Teri Moren Press Conference After Indiana Women's Basketball 71-54 Win Over Maryland Senior Day
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00:00 Well, this is always a bittersweet day.
00:02 We have senior day and we have an opponent like Marilyn that's coming in,
00:07 and your focus certainly wants to be on the task at hand.
00:10 But, you know, you also reflect on, you know, your seniors and what they've met.
00:18 You try to keep the main thing the main thing, and I thought we did that.
00:23 I thought we got off to a great start, particularly in the first half.
00:28 And I thought in the second half what I liked about our play,
00:32 I thought Chloe after Mack went out and then didn't seem like we could generate --
00:38 Marilyn's a hard team because they switch everything.
00:41 They go back and forth with the zone.
00:43 They're big.
00:44 You know, we couldn't get any rhythm offensively,
00:47 but I loved how Chloe just sort of took over in the moment
00:51 and tried to get to the rim and tried to get to the free throw line.
00:55 And I thought she was a big reason why we were able to keep the lead,
01:00 maintain the lead.
01:02 And then we just, you know, had to go to our bench and move some pieces around
01:06 and try to get to the finish line.
01:09 So, you know, on a day where it's special for our seniors, kind of a, you know,
01:14 different in terms of how it ended with some injuries and whatnot.
01:19 I was really proud of the way we finished.
01:23 Just real quick, do you have an update on either Lily or Mackenzie?
01:26 Yeah, not right now.
01:28 I think they're both, you know, as far as I've been told, you know,
01:31 I just came from the locker room, got to speak with our medical team.
01:35 You know, both are going to be evaluated right now day to day as far as, you know,
01:41 where they're at.
01:42 Hopefully tomorrow they'll both wake up feeling better.
01:45 But, you know, as of right now, Mike, it's just going to be day to day.
01:49 I mean, there's no evaluation --
01:50 or the evaluation is going to be, you know, ongoing right now.
01:54 There's some festivities right now, you know, with seniors and Mack especially.
01:58 And so I think they're allowing her some time with her family to do that
02:02 before we know any more.
02:05 And obviously, you know, her All-American.
02:07 But in terms of her injury history, does that --
02:09 do you go right there when something like that happens and she's limping?
02:12 I mean, is that your immediate sort of thought in the moment?
02:15 Yeah.
02:16 You know, it's -- you know, she certainly has not had --
02:20 or has had some bad luck, especially, you know, in late February.
02:27 But, you know, we're going to be hopeful and optimistic that, you know, it's --
02:33 it'll turn out the way that we want it to.
02:35 Mack's a very, very resilient, tough kid, as we know.
02:39 And we have great medical people, medical staff,
02:42 that will do everything they can for both she and Lilly to make sure that if they --
02:48 if they're available for the Big Ten tournament, they'll be available.
02:52 You praised Chloe's play a little bit today.
02:54 Obviously, yesterday she announced that she'll be coming back for her fifth year.
02:57 How happy are you to have her back for the fifth year?
02:59 Oh, well, again, you know, the thing I love about Chloe is Chloe wanted to, you know,
03:05 get that out because she knew today was going to be about our seniors.
03:08 And, you know, how she did it is in Chloe fashion.
03:11 You know, no graphic, just a few words on a tweet.
03:16 So, you know, I think we would all agree that she's been so instrumental the last
03:22 couple seasons for us.
03:25 The way she's grown into becoming one of the best Big Ten guards has been really special.
03:31 It's been because of her work.
03:33 And I think we're all super excited that we -- I know I am --
03:39 that we get a coach here another season.
03:43 Coach, Maryland had 13 turnovers today, and you guys held Cheyenne Sellers to three
03:47 of 13 shooting.
03:48 What did you guys do in practice to prep for a physical combo guard like her?
03:52 And how do you, you know, keep that moving for the other guards in the Big Ten and
03:56 beyond?
03:57 Well, Cheyenne's not the only one that's physical.
04:00 I mean, that's a physical team.
04:02 We knew that when we went to Maryland, you know, months ago or whenever that was in
04:07 January and played them there as a very physical game.
04:11 And, you know, we didn't do anything extraordinary.
04:15 You know, we tried to do our best to, you know, keep them in front of us, try to
04:20 have activity around the ball.
04:23 And, you know, I thought -- again, we knew that our will was going to have to be
04:27 greater today than theirs just because they're not finesse.
04:33 They're all about trying to out-physical you.
04:36 And, you know, again, really proud of our kids for the way they battled and
04:42 fought because that's what it was there at times.
04:47 Terri, we don't know the injury status, of course, of McKenzie or Lillie yet, but
04:53 we've all been around for the bad luck that's happened to McKenzie in particular
04:58 over the last couple years.
05:00 Knowing that we don't know yet, but in that moment to kind of have that
05:05 experience that most people didn't in the arena of, you know, here we go again.
05:10 Right.
05:11 I know your job at that point is to get things going, but what's kind of going
05:14 through your mind in terms of trying to process that?
05:17 Well, you know, again, it's just trying to -- you know, we had to get her out,
05:26 and then, you know, she goes and spends some time, and then Ben came out and
05:30 said that, you know, we were going to have her for the rest of the game.
05:32 And so, you know, you try like crazy, Todd, not to let your mind go to anywhere
05:37 that it shouldn't in that moment.
05:39 Your job as the coach is to make sure that, you know, you focus on the kids that
05:43 are out on the floor.
05:44 And so that's what I tried to do.
05:48 And, again, I don't know right now from, you know, emotionally.
05:52 I just don't know.
05:54 And so, you know, I'm going to be optimistic until they tell me differently.
06:01 But, no, I went into coach gear, and, again, we were just trying to get the
06:08 pieces out there.
06:09 Then when Lily went down, we knew that we had to play small.
06:12 We moved Yarden to the five, which, you know, the luxury of having her has been
06:18 important because we can move her around.
06:20 But, you know, I think we all went into just coaching mode over there and really
06:26 just focused on those kids that were on the floor.
06:30 Daring, sort of the next step of that, early in the year, well, beginning of the
06:35 year, preseason, you were saying this team can win a national championship.
06:40 You're there.
06:41 You're in that mode.
06:42 And you have to get ready for the Big Ten tournament in the next couple days.
06:47 But how does that put different kind of pressure on you in terms of coaching
06:52 preparation when you don't know who you're going to have?
06:55 Well, I think we'll have a better idea, Lou, as we go into the week, you know,
07:01 who's going to be available, you know, for the Big Ten tournament.
07:05 The great thing is we have some time here.
07:07 You know, it's not until -- we got the double bye, so we're not playing until
07:10 Friday.
07:11 And so we do have some good time here.
07:14 But, you know, the bigger picture also is the NCAA tournament.
07:18 So we have a lot to think about, you know, certainly the Big Ten tournament, but
07:23 beyond that as well.
07:26 Terri over here.
07:28 One, maybe a little bit more into the March Madness Now opportunity.
07:32 In particular, I'm sure you're gearing to play three consecutive days.
07:36 How do you get everybody ready for that?
07:39 I saw rest is involved.
07:40 How do you prepare for that?
07:42 Well, I think we've tried to be -- you know, we've tried to do that as we've
07:46 gone down the stretch here, trying to manage, you know, playing every two days.
07:52 It seems like we've had a lot of those.
07:54 I feel like we've only had one bye.
07:56 And the bye meaning we've had like a five-day or, you know, four-day, like an
08:00 extended period of time off.
08:02 You know, other than that, I feel like we've always -- we've been prepping, you
08:06 know, every two days.
08:08 And, you know, we have an experienced group.
08:11 So I think from a coaching perspective, you feel very confident that, you know,
08:16 your practices aren't as long.
08:19 You know, we're going about anywhere from a solid minute to 75 minutes.
08:23 That's what we've been doing as of late.
08:26 You certainly think about their, you know, wanting to go in with fresh bodies,
08:30 fresh minds, fresh legs.
08:32 And so, you know, we've really tapered back a lot going down the stretch here in
08:37 terms of their time, managing it, and so forth.
08:42 And so I don't -- we won't do anything differently.
08:45 But I think what we've done has worked for us.
08:49 Terri, Ariel had that big block at the end.
08:52 And that kind of meant that all of your seniors were able to do something big
08:55 and special in this game.
08:56 How special was that for you as a coach to have all three of them do that?
08:59 Well, she's been so special.
09:00 And so, you know, she is the greatest teammate.
09:07 And I can't overstate it enough.
09:12 And, you know, with -- and let's go back, even the block,
09:17 how about the national anthem that she crushed?
09:20 And that was a nice surprise.
09:22 I don't think our players, her teammates,
09:24 didn't know that she was going to do that.
09:26 And, you know, she was -- she's such a beautiful person inside and out.
09:31 And, you know, to put her on the floor and have her do something positive like
09:37 that, you know, was great.
09:39 You could sense and tell the excitement from her teammates.
09:44 Just by how they reacted, you know how much she means to them.
09:48 So, very cool.
09:51 Coach, congratulations.
09:52 Thank you.
09:53 That was my semi-exact question.
09:54 Yeah, very cool.
09:55 I'll pass it along.
09:56 Yeah, no, it's great.
09:58 Terri, even though that, you know,
09:59 Lily and Mackenzie are both day-to-day and there's not much known about it,
10:02 do you know what the trainers are sort of looking for?
10:05 It seemed like with Lily it was an ankle.
10:07 Yeah.
10:08 It's her knee.
10:09 Yeah, it's her knee and Lily's an ankle.
10:14 Yeah, Terri, in terms of the Big Ten tournament having the double bye,
10:17 how much goes into the, you know,
10:19 once you find out the seedings later tonight after the games are played,
10:22 for your coaching staff,
10:24 what do the next few days look like in terms of like scouting?
10:26 Yeah, it's preparing for two teams.
10:28 You know, this league has been really good.
10:30 And anything can happen in tournament play.
10:33 You know, if they're -- if they do what we do,
10:36 it's a whole new season, it's a whole new opportunity.
10:39 And, you know, for every team.
10:42 And so you just, you know, you find out tonight the possibility of who you may
10:48 play and we will prep for two teams.
10:52 Yep, thank you guys.
10:54 Oh, sorry.
10:55 I'm sure it's great.
10:56 Just quickly with Mack,
10:58 obviously you're on the borderline of hosting.
11:01 If she can -- obviously you don't want to rush her,
11:03 but is there any concern the committee,
11:05 if they don't see her in the Big Ten tournament,
11:06 could dock you a seed line?
11:07 Because that's happened before.
11:09 Obviously you want to play her if she can, but you would --
11:11 how do you handle that knowing that the committee is going to be looking at her injury?
11:15 Well, I'm not on the committee.
11:16 If I was, you know, I might feel differently.
11:20 But, Ari, those things are out of your control.
11:23 The only thing you can do is control the things that we can control.
11:26 And if they have us here, great for Hoosier Nation.
11:30 for Who's Your Nation.
11:30 If they tell us we need to go on the road, we'll do that.