What Teri Moren Said After Indiana's Comeback Win Over Michigan State in Big Ten Tournament
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — The No. 1-seed Hoosiers came back from a halftime deficit to outlast No. 9 Michigan State in the Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament quarterfinals on Friday.
Here's what Indiana head coach Teri Moren had to say following the victory. Read her full transcript, or just watch the attached video of the entire press conference.
TERI MOREN: First of all, we're excited that the tournament is here. Excited to get the first game under our belt. I want to start by giving Michigan State just a whole lot of credit for how they came out and how they shot the ball there in the first half.
They've dealt with a lot of adversity with Suzy obviously not being on the bench for some time. I think Dean has done a tremendous job. But that is a well-coached team. I thought that they were terrific, especially in the first. Halftime came at a good time for us, really just to sort of collect our thoughts and also make some adjustments. Not, I guess, strategically, just as much as our minds.
I thought we were much better in the second half. I want to point out Chloe Moore-McNeil, I said to our group, was just tremendous. Her stat line was very impressive today, and her defense is something that we certainly count on. But give our kids credit for the resiliency that they showed, especially when we were playing from behind.
Just really proud of how they handled themselves. I think we're just happy to get the first win out of the way because I think the first game — I believe this, the first game in tournament play is always the most important.
On the slow start...
TERI MOREN: I do think this: the first game in tournament play just seems like — we started off slow. We did not come out. We did dig ourselves a little bit of a hole there, but I did anticipate us getting going. I didn't think it would take till halftime or after halftime.
You can't get away with it, whether it's Iowa, whether it's anybody in the Big and moving forward. It's a lesson learned for our players. Mack said it. They realize that they were flat, and they realized that, in order to win championships, in order to advance in the NCAA Tournament, that there's a very thin line.
Today was a great lesson for us. Hopefully we learned a lesson there, and tomorrow our start will be, I anticipate, a whole lot better.
On the halftime adjustment...
TERI MOREN: It wasn't schematically. We did ice some ball screens there down the stretch, but we needed to fix our minds. That was it. We just needed to fix our attitude. We needed to fix our minds. As I said, I thought we slept-walked in the first quarter, came out slow, and was uncharacteristic of our basketball team. So that was the adjustment at halftime was to wake up.
On Kiandra Browne's injury...
TERI MOREN: She got hip-checked by TT Parks. I watched it. As we know, she's had two already hip surgeries. So she is on her way, I think, to get X-rays off site. So I don't have a lot of updates right now on her.
I can tell you this, she was in a whole lot of pain when I got out to her. Just hoping and praying for the best for K.B. because she has been through a lot in her short time at IU with injuries and whatnot, just had some bad luck. We'll know more, I think, later on tonight.
On stepping up when Holmes fouled out...
TERI MOREN: Again, I think you saw Yarden step up. You obviously saw Sara Scalia. We posted up Grace in the low block. This is a balanced team. You guys know this. You've covered us all year. If Mack is being doubled, which we anticipate she's always going to be doubled, then other people have to step up.
This is a mature team. It's a balanced team. They like sharing the ball. The 15 turnovers, a little bit uncharacteristic. Grace threw — I think airmailed two of them over the top. The one that Syd threw out of bounds, they're just uncharacteristic of us in how we handle the ball, or our lack of handling the ball in ourselves.
We've seen it throughout the entire year, I think, with just different pieces stepping up and providing scoring for us.
On rallying together for Browne...
TERI MOREN: You know, you're right. It's interesting because you hate it so much, and I wouldn't wish it on anybody, any team, to have to watch one of those players go down. But I think it did give us a moment to sort of — because I think we went on a 7-0 run after that. I don't know if it was a rallying cry with K.B., but kids are resilient, and this group, I think, really came together.
We love K.B., and this is a group that has — their chemistry has been off the charts. So certainly there was probably some discussion on being worried but also wanting to take care of the business that we had in front of us. So yeah, but I think maybe the pause was good for us in a weird kind of way to sort of settle in and start getting our minds where they needed to be.
On the choppy fourth quarter with lots of fouling...
TERI MOREN: Again, we just chalk it up to the resilience but also the maturity. We've got two calls there on threes that were just, as you said, choppy, weird, all of it. I thought our kids tried to keep their composure though.
We were just trying to get to the finish line. We had a couple opportunities where we could bring them over and just continue to remind them, just give them twos. We're not willing to give up threes.
So give our kids credit for just really keeping a cool mind out there when things did get a little funky down the stretch.
On Sara Scalia...
TERI MOREN: No question. Yeah, Sara was — I get this too, one of the dilemmas we have is I feel like we have six starters, Sara being one of those. I think Mack said it well. She's just been terrific at — you talked about sacrifices that were going to have to be made with this team because they have all come from different institutions, whether it was Syd, whether it was Sara, where they were starters and played a bunch of minutes.
She has just handled herself in such a beautiful kind of way. She works. She is a worker. She's in before. She stays after. So I am not surprised when she talks about her confidence level because that's — you know, your work is where you get that, and that kid is a worker.
I would say this, all of us, including myself, our staff, her teammates, when that thing goes up, if she misses, we're surprised. She's such a great competitor, but also a lethal shooter. As Mack said, we're super happy that she's a Hoosier.
Related stories on Indiana women's basketball
- HOOSIERS TAKE DOWN SPARTANS IN BIG TEN TOURNEY QUARTERFINALS Top seed Indiana women's basketball overcame a halftime deficit to defeat Michigan State in the Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament quarterfinals on Friday. Minnesota native Sara Scalia and forward Mackenzie Holmes led the Hoosiers with a combined 47 points. CLICK HERE
- TYRA BUSS-DAVISON PAVED WAY FOR HOOSIERS As the current Indiana women's basketball team has had a record-breaking season, the Hoosiers have started reflecting back on players like Tyra Buss-Davison who paved the way. Read about the program leading scorer's journey with Indiana hoops and how she still shows her Hoosier support even from 8,000 miles away. CLICK HERE
- HOOSIERS TO TAKE ON SPARTANS IN BIG TEN TOURNEY Friday morning, the top seeded Hoosiers will face No. 9 seed Michigan State in the Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament quarterfinals. Match details and how to watch are inside the story. CLICK HERE
