What Teri Moren Said After Indiana Defeated Purdue 77-57 At Mackey Arena

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Indiana coach Teri Moren was in good spirits after the Hoosiers defeated Purdue 77-57 at Mackey Arena on Sunday.

The win helped Indiana avoid the first day of the Big Ten Tournament as the Hoosiers finished 10-8 in the Big Ten. The win also kept Indiana on-track to avoid falling out of the NCAA Tournament picture.

Here's Moren's postgame comments from Mackey Arena:

Opening statement ...

Teri Moren: So we're pleased with the win today. I thought our kids came out with great intent. I thought their focus how they got off defensively. We started the game very locked in to the game plan, very locked in together, how they played together and how they communicated throughout, which was great to see. And then I thought we executed, especially in the first half. Got some good shots, missed some really good shots. But nonetheless, I thought we for the most part, got really good shots. We wanted to win every quarter that was Syd's goal for the team, and we were able to do that, you know, which I thought was important. We always try to have goals inside of every game, and that was one of them that we wanted to win every quarter. You know, Yarden (Garzon) becomes all time leading a three point shooter today, which is special. But I thought Syd was was really aggressive, especially getting to the basket. And it was kind of a funky game. You know, Chloe (Moore-McNeil) goes down with fouls, you know, Shay (Ciezki) is playing with two fouls there in the in the first half as well. I thought Lexi (Bargesser) came in and gave us great minutes. I thought Lilly (Meister) came in and gave us great minutes at that five position. A lot of different pieces showed up today, but I loved how we guarded. That's probably what I love the most about this performance.

On getting past the loss to Maryland last Thursday ...

Moren: I had conversations with Syd and Chloe right before our last practice. They're never hard (conversations). Syd knows this, and I hope our players know this, we're just trying to help any way we can, right? That's our job and so I just wanted to make sure that Syd and Chloe knew how important this game was, but how important it was going to be for us to come in here, play well, and then enter the Big Ten tournament. Syd and Chloe are always so receptive and they want to they want to help as well. We try to collaborate as much as we can with them and and I've got to trust that the conversations that they're having in that locker room is what's meant to be said. And it's coming from the right place from all of us. We do have to have a different level of detail. And I thought we had that today.

On how the team kicked in after Purdue took a very early lead ...

Moren: No, I think Purdue came out and hit a few shots. Then we countered. I liked how we guarded. Syd's right, I think that helped us.

On Yarden Garzon's career 3-point record ...

Moren: Nobody's their biggest cheerleader than me and our staff. You know, when our kids either break a record or have a double-double. Have a triple-double. It doesn't matter. We are their biggest cheerleaders, and even on the days that they don't do anything out of the ordinary, we want them to excel. We want them to do well. We want to help them any way we can. That's a tall task, right? It's hard to become the leading, whether it's three point scorer or rebounder, it's hard to achieve things like that. I We get to see it every day with watching her in practice and then watching her even in an individual instruction. It's kind of fun to watch a kid like that that can shoot it the way she shoots it. But for her to get it here in Indiana, I think it is extra special. We've, we've really enjoyed being able to coach her and have her in our program.

On Lilly Meister having a good day ...

Moren: It's really big. We continue to tell her and try to just encourage her that we do depend on her, especially she and Strip (Karoline Striplin), because we know that those are the two fives that are going to play majority of the minutes. The first time we played Purdue at our place one of the things that really stood out for me, I thought she was terrific defensively in really helping our guards in some of those ball screen scenarios. She looked like she was playing with a little extra juice today. I thought. It was nice to see that layup going in for her, but yeah, we're gonna need her. There's no doubt we need Lilly Meister to help us win ball games.

On the depth going into the postseason ...

Moren: After today, I think it's something that we rely on. Lexi and Lilly and Henna (Sandvik) came in when Chloe got into foul trouble. It's all of them, right? They all have to be ready when their number is called. We ask them to stay ready. Anytime you're going into tournament play where it's consecutive days, you have to be mindful of those minutes that the starters are going to play. We understand that if you get beat, you're done. So I'm hopeful that our starters, but also those those guys that are coming off the bench, that we all have enough juice to go in there and make a run.

On grading the regular season ...

Moren: Oh gosh, that's a really hard question. I would probably give us a B. Syd (sitting next to Moren) added a minus to it. I just think there's been a lot of twists and turns to it. I thought early on that's what it was going to look like. I did think that we would level out at some point and maybe start trending and peaking. And once we started trending, I thought we would be considered consistent enough to stay there. But I said this the other day after the Michigan state laws, we play in a really freaking good league. And we go on the road and have to play teams like Michigan State, right. And it's not easy. It's not easy. This is a very, very good league, and others that are ranked. And then, you get Ohio State at home, yeah, that's great. You get Maryland, another team that's right (in the rankings), this is a really good league. There are a few (they wish they could have won). I think back to the Michigan game on the road. Should we have won that? No doubt we should have. Did we play poorly at Minnesota? We did. I mean we have to own some of that stuff, but I will say this, there have been some really great moments, you know. And we know, we've seen ourselves play against a very good Nebraska team. We've seen ourselves play against the No. 8 Ohio State team. There's been a lot of really good moments for us. And I think early on with Stanford. We can't lose sight of the fact that when we put it all together, we can be really, really good. We can accomplish a lot. And so I'm hoping that as we go into the Big Ten Tournament, that we can get some momentum. We can string together some really good days of basketball that we know that are in us and I know that are in our guys, our team.

Did the regular season seem longer with new teams and travel and can that grind help in the postseason ...

Moren: Good question. I you know that that trip out to Oregon, Washington was long. And did it make the season feel a little bit longer? Maybe, I think how up and down we were probably added to it. I don't know if we can use that to our advantage or not. I think we just have to realize that tournament play is you have to win or you're done. And so there's a level of urgency that you have to go into every tournament knowing that you have to have. It's nice that we're going to be in Indianapolis. It's nice that we don't have to freaking go to Minnesota, no offense to Minnesota, but I mean, it's nice that we're going to be in Indy, and have some of our fans that will travel to see us play. I think they always give us some extra juice when we're up there. So I think there's a lot of positives that we can you know take away from today and I think that will help propel us into the tournament this week.

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