What Teri Moren Said After Indiana Women's Basketball Beat No. 8 Ohio State 71-61

Here's the full transcript from coach Teri Moren's postgame press conference after the Hoosiers' 71-61 win over No. 8 Ohio State.

Indiana coach Teri Moren against Ohio State at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. / Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana defeated No. 8 Ohio State 71-61 Thursday at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, the highest-ranked opponent the Hoosiers have beaten this season.

Shay Ciezki, Yarden Garzon and Sydney Parrish led Indiana with 16 points apiece. With this win, Indiana improves to 17-9 overall and 9-6 in Big Ten play ahead of Sunday's game at No. 22 Michigan State.

Here's everything Indiana coach Teri Moren said after the game.

Opening statement

Moren: "Well, I'm so excited and happy for our team and just how hard they played but how they were – just how they handled themselves throughout the 40 minutes. Outisde of the 10 turnovers in the fourth quarter, they were brilliant in terms of how they handled the press attack, to the way they guarded, to the way they rebounded. And again, the 21 turnovers, again, 10 of those game in the fourth, which was a little choppy for us. But we knew we had to do a couple things in this game. We had to keep them off the free throw line, which we did. We had to be great in transition, which we were. And then we had to rebound the ball, and the kids did an outstanding job in all three of those areas. Plus they hit shots, they executed. When they were hedging, they found the extra – their teammates. Had 21 assists, shared the ball. A lot of good to great shots tonight that our kids found. And it's all of them. there's not one of them – I mean, Yarden obviously had a double-double and six assists – but the way Strip and Shay and Chloe and Syd, I mean, really, really good things that all of them had to do in order to put us in position to win the game. So really just happy for my team tonight."

On whether she needs a new clipboard after breaking it in the fourth quarter...

Moren: "Yeah, that was Ali [Patberg's]. That was AP's. So you know, I thought the game just got a little bit – and we knew, Ohio State, they weren't gonna go away. So I just felt there was a lot of physical play out there, and then we were turning the ball over there a little bit too much down the stretch there. So there was a moment of frustration."

On how much of a sense of urgency she sensed from her team going into a big game...

Moren: “As we go down the stretch here, everything is about urgency. With the schedule that we have, we have some opportunities here, and we know that Michigan State's much like Ohio State in terms of the way they press and whatnot. So we're kind of using it as a – I don't know if it's an advantage, but going and playing against a team like Ohio State that does press, we know that Michigan State's going to – that's how they play as well. But yeah, these kids, again, their sense of urgency, I know today in shoot around it just felt a little bit different.”

On what felt different about shoot around today...

Moren: "Well again, I think as we go down the stretch here, you know, someone had asked me, do I talk to them about what's at stake. And the answer to that is no. They're old, they're veteran, they're experienced. I gotta trust that they know what's at stake, and then I have to put it in their hands to – what our job is is to give them the best scouting report, the strategy, that we think will put us in a position to be successful, and then they gotta go out and execute it. I thought that they knew, they executed it in just the way that we had hoped that they would."

On if it felt like a breakthrough moment, a culmination of the season or a part of learning lessons...

Moren: "Yeah, you know, again, Ohio State's such a great team you know. We've seen it with the UCLA's that have been in here, the USC's, and you know, although we came up short in those games, it's like – and I'm not saying it's a good thing - we rise to the occasion, right, and we knew this was an opportunity and Ohio State is a top-10 team in the country. So we knew it was going to take something extra special. There's no doubt. But I'm glad that – I’m so happy for our kids because they know that they have it in them, but to see how tonight, especially how they handled themselves against the presr, right. Because you guys have been around to see us not be able to do that. I thought being able to do that, and Ohio State taking off the press, I thought that gave us a lot of confidence that, yeah, we can get this thing done. I think that again, they not only were confident, but they did a great job defensively too and taking away some of the – we played more zone tonight than we played all year, trying to keep them off balance with zone and man, and we just asked them. It's not something that we spend a lot of time on, so for them to be able to execute and be in that zone and rebound the ball the way they did was crucial

On Shay Ciezki calling Yarden Garzon "our silent killer" and her importance on the team...

Moren: "She's a very serious competitor, right. She wants to win, and she wants to contribute and do what she has to do to help her team. She's been really good here as of late. I thought it started the other day against Purdue. We saw her be more aggressive than we had seen her. It wasn't the same at Michigan. It wasn't the same at Minnesota. So again, been watching film with her and just trying to instill, like, we need you to be aggressive. I thought she was against Purdue, and I thought it kind of bled into tonight, her being aggressive, trying to get to the rim, but also finding her shots outside the arc as well. And rebounding, that was huge, and the six assists. Pretty special."

On her reaction to Indiana breaking Ohio State's press and getting open layups early...

Moren: "Yeah, we wanted them to sort of embrace it. We wanted them to be aggressive against it, and that's how they came out. They were ready to kind of conquer it because they knew that in the past it's been something that has disrupted us. So I think they were focused on what they needed to do to handle it the way they did."

On how her team avoids complacency with two ranked opponents up next...

Moren: "Yeah, I don't think that's going to happen with this group. As I shared, I think they know what's at stake. I don't have to trick them into understanding that. So they know what they have to do."

On what she emphasized in practice as key ways to break Ohio State's press...

Moren: "We didn't want to turn it over. That was the first thing. We wanted to be able to get the ball in bounds and then try to hit over the top, which we did several times. We talked about how it's going to be a balance of beating it with passes over the top, but beating it with the dribble from time to time. And then getting it over the timeline, it's one thing to be able to attack it, get it over the timeline, but then you get into the half court and they're very good defensively in the half court as well. So we talked a lot about navigating, getting through the press attack, and then how important it was going to be for us to execute in the half court once we got it across the timeline and not take quick shots and not turn the ball over in the half court. So they understood that in order to win the game, they were gonna have to get through the press, but then get to the half court and force them to have to guard."

On if she senses that Sydney Parrish is playing inspired basketball because her college career is almost over...

Moren: "You know, what I sense in Syd is, I think I've heard her talk about it in the sense like today with the media that was at practice, it was more about finishing this the right way for Chloe, right. And that – you know, Strip's only been here a year, Syd decided not to come here at the beginning of her career, but then made the move to come back to Indiana and want to be part of this program and she's been such an important part of it, the Big Ten championship and the wins and whatnot. But I think for Syd, it's yeah, I think there's some – she sees her career here in the last, coming to an end, but I think she is also mindful that it's also an end to Chloe's career and Strip's career. But especially for Chloe, being here as long as she has. She wants Chloe, much in the way that Chloe wanted Grace Berger to go out and Chloe felt so badly that Grace didn't go out the way we wanted her to. So I think there's motivation in Syd to see this thing through, especially not just for her team, but I think in a special way for Chloe."