What Gonzaga’s Khalif Battle said after USC exhibition basketball game: ‘We’ll come back and be better’

The Bulldogs look to learn from their mistakes as they move past their exhibition loss to the Trojans

Photo by Erik Smith, Myk Crawford

Gonzaga men’s basketball’s season-opening charity exhibition game against USC won’t go down in the official record books, though regardless of the stakes at hand, the matchup delivered a thrilling finish after a highly competitive second half.

The Bulldogs were led in scoring by sixth-year guard Khalif Battle, who admittedly had some extra fuel added to the fire as he faced his former head coach at Arkansas, Eric Musselman. The 6-foot-5 New Jersey native logged nearly 800 minutes in 32 games for Musselman last season and finished the campaign on a heater, as Battle averaged nearly 30 points in his final seven games with the Razorbacks. Musselman took the opening at USC shortly after the season ended, which resulted in most of Arkansas’ 2023-24 roster exit via the transfer portal, including Battle.

Battle showcased part of what made him such an elite scorer in the SEC throughout his unofficially Gonzaga debut, as he finished with 20 points and made big plays down the stretch to keep his team within striking distance until the final buzzer sounded. USC’s iso-centric offense was too much to handle, however, as the Trojans narrowly came out with a 96-93 win.

“Playing against my old coach, I wanted to get this one,” Battle said after the game. “Kudos to him and his team, they played hard. We’re gonna go back to practice and learn from our mistakes.”

Here’s more of what Battle had to say following Gonzaga’s exhibition game against USC.

On his exchange with Musselman: 

“He told me he loved me. His coaching staff told me they love me and that I can always reach out. You know this basketball thing, when you meet a lot of people, you tend to create relationships. And that was my family last year, this is my family now so, I’m just happy to be where I'm at right now.”

On Gonzaga’s defensive struggles vs. Trojans:

“I think as a group, especially myself, we got to pick it up defensively. But this is a learning experience, not going to take it too seriously. It’s a tough one but it’s an exhibition. So we’ll come back and be better. Coach's guys always get better. We’re gonna trust in the coaching staff because they’re leading us the right way.”

On his transition to Gonzaga:

“It's been pretty easy. I mean, these are my brothers, they just want me to go out there and be aggressive. Sometimes I pass the ball out. They want me to shoot the ball more. And I just think I'm kind of disappointed in myself. I thought I could have done a way better job defending, getting rebounds tonight. But it's an exhibition, it’s the first time playing against new competition. So I think [when] we have a lot of time as a roster, I think we're going to hit our peak pretty soon, but it’s just back to the drawing board and learn from our mistakes.”

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