fouling. We wanted them to feel our presence and how tight we were going to be when they were coming off staggers, in their split action, when they wanted a face cut, and we were there to stand them up. That was that was part of our plan was just to be the more physical team and our kids delivered on that.

On Chloe Moore-McNeil …

Moren: So after the Butler trip, we came back, and (Thursday) was supposed to be a day off and we came in. We just watched the game. Chloe was unable to be there, but then she came back and she watched the game with AP (Ali Patberg). I think it was good for all of us. We get the lead (at Butler). And when you need to build on the lead, we made some really bad choices, bad decisions offensively. Which led to them getting back in the game.

There were a lot of great teaching moments. I thought in that game, Chloe got to see herself, and look, she's the first one to tell you that she has not played very well. She’s played in too many big games and she knows that she has not played her best. But as I always say, she's as tough as a $6 steak and it's just a matter of time before she saw herself and then she responded. And it's not lost on her at all. She knows that she's the leader of this team and we really depend on her. When she plays like you know she did tonight, which was aggressive on both ends. We have a chance.

On using Indiana’s 2023-24 loss to Stanford as motivation …

Moren: You're talking about (an Indiana) team that is for the last seven plus years is used to winning - one of the top programs in the country. None of this has felt well. But the one thing that I continue to say, is as long as you have players that are in that locker room that want to fix it, it matters to them, you have a chance. Maybe that was part of the motivation.

We got a lot of great shots last year at Stanford. They just didn't go down. They beat us pretty good, and we learned a lot from that, but maybe it served as a little motivation. I think, here in the last couple weeks, when we've come up short against a Harvard team and a Butler team, we were pretty committed to trying to get back on the right track.

On when Moren thought the Stanford game would be different from the two previous losses …

Moren: I feel like you would always get a good sense when you're in practice. And I thought, again, the day that we spent just watching film, there's a lot of conversation that goes on in that film room. And then the next day in terms of how they showed up, and then Saturday, in terms of how they showed up, they put together two really good practices back-to-back. And so I felt good that they felt good about the scouting report, but they also knew what they had to do in order to win the game. They've been a little ticked off. It’s never a bad thing to play a little mad. And I think that they came out and played with a little bit of anger which was good.

(If there was a moment in the game when Moren felt good …)

Moren: I didn't feel like it the way they shot at it first when they made their first four or five shots, but we know that this is a really good Stanford team. We have so much respect for them, but just the way we battled back and stuck a few of those early threes makes you feel really good just to see those things go down. I kept telling them right before the game, all those shots are going to go down. You just got to believe it. And if you miss, you got to come back and take the next one. It was great to see, especially those threes, those long balls go in for them tonight.

On pushing the offensive tempo …

Moren: I just feel like we're better when we play faster. We play in more space. We made a couple tweaks and took Chloe off the ball and put the ball in Shay’s hands. We set her a bunch of step-up screens and early drags, and we wanted her to probe underneath and try to find openings (and) people on the outside. I just think it made us more aggressive. They like playing like that too.

I'm probably the one that probably has to take the hardest look at me in terms of the first three games and not allowing them to play a little bit more with freedom in space. So I learned a hard lesson, I'm glad that it's early where we can make a few changes and take care with a few things. Tonight it worked out for us.

On recognizing consistency from her team with a new-look roster …

Moren: I think everybody has to be really careful. There's an adjustment period when you lose a kid like Mackenzie Holmes. There is. You can look on paper and go, ‘Yeah, but you still have Chloe and Syd and Yarden, three starters.’ (Holmes) takes up so much attention. And because she took up so much attention, it opened it up so much for us on the outside. It takes an adjustment and a different way of learning how to play with each other and playing off of each other. We're still learning how to do that. Shay's new to our program. As Strip (Karoline Striplin) is new to our program. I just think it's not going to be a straight line. There's going to be some twists and turns throughout, but we just got to stay steadfast in what we do and that's stay together. Guard hard and try to get the best shot for us with the five that are out there on the floor.

What we have to continue to do (is) that we as a staff, that we realize that. It’s easy for you guys to say and look, and suggest and all that, and I know that that's your jobs, but my job is to lead these guys. My job is to make sure that that we're pouring into these guys and making sure that they continue to have confidence and remind them that, yes, we got some really great pieces, but it's going to take some time. I hope that this helps a little bit. I don't know the winning cures everything, but winning feels good. Maybe this is sort of the step that we needed, with such a great Stanford team that, it can springboard us into continuing to get a little bit better and play better basketball.

On making threes in the third quarter …

Moren: We've seen Yarden hit so many big shots for us. That wasn't surprising, but again, it's just reminding them that all those are going to go on in. We're going to keep continuing to make shots. We got to continue to be aggressive and try to put our teammates in the best possible situation to get great shots. But Yarden goes back-to-back (with made threes). Those are two big time shots by a big-time player.

On the health of Lexus Bargesser and Lenee Beaumont …

Moren: Beau is not progressing as well, but Lexi is. She should be back in practice this week. Hopefully she'll get a few minutes. I don’t know how many minutes, but she'll get some minutes hopefully down in the Bahamas with us. She’s progressed very well. It's a game-time decision on Beau in terms of what is next for her.

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• INDIANA DROPS NO. 24 STANFORD: Indiana had a renewed defensive effort and better shooting in a 79-66 win over No. 24 Stanford. CLICK HERE.

• INDIANA DEFENSE HAS BITE: Indiana's defense held Stanford well below its usual offensive output. CLICK HERE.