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BIG TEN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 1, 2018

Teri Moren

Indianapolis, Indiana

Indiana - 111, Michigan State - 109 (4 OT)

COACH MOREN: A great game between two really good teams. Two great staffs. Like I said, I can't give Michigan State enough credit, and our guys, too, for just having battled, and really proud not of just our effort, our resiliency and just staying together and fighting. We just had to fight our rear ends off.

But super happy for Tyra and B., because, as I said, this place has not been good to us the last two years being in that double bye spot. We had to earn it tonight, and as I said to the kids, there were a lot of plays made, but the most important play was made at the end, and we got it. And B. capped it off with two free throws, and then we had to go down and get that stop, and I thought we did a really, really great job of defending that.

Q. Being the coach you are, look what you have even left in there; are you concerned about that? You've got a fit team.
COACH MOREN: We do, and we've played with lack of depth all year, all season, and so what's most important tonight is that we get back to the hotel and we get them some rest.

But as I've said to our group, the first game is always the most difficult, and once you can get that first game and you have a little bit of momentum, and hopefully our kids have some confidence.

I think as this is tournament play, I think they're going to be ready. They're going to be ready. There's going to be a lot of energy in the building. Hopefully our crowd will come back, and we know what we're playing for, and that's postseason play. There's no question that I'm not worried. This group has been great throughout, the peaks and the valleys, and have always been able to show up in big ways when we've needed them to.

Q. You talked about the seniors' window closing, and Cahill and Buss played all 60 minutes of the game. You could just kind of see that, two seniors fighting for --
COACH MOREN: Absolutely. There was no way. I think even J.B. asked Tyra if she was tired and needed a blow, and I think Tyra looked at her like: You've got to be kidding me, right?

So that's just been the tale of B. and Tyra all year. They're going to will their team to victory, and B. was really, really good tonight. Like I said, I'm happy for our entire group, our staff, everybody, but I'm most happy for Tyra and B.

Q. How much were you telling Tyra to keep shooting when she was 1 of 3 at that point?
COACH MOREN: Well, I don't know that anybody has to tell Tyra to keep shooting. I just don't. She's a competitor, and that's been well-documented throughout her four years at Indiana, and the big three that she hit at the end of the last was really big on a night when she struggled.

Q. Talk about the action you guys saw; did you know specifically what they'd do?
COACH MOREN: Yeah, they went into their double highball screening action, and I thought Tyra did a great job, but Bendu just made a really good play on the ball. We tried to split that action, and Bendu was just long enough to get her hands on it. Couldn't come up with it, but got her hands on it just enough to keep the clock ticking down even further. Big play at the end, and if it would have gone in, I would have been shocked.

Q. What was going through your head after the first overtime when they were waiting on the clock review and didn't know whether or not --
COACH MOREN: Well, I felt really comfortable with my group on the sideline. They clearly knew that the clock had stopped at 2.5, I think. Even Megan, and then the table -- I even asked them, and they said it clearly had stopped, it was just a matter of time before we found out the official review from the crew.

She made a big-time play. Of course we turned it over, but obviously an important part of the game, to be able to go into another overtime.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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