NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: SECOND ROUND - PRINCETON VS INDIANA

March 20, 2022

Teri Moren

Chloe Moore-McNeil

Ali Patberg

Indiana Hoosiers

Media Conference

Q. You guys got to sit and watch a bit of the Princeton/Kentucky game yesterday. What did you immediately take away from watching that game and kind of just in the immediate moments walking away from seeing Princeton win and facing them tomorrow?

ALI PATBERG: Yeah, there's a really good team. Offensively, they execute really, really well. I think at each position they're really skilled. They know their strengths and they execute.

Defensively, they play really hard. They switch ball screens. They switch screens. And so they came ready to play. They were prepared and they were ready to win. So they're a great team.

Q. When you see a player like Abby Meyers over there, what challenges does she present? And what's it going to take to I guess contain her defensively?

ALI PATBERG: She's a great player. It's going to take not just one person guarding her but just all five of us. Knowing where to be in positions, gaps. But she can score at all three levels. We're just going to have to make it tough on her. And, again, like I said, it's going to take our whole team to slow her down.

Q. Chloe, coming off the bench you played a lot more minutes, played a much larger role as the season went on. Earlier in the year Teri Moren talked about developing the bench, developing more depth there. That's really been you in large part this season. How have you, especially in the postseason, felt yourself kind of coming on after you felt more confident? And, Ali, how have you seen her develop since the season went on?

CHLOE MOORE-MCNEIL: I think my confidence has grown over the season. That's simply because of my coaches and my teammates believing in me.

After Mac got hurt, Coach Morin came to us and said we just need everybody to do a little more, produce a little bit more, go harder just a little bit more. I think that's really motivated me and my teammates have motivated me as well.

ALI PATBERG: Chloe, she's a great player on both ends. And we've seen that since she came here as a freshman. But I think her confidence has gone way up just because, like she mentioned, Mac being out for a while, Chloe stepped up and she was in big moments.

And so she's able to have confidence because she's been out there. She's had experience. And she's handled it great. And I'm really excited for Chloe here at IU. She's going to have a lot of good years here. Great years.

Q. Was there any specific point where you could sense, oh, like I'm feeling more confident, I feel like I've improved? Was there a turning point for you?

CHLOE MOORE-MCNEIL: I would say the turning point was when COVID kind of hit us for a long stretch. And I had started for the Purdue game. That's when I was, like, I need to step up and produce a lot more than I usually have because I know my team needs me. So I need to be there for them.

Q. Back to the matchup against Princeton tomorrow. I feel like you guys are pretty evenly matched as guards and how they play with their posts. You guys are the same. What's it going to take for you guys to overcome them, I guess, matchup-wise?

ALI PATBERG: I mean, like I mentioned, they're a great team. But I think we're going to have to defend for the whole shot clock. Like I said, they execute really well. They hit all their options in their offense.

And I think for us, just taking smart shots, but knowing where I think we have advantages on the offensive end. So just, again, we always come into every game prepared. Our coaches always have a great game plan and we just need to go out and execute it.

CHLOE MOORE-MCNEIL: I have to agree with Ali on that. I think the key is, since they're a very fundamentally sound teams, is to be disciplined on defense.

Q. You've been here such a long time and hosting has been a long-time goal of this program. To sit now after having hosted a game, finally getting that opportunity, what was that like, and how excited are you for another opportunity to play an NCAA Tournament game here?

ALI PATBERG: It's been our goal of ours since we got here. To play an opportunity to play in the NCAA Tournament alone is a blessing. And we never take that for granted. But to do it at home and just to see everyone come out and support us means a lot, it means a lot to our team. And we're excited for another game tomorrow.

Q. Aside from playing on the home court, in general, is it striking, I guess, after playing in the tournament last year in the bubble, just playing in a more normal environment now?

ALI PATBERG: Yeah, I mean, last year was different, obviously. And to have fans -- it's hard because we've had fans all year. So we've kind of gotten used to it.

We wouldn't have had a normal NCAA Tournament for -- since my first year here. I remember how it was at Oregon, with their fans, and how much of an advantage it was. So again I'm so thankful that we took care of our business during the season so we could host, and have that advantage, honestly.

Q. Ali, you grew up in Indiana. Obviously Assembly Hall is a big deal. Last year you were afforded an extra season. And now this year you have an additional opportunity. Tomorrow night will, however, will be your final game at Assembly Hall. I know you're emotional with this, but talk about how Assembly Hall has helped shape you as a person?

ALI PATBERG: I love Assembly Hall. I grew up coming to games. Dreamed about playing here. And I'm just thankful that I had two more games than I normally would have. And senior night wasn't my last game. But honestly, like, I'm just trying to stay in the moment. I'm trying to be prepared mentally for our game, because I want to win. I want to win bad.

And so I'm trying not to think about it, honestly. But like I said, I'm just thankful that I get another game in Assembly Hall. And I'm going to make the most of it. We're going to make the most of it.

Q. Ali and Chloe, can you talk a little bit about the contributions that Grace makes, not just on the court, but off the court as well? And how she helps the team get to this spot and potentially to a Sweet 16 next week?

ALI PATBERG: Grace is a leader for our team. She may not be the loudest person on the floor or off the floor. But she leads by example every single day with her work ethic, with the way she approaches every drill, every rep. So she's a leader for our team. And she's a competitor. She brings it out in everybody. And she's obviously super talented, super skilled.

But a lot of people don't know how hard she's worked to become that. And we do. We see it every day. And I'm just thankful that she's been my teammate. And she's pushed me to be a better person and better player.

CHLOE MOORE-MCNEIL: I definitely agree with Ali. She might not say much, but I feel like her work says a lot. Even last year being a freshman, just let her teach me, and watch her. And she really sets a great example for me.

Q. Wanted to talk to you about your feelings on having a late game tomorrow, 8:00 p.m. I'm wondering what the team does all day, waiting around to compete?

ALI PATBERG: Obviously we know it's a late game. For me, I try to go to bed at an early time every night. So I'm on a pretty, honestly, strict sleeping schedule, because I need all the advantages I can get. Sleep is one of them.

So tonight I'm going to try to stay up later so that I sleep in a little later so my day starts a little later so I'm not just waiting all day.

But we'll have a shoot-around at 2:00, I think. We will watch film, shoot free throws. And so we stay busy with what we do and how we're preparing. Like I said, I'm going to stay up a little later so I can sleep in.

CHLOE MOORE-MCNEIL: I think really the most important and biggest thing for us is staying off our feet. No matter what, just getting rest, staying focused so we can be locked in tomorrow.

Q. If you have any, what classes do you guys have on Mondays?

CHLOE MOORE-MCNEIL: I have a structural kinesiology lab from 4:15 to 6:10, but I don't think I'll make it.

Q. Obviously Mackenzie's injury was a big storyline throughout the season. Obviously she played really well yesterday, especially in the second half. How have you seen her benefit from, I guess, the two weeks you had in between the Big Ten Tournament and the start of the NCAA Tournament? And how hard has she worked in her rehab to get back to where she's at now?

ALI PATBERG: I actually had a conversation with Mac after the Big Ten Tournament. And I just thanked her for doing what she's done to have surgery in the middle of the season and to come back.

A lot of people wouldn't do that. But that just shows how much she is selfless in trying to do whatever it takes for our team to win because she knows we need her out there. So I thanked her for that.

And we knew that two weeks that we had before the NCAA Tournament, we were all going to benefit from it. But especially Mac. She got a lot of good reps, game-like reps. But I think it also helped us getting back to playing with her, getting accommodated with her, playing off of her.

And so I think the game last night was, you know, the work of the past two weeks. And her playing well and us being able to be in sync with her as well. So I think it was great.

COACH MOREN: We know we'll have our hands full tomorrow at 8:00 with Princeton. Well-coached. Great discipline. Play hard. We'll have to do a lot of really good things to get the result we want.

Watching them yesterday with their movement, how disciplined they are. If they don't get the first option off their stuff, they're willing to be patient enough to maybe get the second or the third or the fourth. So they're really going to test us defensively. We're going to have to really be solid in our guarding tomorrow night. And we're going to have to do a great job on Meyers.

I thought she was terrific yesterday scoring against Kentucky. She can score a lot of different ways. This is a team that forces 19 turnovers. They get 10-plus steals a game. So, ball security, us taking care of the ball and getting good shots will be as important.

Q. Abby Meyers on Princeton is going to be -- you've faced plenty of tough players this season and throughout Big Ten play. What do you see in her specifically and how do you plan to approach that matchup?

COACH MOREN: You're right. Our league is full of great guards. So, one, that's the good thing. And we've had to guard a lot of those. But she can score at all three levels. She's probably a better athlete than she looks like.

But to say that she is on 10 all the time would be an understatement, as far as her activity, being able to step out. She has a quick trigger. But she's also, has a little spin, floater game, up-and-under game. She can score in a lot of different ways. She has a lot of tricks in her bag.

Ali Patberg is going to have the nod at guarding her. What we've seen with Ali is anytime Ali has a challenge, she's been pretty good in those scenarios. I think other kids like Chloe Moore-McNeil will also have to help, and maybe you'll see Grace and Nicki as well. But she's terrific. She was terrific yesterday against Kentucky.

Q. Following up on Ali Patberg, tomorrow is her final game in Assembly Hall. After the years, what has she meant to you and the program?

COACH MOREN: I think she's meant everything. I think a couple of years -- well, I don't know how long ago; I can't even remember when she joined us. I feel like it's been so long ago. But the plan was when Tyra Buss graduated, we needed a guard that would come in with experience, that was going to be able to sort of just take over where Tyra left off.

And Ali Patberg was that kid for us. And so I think from, set aside what she is as a player, I think she's probably meant more as a teammate to those guys in the locker room. She's mature. I've said it over and over. She pours into them.

She has a relationship with every single one of them. Sure, it's easy to have one with a group, a team, but it's more difficult to have one with every individual in that locker room. That takes effort. It takes time. And Ali has always been willing to do that with whatever group that we've brought in here to Indiana.

She's been integral in our recruiting a lot of these guys. And so she's meant so much to helping us build this thing the right way. And I think that she will be remembered as one of the best players here in school history.

And a lot of it, like you said, is because of the player she is. But, for me, it's going to be more about the kid she was.

Q. I know you said yesterday after the game that you consider Grace to be a pro. How much did it surprise you that she said she's going to come back next year? And is there anything that you feel like she may need to work on in that fifth year to solidify her spot in the WNBA or other pro leagues?

COACH MOREN: I laugh, I know you're not here, but I kind of laughed because Grace is such a funny kid. And I don't know that anybody would be surprised -- Grace and I never even had a conversation about her returning. Basically she told our director of basketball ops that she was not going to be a part of the senior video.

And so Liz reached out to her and she said, does that mean you're planning on coming back? She said, oh, yeah, that's what that means, I'm coming back. Liz went on with the conversation of, does Coach know you're coming back? And Liz was, like, no, I haven't talked to her, but I feel like she might feel like I'm coming back. And Liz said, well, I'm in her office. And Grace responds with, okay, then you can tell her.

That's Grace Berger in terms of how she shared the news with me that she was going to return. And to say that I was, my staff, we were elated. We were hopeful, keeping our fingers crossed that we would have the opportunity to coach her another year. We were obviously excited and ecstatic.

What Grace -- and Grace would tell you this -- I think one of the things that she's continued to work on is her outside, her 3, becoming more consistent with that. No kid gets more reps up outside of practice than Grace Berger does with her 3 ball. She has to find her consistency. We know she can score at the other two levels.

But to be a pro and have a long career as a pro, you've got to be able to do all three. And so if there's one area that I think Grace has continued to try to improve on is knocking down the long ball.

Q. On Grace, Ali said she's a silent leader, that she leads by example. How is she a different leader than Ali? Ali is a little more vocal and Grace leads more by example.

COACH MOREN: That's true. But I do think, as Grace has been in our program, she's found her voice. And I think one of the things, the ways that Grace does lead -- and Ali is an emotional leader. You watch Ali out there, she plays with a lot of emotion.

To get Grace to respond or have any emotion sometimes is a hard thing. But I do think this. I think Grace has grown in her leadership. She just does it in a different way. She does communicate at a high level inside of practice with her teammates. And she does challenge them.

Grace -- not that Ali is not a competitor -- but Grace is a different kind of competitor in terms of what she expects from herself and what she expects from the people around her.

And so I think she challenges her teammates in a really good way. And I think there's a balance there with being able to do those things, being able to be supportive but also get the best out of her team and her teammates. That's again two different kinds of leadership. But both really important for our team.

Q. You mentioned turnovers earlier. I remember back in November you played that game in the Bahamas against Miami. I want to say around 25 turnovers. Yesterday's game, I think that the box score read six. Talk about the season progressing and how important it has been to hold onto the ball and what your lessons have been to the team in order to have that sharp turnaround.

COACH MOREN: Well, I think that might have been very out of character. Bahamas was a long time ago. For us, I do think that we've taken better care of the ball inside of Big Ten play. Like we have three point guards on the floor at all time -- Grace, Ali and Nicki. Before Nicki arrived, Ali Patberg was our point guard. And certainly you've seen the ball in Grace Berger's hands enough to know that she can do the job as well.

I think it's something we emphasize every day with the importance. We want to be under 11. That's our game goal each night. And I was obviously happy with not only our low turnovers but our assists yesterday. But I think it's just something that we emphasize. But we also really feel like we have three really great point guards out on the floor.

The one thing we want to give our kids is the freedom to play fast and chase space. And sometimes they can get a little bit overzealous. But I think at the end of the day they all know that ball security is important for our basketball team.

Q. As you prepare for Princeton on what's kind of a short turnaround, what's the hardest thing about them to prepare for? Is there a team you've played this season that you think is relatively similar to what Princeton does?

COACH MOREN: Not that I can compare them to any team. Off the top of my head, I think what makes them so great is their discipline offensively.

They do run a lot of stuff but yet they don't run a lot of stuff. But the stuff they run, there's like a first option, and if they don't get the first option, there's a third, there's a fourth, there's a fifth. And they're patient enough to wait to see where the advantage is going to be. Where there's going to be a breakdown defensively. That's how they take advantage of you.

This is a team, and again they're Princeton, yeah, probably you could consider them, they're really smart kids. But I think that they really truly do have high basketball IQs as well. I think they just really allow you defensively to make a mistake. And as soon as you make a mistake, they make you pay because of their patience that they show.

And so what's interesting -- they're all about the same size height-wise, and there's a lot of movement. You can't take plays off. You've got to be willing to stay really sound in your position when you're guarding them. If you don't jump to the ball, they can beat you with a cut.

So again I think that's where they put pressure on you is because there's no other way to describe them other than they're really, really disciplined offensively. Also defensively. But really offensively, and very patient. But they cut hard, they play hard. And like I said, you can't take a play off with this group, in terms of what I got to see yesterday, with Kentucky, in terms of how hard they play and then just watching them on film.

Q. Mackenzie looked real good yesterday in the second half. We've talked plenty about her injury and where she's at health-wise. In the big picture, playing the way she did yesterday, how hard did she work through the rehab process to get back to where she is now, especially in that time between the end of the Big Ten Tournament and the start of the NCAA Tournament? How important was that time for her?

COACH MOREN: It was important because when we got Mac back, it was sort of in that period of, when we were playing a third of our game in ten days and we weren't practicing, we were only prepping and traveling and so forth. So, it made it really difficult for Mac because she was sort of just thrown into games. She was thrown into the fire. And she was having to make some mistakes. Trying to get her timing back, trying to work on endurance is kind of hard when you're just trying to do it in a 40-minute game.

And so for her, the practice piece of it, once we returned from Maryland, was so, I think, important and critical to getting her back to what we're seeing now.

And she's not 100 percent back. But she needed every ounce, every minute of all those practices. One, just to work on her endurance. When you take a month off, yes, your endurance suffers, but what people don't realize is everything suffers, your timing, catching the ball. All of that for Mac was difficult to get back in a short, like I said, a short amount of time.

And I think it's just a matter of her being able to get those practices in before the Big Ten Tournament, getting games then back to back to back and then having almost the 13 days off in between the two was really good for her. And that was -- I thought where we were playing the four-minute games, we're playing the three-minute games, she's getting up and down the floor. She's having to work through endurance. She's having to work through mistakes. She's getting her timing back.

So all of it has been good for her. But to say that she's been exceptional and she's doing the work and just staying after, whether it was her rehab, whether it's with Kevin and her strength and conditioning, nobody has worked harder and has wanted to be back for her team more than Mackenzie.

And there were some tough days for her. And so I think all of us are really proud that she's showed some really toughness but just resilience throughout a really tough thing, because certainly we didn't expect this to happen for her once the season started. But I think that she'll continue to get better.

Q. We've asked you a bit about this in the past, but you talked about in that stretch when Mackenzie was out a chance to build the bench up and build some more depth there. We had Chloe up here who has been one of the biggest pieces from that bench. Now sitting here in the NCAA Tournament, how have you seen her kind of be that key bench player who has developed so much this season?

COACH MOREN: I think that one of the things I've been so impressed with Chloe is she's not afraid of the moment. There's been some big moments where she's had to come in and show up in a big kind of way. Obviously this is a kid that's really talented. She came off our bench a year ago, played spot minutes for us. And then Mac goes out. And now we have to completely change how we're going to play, in terms of to put KB in the starting 5 spot but then being able to go play small ball, which we've never done here in Indiana, and really rely on Chloe to give us something night in, night out.

What I think we've seen is great growth with her as a basketball player. I think her confidence with every game has improved. And no one has been more excited about her being a major contributor for this basketball team than our staff and her teammates.

And so give her credit because she was a terrific high school player, won the state championship. That's why we recruited her because she's a winner and I think, again, she's going to have a great career here at Indiana.