NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: REGIONAL SEMIFINAL - INDIANA VS UCONN

March 25, 2022

Teri Moran

Ali Patberg

Aleksa Gulbe

Webster Bank Arena

Indiana Hoosiers

Sweet 16 Media Conference

TERI MOREN: Well, it's good to be here in Bridgeport. We have an excited group that is ready to get out there on the floor here in a few minutes and get some shots up. It's been a long morning for the Hoosiers. Champing at the bit to get out there and come back tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. to play a great team that we have great respect for.

It's the first time we've ever played UConn, and so I think it'll be an exciting game for spectators. I know there's going to be a lot of fans, probably not as many Indiana fans as there will be UConn, but that's okay, we've been battle tested throughout the season, and this group has played in front of other big crowds because of our conference.

Like I said, we're excited to be here and ready to get going.

Q. It's strange that you guys have never played UConn before; when you watch them on film, I'm sure you've seen them at other times when you could, what's it like to know you're facing a team that's won the most ever in anything at women's hoops?

TERI MOREN: Well, just the other night when they won, it swept across the screen, their 28th trip, right, to the Sweet 16. Obviously, like I said, we have a tremendous amount of respect for Geno and Chris and his staff and his players. They've been the bar in women's basketball for some time.

If you're not having to compete against them, you really enjoy watching them play because they play what I think is pretty basketball. Everybody likes to watch pretty basketball with their cutting and their ability to pass it and so forth. They have terrific players.

We do know the magnitude of this game. We've been here before a year ago, and so we do feel like we have some experience. As you all know, I have a veteran group and experienced group, so I don't know if it does matter that it's UConn, but it could be any other name across the chest. We just know that we want to keep this thing going as long as we can.

But to say that we have a tremendous amount of respect for UConn -- we know the task, right. We know how big of a game this is.

Q. Looking at UConn, I asked Geno about seeing Indiana rise as a program, he was talking a lot about how Indiana doesn't really get enough talk across the country. He talked so much about milestones. What would a win over UConn represent for Indiana women's basketball?

TERI MOREN: Well, first of all, I appreciate Coach saying that about our team, our program, the big, and so forth.

I think again, it'll just be another one of those milestones. You hit it; you said the word. We've had a lot of historic moments in this program since we've been here in our eight seasons. You know, it would just be another thing certainly we could tick off.

But we went down to the Virgin Islands a couple years ago and knocked off a really good South Carolina team, I think that was No. 1 in the country at the time. We've been in these big games and these big moments.

Again, I think it would just -- the only thing we're thinking about is if we win the next game, we get to a second Elite 8, so that's what our focus is.

Q. You've been able to rely on your bench a lot, especially in recent games. What does that mean going into a game of this nature to be able to turn to that bench when you want your starters to have some rest time?

TERI MOREN: Well, it's important. I think any team that's going to make a deep run in the tournament has to have some depth. With Chloe -- KB has been a little beat up, but Chloe has given us some really great minutes. We've had to play differently when Mac was out so we've played big ball, we've played small ball. So it's nice to have the luxury of pieces that can come off your bench and help you.

Q. How much have you relied on that experience? You talked about having two seniors, two grad students in the starting lineup including Ali, who's been around college basketball seven years.

TERI MOREN: Well, again, someone had asked me before I came just about the other night against Princeton, great team and what did I find out about my team during that game or at the end of that game that I didn't already know. And there's not really an answer to that question other than because we've been battle tested, because we've a veteran team, because we're an experienced team, this particular group has no panic in them. As long as there's time on the clock, we always feel like we're going to give ourselves a chance to win the game.

Again, there's no substitute for experience. You can have great players. Whether they're old, whether they're young, five-star, two-star, doesn't matter. The experience I think outweighs all of that when it comes down to some of those tight ballgames. And we've been in a lot, and we've been able to rely on the fact that that experience that we have can carry you pretty far.

Q. I'm curious as to how difficult it is to put together a game plan of a team that really hasn't shown the country maybe a complete version of who it is, with all the injuries that UConn has endured during the season.

TERI MOREN: I think you just -- whether their pieces have been in and out, I don't know that anything changes with them offensively in terms of tendencies. We're very specific when we go into our preparation, game planning for opponents, and we are all about the tendencies of the actions, and certainly the players.

But yeah, I think you just rely on that. We know offensively they just play. They play ball. Yeah, it can look like a motion, it can look like a continuity. There's a lot of back-cutting, there's a lot of handoffs, there's a lot of all of that. Some of that's hard to script in a practice, it's hard to simulate even if you have great practice players, and so we watch a lot of film, we talk about tendencies.

Then you just show them the personnel piece of it, and you try to find those clips. And maybe they're not playing -- they haven't played together as a unit, and maybe they're not playing their best basketball. I don't know if that's the case or not. They're still really, really good.

But for us, we really haven't had an issue in terms of what we think we're going to see tomorrow afternoon, their discipline. I don't know that they're going to go away from what they've been doing this season even with or without Paige, even with or without Azzi. I think their running is what we're going to see tomorrow.

Q. You discussed your respect for obviously UConn and Geno. I was curious maybe earlier in your career if you've had any interactions with him or their staff or clinics or anything of that nature, things you maybe picked up from their program.

TERI MOREN: Right. Many, many years ago when I started my coaching career at Butler, I worked for a lady by the name of June Olkowski who just happened to play basketball at Rutgers with Chris Dailey. So I've known CD for a long time.

Geno and I have ran into each other, we spent some time-out in Colorado Springs I think in probably '17, '18, when we had a player out there that was trying out. And he was just nice enough to sit and just kind of chop it up, and I got to ask him some questions just about culture, building a program. He was so gracious, and the feedback or -- just, again, just nuggets that he would share with me in terms of what the build is like and not selling your soul and sticking to your disciplines and building your program based on the things that are important to you.

I just remember thinking that, one, he didn't have to do that, and, two, it was really a cool moment for me because we were just in the early build of this program at Indiana. Then I got to see him a little bit in San Antonio when I think we were out for 30 minutes last year. We had time to be out and about.

My relationship probably goes a little bit deeper with CD than Geno, but nonetheless there's a tremendous amount of respect.

Q. I know your team takes pride in its defense. UConn does, as well. If you look at the defensive match-ups in this game, what do you want to see from your team defensively against the sort of offense that you just described? And on the other side of the ball, what makes UConn a tough team defensively?

TERI MOREN: Well, one of the things that we want to do is keep them out of transition, and two ways you can do that is, one, by taking care of the basketball and not turning it over. And the second thing you do is you take great shots that give you enough chance -- whether they go in or whether they're soft misses, you get enough time to get back in transition defense. So I think that's where it starts.

Then probably the biggest key for us tomorrow will be keeping them off the offensive glass. UConn is not a team that you can give multiple opportunities to. If you do, they make you pay.

The game is not hard, right, when you really break it down in terms of what we have to do to be in the game and to win the game against a really great offensive team. We have to be really solid in the half court. Again, I talked about their back-cutting, I talked about their ability to pass and share the ball. So a lot of what we have to do is protect the paint, keep our person above us, not get beat on back-cuts, and make them take contested long twos.

That's the game plan going in, and if they have to take a whole bunch of outside jump shots, we feel like we may give ourselves a chance.

Q. You alluded in your opening statement to obviously the crowd noise or what you expect the crowd to be tomorrow. Has that been something that has been a discussion point for you all this week, and if so, how does it kind of impact your preparation or your game plan or your communication out on the floor?

TERI MOREN: Well, now as far as the noise, as I said -- and I know you guys obviously have paid attention to what happened over at Iowa the other day or last week when they hosted the first two rounds, and that place was sold out. It wasn't sold out, but it was dang near close to being sold out, and some of the times that we've been to Iowa -- so we understand the crowd noise.

Does it make it challenging? Absolutely, because we have a lot of play calling going over on the sideline that's trying to go on.

Now, what we did talk about in our preparation for this particular game is that Nikki is going to have to be our play caller. And so if we're not out in transition trying to get early buckets, then she has to be the one that's going to get us into whatever it is that we're going to -- whether it's our motion, whether it's our continuity, whatever it is that we're running -- and the rest of them are going to have to echo the call and be on the same page. Because, like I said, there's going to be some noise in there tomorrow.

But I will say this: That's the one thing about the Big Ten. It's prepared us for this moment, these moments right here because we've played in front of a lot of great fans in the Big Ten at other places. Indiana included, but other places on the road.

Q. You've mentioned the Big Ten and teams you've faced multiple times now. When you see talent on UConn, names like Bueckers and Fudd, you gave Caitlin Clark three tough battles this season. Does it help that you know that you've given her some trouble, a player of that caliber? Does that help when you see these names on the other side?

TERI MOREN: I think it does, but I wouldn't limit it to just Cait. You look at the Maryland roster, Naz Hillmon -- I could go on and on down every roster and talk about two or three terrific players on each one of those teams.

Does it help? Probably. Like I said, we're battle tested. We've played against some really terrific players, whether it's the point, whether it's on the swing, whether it's at the stretch, whether it's inside at the 5 with Naz.

I think we're prepared. I really do.

Q. You haven't faced UConn but you have faced Dorka Juhasz a lot. She's playing such a different role with Connecticut. What do you think she brings to this team and the fact that they have Dorka and Olivia and Aaliyah in the post, how dangerous is that?

TERI MOREN: Well, she was dangerous at Ohio State, and trust me when I -- the fact that she can score, she has the range -- what I've watched in film with Dorka, though, now that she's at UConn, Geno has really been able to help grow her game in terms of being a facilitator because that's part of what they do offensively. She can still play with her back to the basket.

Where she hurts you, though, is on the offensive glass. If you don't get a body on the inside of her and box her out, she can hurt you on the offensive glass. We know she can shoot it. She was a terrific player at Ohio State. I can only imagine with Geno and Chris that she's improved and she's gotten better.

But that's what I'm watching when I'm seeing them. She wasn't quite the facilitator passer with Ohio State that I think she's become with UConn.

Q. Ali, there's a lot made of the experience your team has and that you in particular have, but when it comes down to being on the court on a stage like this, where do you feel like that experience comes through generally speaking the most often or the most strongly?

ALI PATBERG: Yeah, I think we are on a big stage, like you said, so with that comes great teams, and so every team we play is a great team. They're really well-coached.

The experience we have I think is so important because when a great team -- great teams are going to make great runs. And I think it's how we react, it's how we sustain, it's how we punch back, it's how we fight back, and continue to stay locked in on our game plan. When they're in the midst of a run, do we stay disciplined in our game plan? Because it's easy to start doing our own thing, deciding different offensive plays or defensive executions.

So I would say just the experience in knowing that they're going to make -- they are going to make runs, but we just have to sustain it and have our runs.

Q. Between hosting NCAA games and then the Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis, it's been a while since you've played in an unfriendly crowd like this will likely be with a lot of UConn fans. What's that shift going to be like and what challenges could that present?

ALEKSA GULBE: Thank you for the question. (Smiling).

I think just knowing that we have each other, we have our team. And of course having fans and having that support off the court is huge, and us having the opportunity of hosting the first round was an amazing opportunity. And the fact that fans and students came out and supported us, it was just great.

But you know, basketball is not only home games, as we know, and at this point we're going to have some fans over here, but obviously UConn will have a great crowd, as well. As Ali said, at this point it's just keeping to our scout and doing what the coaches prepare us to do and play the game.

Q. This is a two-parter for both of you. I'm curious as to how the defensive game plan changes against a team like UConn versus, let's say, a team like Iowa. Both have really talented guards. That's part one. Part two is Dorka Juhasz is a familiar name to you. How has her role changed from when she was in the Big Ten?

ALI PATBERG: Yeah, I think the beautiful thing about our team is we have been -- we've played against a lot of different teams and different way teams play, offensively, their systems. We've faced a lot of different types of guards, dynamic guards, guards that are -- we've had a lot of experience. So we are going to approach it like we have any other game.

They have athletic guards that can score, all of their guards can score on all three levels, and we have a game plan where we're going to pack the paint and stay under our man and have them hit tough shots. We're just going to make it difficult on them.

They're a great team. They're very talented, and we know that. So yeah.

Q. Aleksa, how about their backcourt?

ALEKSA GULBE: Yeah, Dorka is a great player -- oh, posts, sorry.

Yeah. I mean, they're tall, they're athletic, and it's just important, as Ali said, to stick to our game plan and pack the paint and make them make tough shots.

ALI PATBERG: I think a big key for us, too, is just rebounding, box out. They're a very talented team, so we want to hold them to one chance each possession as we can to help us out.

ALEKSA GULBE: I know her. She's my friend. She's a really great player. She was a great player at Ohio State. She's a great player here. I mean, you know, at this point all players are great players. If we want to move on, we've got to be ready for that.

Q. What does it feel for you as players -- Sedona sort of started this scream last year and everybody really took it -- to now be sitting here with the March Madness branding behind you, with it on the court, and everyone finally realizing that women's sports do matter and people actually watch women's sports?

ALI PATBERG: Yeah, I'm thankful that she put that out there because we do the same thing the guys do. We work just as hard. We go through the tough schedules like they do. We endure a lot to get to this point. So we're just thankful that we're here.

It's really cool that March Madness is behind us because I grew up watching both teams, and I know what March Madness means, and for us to have that name when we play is pretty awesome. So I'm thankful for this opportunity. I'm thankful that she did do that.

ALEKSA GULBE: Yeah, I mean, it's great. I saw a Tweet that she was encouraged by one of her teammates to kind of take that step and show the public of basketball followers just what were the inequalities that was happening in the men's tournament and then the women's tournament. Just for her to take that step, it's a huge deal. Huge deal.

Q. Ali, just Nicole, take us behind the curtain; what is she like as a leader? Are there moments in your mind that kind of jump out of her taking charge or her asserting herself? What comes to mind there?

ALI PATBERG: Yeah, I think Nikki, she is one of the most unique teammates I've had in the sense of she's so driven and she's so competitive, but then like the very next play she can be so lighthearted. For me, I enjoy that because I feel like I'm so -- like all the time in a game when I can see her smile it kind of loosens things up. But at the same time she's really intense defensively, offensively, and so it's just been a blast to have Nikki as a teammate these past two years, and she's taught me a lot, and she's taught me defensively she just never gives up on a play. She gives us energy when we need it most.

So it's been awesome.

Q. For either player, Geno Auriemma on the podium earlier said that he doesn't feel that Indiana gets the respect it deserves on a national level. I'm curious if that's something you could take as another chip on your shoulder into this match tomorrow.

ALEKSA GULBE: I would say definitely. I think the team that we are, the work that we've put in, we just -- people, I guess, don't see us enough, don't see us as maybe that we are good enough for being on this stage that we are right now.

I don't know, but it's okay. It's okay. It fuels us. It fuels us and motivates us to get to take that next step, to get to that next level, to think about what we achieved last year and what we didn't achieve last year, and we're still kind of like, where's Indiana?

I just think it's okay. So be it. It just fuels us.

Q. Aleksa, could you go a little deeper into your relationship with Dorka? Where did you guys meet? How far back do you go? You say you're friends; do you text before the season? Do you text before the game? What is it about her game that you think you can exploit?

ALEKSA GULBE: This is a great question, too. Questions.

Yeah, so I'm from Latvia and I have been playing for the youth national teams, all of them, and with older kids, as well. When we played Hungary, she was always there. So we've played against each other a couple of times, plenty of times. And now coming to America I see her at Ohio State, and it's a funny thing. I don't know if she likes if I say this out loud. She texted me when the brackets came out -- no, actually after the first round, she texted me, and she was like, I thought I was going to get away from you guys.

It's just a funny relationship that all the Europeans that we've played against each other on the national teams. We're not very, very close but just because we are from overseas, it kind of connects us, and there's that relationship. So yeah.

Q. Ali, just expanding upon the question you got earlier about the name change and March Madness, I'm curious if you can walk me through how you believe women's college basketball has been received by a mainstream audience and how that has changed from when you started. Because you've been playing for a long time. So from when you've started up until now, besides the name change, what are some other stark changes that you've noticed in that span?

ALI PATBERG: Yeah, I think -- I was thinking about this the other day, actually. The women's game might not be as athletic. We might not get up and down as fast, jump as high, but I think one thing that just the audience that has been watching our games have noticed is that we bring the same intangibles. We play just as hard. We play with heart. We play with passion. We execute.

I think that the more that our games are being seen by a larger audience, the more they're understanding that it is enjoyable to watch even if we don't show the same athletic abilities.

I think there are some women that can jump as high. I'm not one of them. But I do know that I bring those intangibles, and it's fun to watch because you can see how much we pour into the sport and how much we pour into one another and into the game and how much we love it and how much passion we have.

I think just the opportunities that we have had to be on a national stage, ESPN, channels that they're able to see us, it's like, oh, they are enjoyable to watch. And I think it's just more of they're getting the chance to see it now. I'm thankful for that because we do play it the same way, I believe. So yeah.