Teri Moren has accomplished a lot in her 11 seasons as Indiana’s head women’s basketball coach.
So when she and her program hit other milestones, they can sometimes lose their luster. That’s a natural reaction and feeling when a program like Indiana is reminded of its success and how far it’s come. Over time, it starts to feel like less of a big deal, and more like the norm. Some of those milestones carry more significance than others, and that importance can very from person to person.
But on Friday, Indiana extended two streaks that are perfect illustrations of what Moren has built in Bloomington.
IU, a No. 9 seed in the NCAA Tournament, earned a 76-68 first-round win over No. 8 seed Utah at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, S.C. The result secured Indiana a 10th consecutive season with at least 20 wins under Moren, and it gave the program a sixth straight postseason with an NCAA Tournament victory.
The Hoosiers, over the last five years, proved what they’re capable of as a program. They reached the Elite Eight in 2021, and went to two more Sweet 16s in 2022 and 2024. But the 20-win streak and NCAA Tournament win streak aren’t about Indiana women’s basketball’s ceiling. Those runs just display the consistency Moren has established at IU.
“The standards never change. They always stay the same — what we’re going to be about, what matters to us,” Moren said after the game. “There are standards that we have, and we never lower the standards, no matter who you are — from the best player to the last person on the bench that might not see time. They’re held to the very same standard. We talk a lot about that, and that’s kind of who we’ve morphed into.”
IU women’s basketball had only six 20-win seasons in program history before Moren arrived in 2014. The Hoosiers had played in just four NCAA Tournaments before she took over.
It’s that subpar history that makes Indiana’s consistency under Moren so staggering. She’s taken an IU women’s basketball program that was long an afterthought in the women’s game and around Bloomington and she’s won so much, it’s become an expectation.
“I always say, it’s not easy to play at Indiana,” Moren said, “because of sort of the demands of the work piece, but also in our preparation and what it requires to be successful.”
The team’s March success particularly speaks well to Indiana’s culture under Moren.
This is the seventh NCAA Tournament she’s led the Hoosiers to — and it would’ve been eight if the 2020 tournament wasn’t canceled. They’ve won at least one game in all seven of those appearances.
Even with a program like Indiana was when she started, she’s never been satisfied with “just be happy to be here.” Moren gets her players always believing they can beat anyone, and she gets her program locked in when the calendar turns to March.
“We understand that if we don’t come in and play well, this could be the last game,” Moren said. “And so I think there’s a different level of urgency when you’re playing in the NCAA Tournament.”
The way Indiana won Friday’s game over Utah exemplified that culture and what Moren’s program is about.
The Hoosiers overcame adversity. Sophomore Jules LaMendola missed the game with a foot injury that will keep her out for the rest of the season, and that left their bench thin. But they got the job done nonetheless — other players stepped up in her absence.
IU also got off to a slow start offensively in the first half, which could’ve put it in a hole. But the team closed the second quarter on a 9-3 run to tie the game, and then rode that momentum into the third quarter, which ultimately decided the game.
Graduate student Chloe Moore-McNeil has been with Indiana for five of the six straight NCAA Tournaments with a win. She knows better than any other player what this IU program is about, and what brings out its best at this time of year.
“I think we’re a gritty team when we want to be. And when we’re sharing the ball and we have a good stops on defense, we’re really hard to beat,” Moore-McNeil said. “And I think we always play our best during tournament time.”
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