BIG TEN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 3, 2022

Teri Moren

Grace Berger

Ali Patberg

Indiana Hoosiers

Gainbridge Fieldhouse

Postgame Press Conference

Rutgers - 54, Indiana - 66

THE MODERATOR: We'll open it up with an opening comment from coach and then take questions for the student-athletes.

TERI MOREN: Well, just thought our kids were terrific, especially in the second half. Tournament play is always interesting, and it probably took us the whole first half I think just to really settle in and get some rhythm.

It was a different kind of game, as I said. When you get in foul trouble, Lex has to go out. I thought G did a terrific job of having to guard Osh in the second half when Lex was out with foul trouble.

Both Grace and AP both have six assists together, 12 of our 18, which is sharing the sugar the way we like to say it around our program. I thought we got, there were several of these kids that stepped up. I thought Arielle Wisne came in today, a kid that normally doesn't get much playing time. With Kiandra Browne being out right now with a sore hip.

So I thought Nicki was terrific on the ball. And so collectively as a group, first game is always the toughest, but it's always the most important as well. So really happy for our players today.

THE MODERATOR: Take questions for the student-athletes.

Q. Ali, you always have played well in this building. How important was it for you to hit that first shot tonight and send Indiana on its way?

ALI PATBERG: Yeah, I mean, I love playing here. I've played here multiple times before being in college. I'm just trying to go out there and do what I need to do to help our team win, and to win, and that's all I'm focused on.

And it just felt great to for all the whole team just to play well. I think we gained a lot of confidence tonight. We're clicking on defense and offense, so it was just, it was a great win for us.

Q. Ali, this idea of confidence -- (no microphone.)

ALI PATBERG: Yeah. We are playing for a lot. We're playing for a Big Ten championship. We're playing for a seeding in the NCAA tournament. We're playing to win.

Q. Coach, this is the first game you've won in four games. How much different did your team look today compared to the last stretch?

TERI MOREN: Well, I thought the three days after the Maryland trip, the three days in Bloomington really served us well. They took the weekend off, these kids did, and then we got back to work on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday and I thought our practice prep our practice time together, you could tell tonight or this afternoon that the things that we had been working on and talking about showed out in a big way.

So, yeah, really just happy for these guys that we sort of, after you lose a couple really tough ones, just regrouping. But this is a resilient group. They have been all year. And, no, but the three days that we had at Bloomington were really important for us.

Q. Coach, I wanted to ask about Nicki. It seemed like you were at your best today when she was at her strongest. Can you talk about her play?

TERI MOREN: Yes. Yeah. Nicki was terrific today on the ball. Obviously she's a problem, as I always say, disruptive on the ball, defender, and I thought she was great. And I will say this on our offense, we talk about keeping the ball popping in our motion and I thought today she was, really ignited at the beginning of our motion and kept the ball moving, got it into the hands of the people that, the Grace Bergers and the Ali Patbergs and allowed them to go make plays.

And then she hits the big three going down the stretch there in the fourth. That was big as well. But I thought all of our kids, all of them, contributed today, all of them did something really great. We know that we still have things that we have to work on and get better as we move forward, but I thought overall we had some really good moments, but every one of our kids played well.

Q. Grace, do you think you guys wore them down in the late going? You guys never got tired and it looked like they started to get out of sorts a little bit in the fourth and you guys were sharper.

GRACE BERGER: I think we knew coming into the game that we certainly had an advantage because they played a game yesterday, a fast-paced game yesterday.

So we knew we were fresh. We had our legs coming into this game so I think heading into the second half but especially the fourth quarter we kind of knew that and used that to our advantage.

Q. Over the season you were about even rebounding team with your opponents. Tonight I think you got out-rebounded or this afternoon got out-rebounded. Is that going to be something to focus on (no microphone) going against other teams that you're going to face here this week? Is that something you're going to have to really focus on?

TERI MOREN: I think it's something we always try to focus on. We emphasize it every game, inside of every practice, as well.

But to your point, Rutgers is superb in terms of offensive rebounding. They're long. They're athletic. They're relentless. Now, Osh brown is terrific, but she has other pieces on her team that all really pursue the offensive glass. And we knew that going into it.

But I thought that, for the most part, I know we got out-rebounded by five, but it sure didn't feel like that it was that big of a discrepancy, I guess. You just didn't feel like, gosh, we're getting crushed on the boards right now. We didn't have a moment like that inside this game.

Q. For coach, how do you think MacKenzie will respond physically to playing again tomorrow? And I guess maybe that's a two-part question both from the injury and stamina standpoint.

TERI MOREN: I think she will be fine. What is Mac? Is she 21? 20? She's young. She's a young kid. You know, these all are young kids. I think that I do, I think she will respond in the right kind of way. We have terrific doctors with us as well as our athletic training staff.

And Mac is a tough kid and she knows what's at stake for her team and she's all about her team right now. So I would suspect that we'll go back and she will recover and do that and we'll prepare for Maryland and then come tomorrow morning I think she will be ready to go.

But with her endurance, the endurance piece, she's still, it's going to take games and practices to build up that endurance. That's how that works. So unfortunately there's nothing they can put on they legs -- what's that thing called you guys do? There's nothing for the heart that we can help her increase her capacity from an endurance standpoint. But she's tough and, like I said, she know that's we are here to win games and win a championship, so she's going to be ready.

Q. You've got Maryland next and obviously saw them just last week. Curious about that familiarity factor. Could that help in terms of the scout and how you feel about the matchup tomorrow?

TERI MOREN: Yeah. No doubt. I think it's a great advantage for us that we just, we did just see them. I think it's a great advantage that we're on a neutral floor.

I think the other positive thing is that we know that we can beat them. We beat them in Bloomington, did some things that if we had do-overs what we would have done differently in College Park. But I think that we feel like we have a great opportunity ahead of us at 2 o'clock tomorrow.

Q. On Kiandra's injury, when did she get hurt and what timetable does she have?

TERI MOREN: KB got hurt in the Maryland game taking a charge. She just re-aggravated her hip that she had surgery on in the off-season. But from what I've been told I think we'll see her tomorrow.

Q. What was the game plan in the paint with knowing you didn't have Kiandra today? How did Aleksa's foul trouble complicate that?

TERI MOREN: Well, it didn't really complicate it, because the gal next to me decided that she was going to guard Osh, you know? And so, no, I think that we've had to play so many different ways -- and you know this, because you follow us and write for us -- and so, yeah, I think it was just another situation where we had to lean on our experience and being veterans and realizing that we still got pieces like Grace Berger that aren't afraid to go in there when there's a challenge and guard a gal that we certainly were concerned about going into this game. The thing that can't happen is Lex has to be better tomorrow. We have to keep her out of foul trouble and she knows that.

Q. Ali led the way with 19 points tonight, she's been here a few times. What can you say about her leadership now that it's March and it's starting to heat up and getting towards tournament time?

TERI MOREN: I thought AP was great. We were on the, over on the sideline even, trying to encourage her to take more shots. We felt like she was passing up a few.

And, no, she's had a lot of success in this building and so we're only as good as our super senior and our super senior here to the left was really good today. So I'm excited for her tomorrow and hopefully we can stay here for a couple days.

Q. Grace, you're one of the better players in the Big Ten. Every night your stat lines always look good. Where does that determination come from?

GRACE BERGER: I think I'm just really competitive and I want to win, so when I'm out there I'm just doing anything I can to win and obviously it helps to be a senior, I've been here before, I know how coach wants things, so I just try to come out and do my job and go out there and win.

Q. Coach, Thursday afternoon, Hoosier Nation, you got a good crowd here cheering it on, what do you say to all them who turned out for you?

TERI MOREN: Come back tomorrow at 2 o'clock, right? They turned out for us and we're so grateful that we have Hoosier Nation that we can count on. And what is tomorrow? Friday? I would think that, you know, early off day, you know, from work, maybe noon, we can maybe encourage some of those guys to come over from Bloomington, but also show up here in Indianapolis and cheer on the Hoosiers. So we're really thankful for them for sure.

Q. Someone that hasn't been mentioned is Cardano-Hillary. She made some big-time plays here, at one stretch she had five points, seven points or something like that. How important is she to you?

TERI MOREN: So important. I think these guys would echo how important she is. Obviously from a defensive standpoint the ball pressure, her being disruptive. But I also think for a point guard she has the ball in her hands, she starts our offense.

I thought tonight again she was terrific and I think we can expect -- she wasn't as good as we needed her to be at Maryland and I think she knows that and my hope is that, and I think she will, take that as a challenge.

And she realizes that, come tomorrow at 2 o'clock, she's going to have to be really good for us on both sides. But she's been great all year. She had -- I think the Maryland game was maybe her first game since she's played here at IU where it wasn't up to par, but she also knows that, and they have games like that. She's been terrific on more occasions than she hasn't been. So all of us, we know this, we're all going to have to show up in a big way tomorrow.