NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - CHARLOTTE VS INDIANA

March 19, 2022

Teri Moren

Mackenzie Holmes

Aleksa Gulbe

Indiana Hoosiers

Media Conference

Indiana 85, Charlotte 51

TERI MOREN: First of all, congratulations to Charlotte for being in the field of 68. This is such a special tournament, and as I said to our kids after the Big Ten Tournament, there's only 68. There's about 300 plus that their season ended. So congratulations to Charlotte and their season. They had a terrific one. Obviously won a championship.

I thought today we were -- we did a lot of really, really good things. Obviously we wanted to go into this game being balanced in our scoring. And if you look, we had four kids in double digits, 23 assists, which always, always brings me joy, and low turnovers. We only had six of those today.

I thought Leks was terrific, particularly in the first half, just being aggressive. Mac is starting, I think, to find her groove. We left her in there because we're just trying to continue to work with her endurance and helping her feeling more comfortable and so forth.

I thought our guards were terrific defensively. We knew going into this game that we were going to be challenged off the bounce. I thought our transition defense was on point. There were a lot of really good things. Some things we have to shore up, but I thought this was a good first game for us. We know it's a six-game series, and we're going to have to be better come Monday regardless of who the opponent is.

Q. Mackenzie, this was your best performance since coming back from your knee injury. What does it mean for you to be able to peak at the right time?

MACKENZIE HOLMES: At the end of the day I just want to do whatever it takes to win, and so I just am trying to get better every single day. And my coaches and my teammates have been really pushing me to do so the past couple weeks, so I think it's been super beneficial, and I'm just really happy to be here and to be moving to the next round.

Q. For either of you guys, you've talked for so long about actually hosting tournament games here. To actually see it and this first game hosting, what was it like for you guys being out there?

ALEKSA GULBE: Well, it's definitely an honor. I would say it's a sweet result of all the work we've put in during all these years. I love that we have the opportunity to do that.

Q. For both players, considering the stakes and considering the performance you guys had, was this probably the best game that you guys have had all season, both offense and defense?

MACKENZIE HOLMES: I mean, I thought we played well on both sides of the ball today. As Coach alluded to, we shared the ball and we really locked in on defense, and I think that now is a really good time to be playing that type of basketball, and I think we showed that today. Our coaches had us really prepared going into this matchup today, as they always do, so we just stuck to the game plan, and it worked, obviously.

Q. Aleksa, talk a little bit about your ability to -- as a team to maintain intensity even in the second half when you had that sizable lead.

ALEKSA GULBE: I think it's important to keep running because our team is playing fast. We try to play fast, and we're conditioned to do that. Our strength and conditioning coaches made sure that we're able to do that.

We have to play our game no matter what the score is.

Q. Grace does so many things well for you, just so many different things on both ends of the floor. What's it like being out there with her when she can really get in that kind of takeover mode?

MACKENZIE HOLMES: Yeah, everything that Grace does is a product of how hard she works, and I feel like only the people within this program get to see that every day. She doesn't take a rep off, she doesn't take a play off, and that's at practice, but it translates on to the court, as well. Just being able to play alongside her the past couple years is really special, and she's a great player. But I think it's all a product of the amount of work that she puts in.

Q. You've talked so much about hosting throughout the year and for you to actually get to witness this now and see it, what was that like for you building to this point?

TERI MOREN: Well, again, as I said in the press conference on Friday, it's just another thing that we can check off inside of this program. Eight years ago we set out to have several goals, and although some of them haven't been checked off yet, some of them have. And this is just one of those, and we always have wanted to host because we know the importance of that.

We've been on the other side of having to travel to Notre Dame, having to travel all the way out to Oregon, and so I think there's a true benefit to being able to host and have Hoosier Nation. Also just have our kids be in their own space, I think that's real important for them.

We had to win some games in the Big Ten Tournament in order for this to happen, so really kudos to our players for giving us this opportunity, and we wanted to share it with our fans.

Q. Coach, this is the first time you haven't played a Big Ten team in a while. How different was it to finally get outside of Big Ten play and play Charlotte?

TERI MOREN: Well, it was good to see a different opponent, although I will say last week in the Big Ten opponent, we hadn't seen Rutgers, and we got to see them for the first time in two years. But again, really, really well-coached 49ers team, obviously won their conference championship, have the Player of the Year also.

Like I said, I think this was a really good first test, first game for us, and I thought we did a lot of good things. But there were some things, also, because of the time that we've had off that our timing and our rhythm has to -- we have to shore some of those things up before Monday.

Q. As far as coming into this game, Charlotte was one of the better defensive teams in the country, holding teams to 35 percent. You guys, I think 55 percent was what you ended up shooting. What was really working for you today to allow you all to post a high number like that?

TERI MOREN: Well, I think two things, and I probably could find a third thing, as well, but one of the things that as Leks alluded to, we're always trying to play downhill. In our preparation we felt like one of the things that Charlotte does is all five of those guys crash, and so it really gives you opportunities if you're willing to get out and run to get some early scores.

We also wanted to have balanced scoring. Not only did we want to get lay-ups, but we also wanted to, we call it pound the post. We wanted to find Mac, we wanted to find Leks in some of those early post-up opportunities.

I did think there was a stretch there in the first half, though, where we settled for taking pull-up jump shots when we didn't need to. We didn't have a lay-up, but we also didn't have to make them guard. We kind of bailed them out because of our shot selection for about a two- or three-minute period.

We tried to address that at halftime. I thought we were better.

Obviously Mac having her -- starting to look better, feel better, gives you an honest post player on the inside. I thought Leks was terrific today, though. I really did. She posted hard. Obviously she can stretch you out. She showed you that she's more than just a player that plays with her back to the basket.

And then I thought our guard play was terrific. Grace Berger, Nikki. I thought Chloe came in and gave us great minutes, and she just continues to improve and get better as the season has gone on.

I thought we had a lot of really good things. When we have 23 or 20 plus assists and we're sharing the ball like that, we can -- we have the ability to put a lot of points on the board.

I'll go back and just say this: What's going to carry us throughout this tournament will be our defense, our ability to defend and rebound.

Q. Obviously a great win for you guys today, a tough opponent sitting there waiting on Monday. How long are you going to enjoy today's win before you move on to prepping for Monday's game?

TERI MOREN: Well, certainly we understand -- because of our experience from a year ago, we understand how the tournament works. You have a very short window to enjoy.

But I'll say this: Our kids are showering up, they're going to get some dinner, they're going to see their families. And we will stay and we're going to watch the first half because I want them to at least get their eyes on the next opponent.

Then it's 7:30. We're going to resume, get back together here in Cook, and we'll start our prep for whoever the next opponent is going to be.

I would say this: We understand how important that first game is, and our kids understand that because we've lived it. There's no doubt that there's a lot of enthusiasm after the game in the locker room. They were happy with, I think, how they played today.

Q. Anyone who follows or watches this team knows about Grace's mid-range game, but I thought some of the other intricacies of her game were on display today. How important are some of those things in addition to the mid-range game for the overall team's success?

TERI MOREN: Well, she is and will be a pro. I think Mac said it the best. A lot of, especially you guys, but the outside is not privy to what we see every day with how hard she works and how every rep she doesn't take off. That's defensively and offensively. She would probably argue and tell you that she doesn't find herself a very good defender, but she has gotten so much better since she's been here at Indiana with us.

But whatever Grace -- however Grace is able to impact this game never surprises any of us, whether it's her mid-range game, whether it's her ability to give six assists tonight or this afternoon. Again, she's a product of what she does every day, and that's just the work.

She's a special player. Like I said, nobody is more excited that she's going to come back for another year. But she's also a pro that's going to use her COVID year, but she'll be playing professionally after she leaves Indiana.

Q. In the first half, you guys go on the 22-2 run there. What did you see across that span that you were able to excel offensively and lock them down defensively?

TERI MOREN: I don't know that I saw anything extraordinary or special. I think that we just started finding some rhythm offensively. We were getting stops. Aleksa, I think, stepped out and hit a couple threes for us in that stretch just to kind of jump start us and get us going.

I don't know that we did anything in particular, like I said, extra special. I just thought we found our rhythm offensively and we were certainly guarding and getting the stops we needed.

Q. Charlotte ran their offense through Octavia Jett-Wilson. How did she keep your defense warm and in check throughout the game?

TERI MOREN: Well, she's terrific. She's the Player of the Year in Conference USA, and she's a three-level kind of scorer.

We knew that she was going to be a handful going into this game. That was not lost on us.

I thought -- Ali had the nod of guarding her, but I think all of our guards at some point had the opportunity to because we were switching some ball screen action. But she's terrific and has had a terrific career.

Q. Today you had an amazing balance. You had 23 assists going on, and you had 10 different Hoosiers scoring today. Talk about the importance of getting everybody involved.

TERI MOREN: Well, it's such a nice opportunity or nice thing when you can do that. You build a lead and then some of those kids that have to sit over there and cheer and give us good energy for the five that are usually out there on the floor a lot, it's -- from a coaching perspective, that's what you want. Unfortunately we haven't been in a lot of games like that this year, but I thought Kait came in and Mo got I think her first basket of the season. Obviously Grace Waggoner managed to get a bucket, as well. I think the only one that didn't might have been Arielle.

You know, it's great that they had the opportunity to soak in and be a part of the NCAA Tournament but certainly this game at home in front of our home crowd.