What Teri Moren Said After Indiana Won At Iowa 74-67

Indiana women’s basketball coach made it clear that just because some of the star power left the scene from the annual Indiana-Iowa game doesn’t mean the Hoosiers took their task on Sunday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena any less seriously.

Indiana’s approach paid dividends in a 74-67 victory for the Hoosiers, their third Big Ten road victory of the season.

Teri Moren spoke to the media about the game about the triumph. Here’s what she had to say.

Opening statement …

Moren: Once again, a great crowd for Iowa. They make this place such a difficult place to win. And we’ve been on the other end of this several times, so it feels really good today to be on the other side of it and get out of here with the win. Really proud of our our guys and how hard they played. We kept the lead, we built the lead, we kept it, we didn’t lose the lead, but they obviously came crawling back at us. I felt like we just made big play after big play after big play. Of course, Yarden (Garzon) had a special night, but she’s a special player as we know. But I thought all of them. I thought Syd Parrish, Strip (Karoline Striplin) making the shot when we were only up (four) with a minute to go at the end of the shot clock. That was a huge, huge play for us. I thought Shay (Ciezki), although didn’t shoot the ball great tonight was good defensively. We’re just happy to get out of here with a win. Really pleased with my group, how hard they played. This is a difficult league, as you guys all know. Iowa is was going to be just fine. But tonight, we’re happy to be getting back on that plane and headed back to Bloomington with the win game.

On closing a late-game situation …

Moren: I think it gives our kids great confidence. But as I said to our staff, I was disappointed. We have to be so much better in late game scenarios, situations as a staff. And I thought today we failed them with that. We have to be on point with what the strategy is in those moments. Where the ball needs to be and whose hands it needs to be in and so forth. I think we were all a little bit caught off guard that they didn’t foul us and put us at the free throw line. Everybody has different strategies, right? We got to be better, but I got to be better. Our staff has to be better in order to help those kids. But I think for them, with the outcome, they’re probably thinking about the end of the game. They’re probably just thinking about getting out of here with the win.

On Indiana’s defensive effort in holding Iowa to 33.9% shooting …

Moren: That’s every night in the Big 10. You have to have a tremendous defensive effort. Playing here, playing Iowa, was no different. We knew it was going to take a great effort from every one of us. There were moments where we gave up some stuff, but they’re really good. They’re really good offensively, and they got great tradition, and Jan (Jansen) is doing a terrific job. Very competitive environment, and the crowd just makes it that much better because of how much they’re into it. But part of our strategy was to try to keep the crowd as quiet as we could today, and we did, and then we didn’t at times. Our bugaboo right now is the rebounding. I think, the third game, fourth game that we’ve gotten out rebounding. And so we’ve got to fix that.

On a technical foul on Iowa’s Sydney Affholter …

Moren: They didn’t even give me an explanation. I think you know she had scored, so I think there was probably some excitement on her part. And I think you’re not supposed to ever touch the ball after that. Normally, it is a warning, but I don’t know if they felt it was excessive. I kind of missed it, and so they didn’t really give me an explanation, I’m sure you’d have to ask Jan that.

On Karoline Striplin …

Moren: She was, as Shay was, such a great piece for us to get out of the portal. She’s been steady defensively. They (Striplin and Lilly Meister) have different frames, right? So they guard differently in the fact that they both guard hard, but Lilly doesn’t have the girth, I guess, that that Strip has. Offensively, a little bit different, but they can both stretch it out, even though you didn’t see him do that tonight. Strip has hit some big time shots for us. She was perfect at Penn State. But the one tonight, at the end of the shot clock, the one in the first half on the baby baseline there, that was a big shot for us as well. She’s been dependable and we’re so grateful that she chose to come here and spend her last year with us.

On Chloe Moore-McNeil …

Moren: She’s our leader. And we’ve been on the other side of this, as you guys know, right? She and Syd both were that more determined today to come in here and not go home without a win. She’s our heartbeat. She’s our leader. And once again, she was really good.

On Sydney Parrish playing with foul trouble …

Moren: Syd’s really smart, a high IQ kit and so understands how important it is for her to be in the game for us. There’s a lot of trust there with Syd, trusting that she’s not going to be reckless and pick up some cheap foul that she can play within herself, but still help us and still be aggressive. And then Yarden was just – the other night against Northwestern, where she was not very good, she’d be the first one to tell you that. She had six turnovers, didn’t shoot it great. So for her to bounce back, but that’s just Yarden. Yarden is built for moments, right? Somebody asked about her first one, even if that didn’t go in, she was going to keep shooting because that’s just Yarden. Tonight she certainly had a special night.

After the star battles of recent seasons, did it help to have the heat turned down a bit for this season’s matchup …

Moren: Well, I don’t know who turned it down. We certainly didn’t. We have a tremendous amount of respect for Iowa. Always have. Even though Lisa (Bluder, former Iowa coach) is no longer here, we have a tremendous amount of respect. Jan was on her left side for a lot of years. This is an excellent program that’s been left in excellent hands. We didn’t approach it any different. We really didn’t. It was, we’re going to go into a place where the crowd is going to be into it, they’re going to be terrific, and our job is to go in there and try to keep them as quiet as we could. I don’t know who said that but that is never a conversation in in our locker room.