PEPPERDINE HEAD COACH JULIE ROUSSEAU
On the game...
“Kansas State is a marvelous team. They are a top-25 team, maybe even a top-ten team. Our players are getting a feel for what it means to compete at a high level against a good team. Part of our battle is that we haven’t been able to practice with a full squad due to injuries. So, for the most part, we are playing with one another for the first time during a game. During the last media timeout, we said that we wanted to win the last four minutes, and we won it 7-5. We walked away with a win in a way. It’s a small win, but it’s something that we can build on with the team that we have. I thought that we improved from our first game Friday (against Fresno State). We are going to continue to get better. This is a great learning experience for us. It will help us throughout the season, and hopefully it’s something that we can draw from in postseason play.”
On first half turnovers...
“When we looked at it when we came in at halftime is that the ways that they (Kansas State) were scoring was on transition points and on the offensive boards. We thought that if we cut that down, then we could have been in the game. We definitely put ourselves behind the eight-ball, so to speak, by turning the ball over and giving up offensive rebounds. At one point I think that we were down by 15 and then they went on a run and they were up by 21. Like I said, it’s a great learning experience, and we learned some things that we have to work on. We had 14 turnovers from our guard spots, and that is going to kill us. We have to take care of the ball better.”
