What Teri Moren Said After Indiana's 79-75 Loss to South Carolina in Sweet 16

No. 4 seed Indiana's season came to an end Friday night with a 79-75 loss to No. 1 overall seed South Carolina in the Sweet 16 at MVP Arena in Albany, N.Y. Here's the full transcript of coach Teri Moren's postgame press conference.

Jack Ankony | Mar 29, 2024

Mar 29, 2024; Albany, NY, USA; Indiana Hoosiers head coach Teri Moren. / Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports

In it third trip to the Sweet 16 in the last four seasons, the Indiana women's basketball team suffered a 79-75 loss to South Carolina on Friday in Albany, N.Y.

The Hoosiers trailed by 22 points in the second half, but they cut the lead to just two points late in the fourth quarter, nearly pulling off a major comeback. South Carolina center Kamilla Cardoso led all scorers with 22 points and seven rebounds, and Indiana's Sydney Parrish had 21 points with five 3-pointers. Indiana ends the season at 26-6, while South Carolina continues its 35-0 undefeated run.

Here's the full transcript of Indiana coach Teri Moren's postgame press conference.

Opening statement

Teri Moren: “Well, we're very disappointed. I felt like if we had a few more minutes, maybe the outcome would be a little bit different for us tonight. But I can't overstate enough how proud I am and our staff is of our group and the way they fought. We got off to a tough start. You've got to pick your poison when you play a team like South Carolina, and we were trying to pack it in on Cardoso and make them beat us from the outside, and they hit the first couple, and then we had to adjust defensively, give our kids credit for always being able to adjust throughout the season, and then dug ourselves a bit of a bigger hole. At one point I think we were down 22 somebody said, and for us to be able to fight the way we did to get back into the game. We won the second half, we won the third quarter, we won the fourth quarter. Felt like the momentum was definitely on our side throughout. We're disappointed because we've been here before, but we wanted to get to that next -- advance and move on because we think we really do have - I believe this - a very special basketball team. I'll end with how proud we are of all of them. Mackenzie Holmes has been one of our greatest players ever to put on an Indiana uniform and will go down in history as one of the greatest. So I'm sad for her because I know she's sad that it's over, but her sidekick over there Syd Parrish will be back another year, and hopefully she will help lead this team in help making that next step, should we, God willing, next year to be in a similar scenario.”

Q. Going back to what Mackenzie said and Sydney said about their love of the game, about love of IU, is that the counterpoint to the NIL era and transfer portal era that maybe doesn't get discussed enough in terms of being dedicated to the team and to your teammates and things like that, what they were talking about?

Moren: "I don't know. You know, I think everything is -- the landscape has changed, and we all know, and we all have to adjust to it. I think for us, our biggest goal at Indiana is, yeah, NIL is a part of it, but the retention piece is so important, and the only way that, at least I believe, that you can get your kids to stay on your roster is by having great relationships with them and loving them up and caring for them on and off the floor, impacting them. They're basketball players, but the impact that you can have on their lives -- I want all our kids to be able to leave Indiana and believe that there's nothing in life that they can't accomplish and do. So our goal is retention. We've had great examples of Mackenzie and the Grace Bergers and the Chloe Moore-McNeils that have stuck with the process, have stayed on our roster in spite of not playing a lot of minutes, when I think about Chloe. I know that the NIL piece is going to be part of it, but I'm still a firm believer that you can't have a roster with all kids, all transfer kids. I want a combination of both. I want to build chemistry. I want to build a team. I don't know that you can do that with the transfer portal and by NIL. But I will say this: You have to have special kids that come from special homes that have been brought up with special parents that understand there's a bigger picture out there than NIL. It's, can you take my daughter, and when I drop her off, help her become a woman. That's what we try to do at Indiana."

Q. The last minute, the three off the time-out that Raven hit, Dawn said they were looking to get the ball inside and you collapsed on them. Was it one of those pick your poisons?

Moren: "Yep, that's exactly what it was. We felt like we had them right where we wanted them, and then we gambled, and Cardoso made the right play to kick that thing out, and she stuck it. But that's exactly how we wanted to play it. "

Q. What kind of physical challenge does Cardoso bring to any game?

Moren: "Well, she's about four inches taller than any kid that we've got out there. What I am impressed with seeing her up close the way we did tonight was how good she is. There was a moment there where I feel like Mack was super physical, and she was almost dang near underneath the backboard, which was kind of where we wanted to drive her and was still able to stay balanced. She has long arms, and come back and knock down a shot right at the rim and not look awkward or off balance. It was like, this is a rhythm shot for me. I do this every day. So she's a load. I think that you have to pick your poison, as I said with Doug, but she requires a double-team. She requires somebody that's either bigger than she is, and if you don't have somebody on your roster that's as big as she is, whether it's a dig, whether it's a double, sometimes it's a triple, you've got to go at her because she is very consistent around the rim, as she's shown tonight being 10-for-12 from the field. "

Q. You mentioned Sydney taking the reins next year and with these three Sweet 16s in four years, how optimistic are you for next year and the future of the program?

Moren: "Well, I'm always optimistic. That's just how I am. Always look forward to what's next for our program. We've done a lot of really, really great things and have accomplished -- this has been an unbelievable year, especially when we started out with the tough loss at Stanford, and I think everybody was wondering what's up with this team and will they have an opportunity to get into the field and how far can they go, and then we rattle off 13 straight wins and beat some teams and have a great Iowa win at home and so forth. I'm always optimistic. That's just how I've been raised. Those guys that are coming back, this is a great experience for them. It needs to sting. It needs to hurt a little bit. I want our kids -- as I said to them, to walk out with their heads held high. But I want it to bother Beau. I want it to bother Julels. I want it to bother Chloe, I want it to bother Lily, all those kids, Lexy. I want it to bother them, and I know it does. "

Q. You've talked about the continuity, and Chloe said she's coming back. Syd told us a month ago she's coming back. How much when you look at the fight the team had tonight do you think that continuity plays a part in allowing something like that to happen?

Moren: "I think they are so close. They are so connected on and off the floor. We are blue collar. We play with a chip. We are okay with people giving us an underdog role. Nobody is talking about Indiana. For some teams that have had the level of success, that might really bother them. It doesn't bother us. It's like we're going to show up every day and we're going to practice together and we're going to work hard and we're going to be aggressive. Whatever game that is next on our schedule, we're going to try to fight like crazy to win it, and we're going to do it together. We don't care who scores. We've had balance, great balance. At one point we were the most efficient team in the country. That's a team that shares the sugar. They love each other. They're connected. They don't care who gets the -- they don't care who scores. They want to win games. You're always excited when you have the chemistry, and ours has been out of this world the last four or five years, and I think it'll continue. But we have had great examples of what good chemistry looks like. Mackenzie has been a huge part of that."

Q. To your point you made in the last part of your answer, to have Mackenzie as an example going forward, how can that be used within the program in order to continue that as a legacy when she's gone?

Moren: "Well, the way that we can honor Mackenzie, the way we can honor Grace, the way we can honor the Ali Patbergs who have been in our program is doing what they do, and they show up and they do more than what's required, and that's part of the recipe for us. We're not a team that will come in and look forward to a two-hour practice. I'm going to have kids in there before practice. I'm going to have kids that are going to stay after. I have to adjust my meeting times usually with my staff because they are scheduled on the half hour, on the 40-minute with those kids that are coming in doing extra. That's what it requires, not just the two hours. What are they doing outside of practice time. That's what Grace Berger -- every day, every day, Mackenzie Holmes, every day. It's cool when you bring in kids and you say you're an outlier if you're not going to do this every day, and we're not for everybody, but if you're willing and you want to get better, this is a place you probably want to think about because our staff, we're going to be in the trenches, we're going to roll up our sleeves, we're going to help you develop and get better in your time here at Indiana. I think we can talk about Grace Berger, the career she's had, the career Max had and so forth. We've got great evidence that the way we're doing things is working for us."

Q. For one player I think even though it shows in the stat sheet she didn't score much is Chloe Moore-McNeil and the energy she brought.

Moren: "I'm glad you mentioned her."

Q. The minute she came off that bench, the minute she came back in the game, everything changed. If you could speak as to her value to the team, especially tonight or any other day.

Moren: "She is as tough as a six-dollar steak. She really is. She is as tough as they come. She has been our leader all year. You know what, I'm so proud of her is that she is quiet by nature, but when I tell you, when she gets in those huddles and she leads and she gets in the right way, gets in her teammates, like we need you, we need you to do this -- if you are around her, you quickly love Chloe because she's a great teammate, but when it comes to competition and never, ever backing down and never being afraid of the moment, she's not afraid of the moment. She's been -- I'm so grateful she's coming back. That's the thing about these kids is you never want them to leave. We're grateful, and we know this, at least we'll get her another year to lead this basketball team. I appreciate your question."

Opening statement

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