Beavers Take to Pac-12 Media Day

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – Oregon State guards Destiny Slocum and Mikayla Pivec, as well as head coach Scott Rueck, took to media day Monday afternoon at Pac-12 Network Studios in San Francisco, Calif.

Here is a selection of their quotes from the day:

Rueck on the Beavers' Italy Tour: "Last time we did a foreign tour, which was my first time four years ago, that year ended in a Final Four, and so we would love a repeat of that. It is an awesome opportunity in every way. Certainly you get 10 practices that are full practices. You get to incorporate your new players. And then you get to go overseas and have what I love to refer to as shared experiences. And for us, it's basically a 10- day retreat where you're getting to see things that most people never get to see as a group. The only way it could be a negative is if you had a group that didn't like each other. I think that could be tough.

"This group loves each other, and because of that, those 10 days never got old. We got to play four games. When we go on our tour, we played against great competition. Some of the pro teams we played against had Americans on their roster already as they were preparing for their season, and so competition was good. And so it was just overall a fantastic experience. I think it does move you ahead when you get that opportunity."

Rueck on the Preseason WNIT: "This is the first time we've played in the WNIT preseason tournament, and I'm excited for it. This team loves to compete. If there's anything about this group that I've learned, competition is their passion. If you want to teach them something, put it in a game format. That's going to get their best, because they love to compete against each other and against anyone they get to. So to start it with a tournament, I think it's perfect for this group. If you look at the teams in this tournament, there's excellent teams throughout mid-major and Power Five. So great opportunity for us to grow quickly, find out who we are, and tournaments tend to bring out your best, so that's what I'm expecting."

Pivec on the freshmen and the team culture: "I think initially as a freshman, one of the calling cards to Oregon State is being around the team and family atmosphere is super important. So that's one of the initial reasons why they wanted to come here. And then for -- because the coaches can't always be there. So we've been working especially this year on accountability, and how our teammates may be willing to say uncomfortable things knowing that something is in somebody else's best interest, even though it's not easy to say. That's something we've really talked about this spring, this summer, and coming into the season that will hopefully make the difference for us."

Pivec on what she can do to continue getting better: "I think for me, there are a lot of things I can improve on. But the things this summer that I really focused on were my outside shot, being a big threat coming off screens, and looking for my 3-ball. And then also instead of maybe ramming through people and using my strength to get open, try to use more change of pace to create separation from my defender."

Slocum on the team's culture: "I think it does speak to the character of recruits that Scott brings in. We all have a very similar mindset when it comes in -- it's not even that you have to be introduced to the culture, it's who you are already. There's not much of like, hey, you can't do that, hey, you can't act like that. This is how we act. It's a lot of, okay, they kind of fit in. Just how he said Noelle, she came in right away and fit our culture. I think just knowing that everyone that you come across on our team is already going to have that type of culture in them and that same type of mindset, it makes it a lot easier for us to do things like hold each other accountable and make sure that every day our locker room is a place that we walk into and our mindset is to get better, grow as a team, and then continue our family culture."

Slocum on the Pac-12 season: "Every time you go out there, you're going to find a team that is going to give you their best, especially against us. So we have to fight back. I think as we went along throughout the season, I realized how important efficiency was, and that was my number one thing is just being more efficient, taking care of the ball, making sure all my teammates were on the right track at all times. And I think that's one thing that I've challenged myself to do and get better at throughout the summer, and even in the spring, of just kind of taking that point guard role, that leadership role of making sure that everyone is on the same page, that I'm efficient, and someone kind of to look up to that does stuff right all the time."

The Beavers were picked to finish third in the Pac-12 Coaches' Poll

Oregon State is one of the most successful programs in the last decade of the sport. The Beavers have appeared in every WBCA Coaches' Poll since the end of the 2013-14 season. Four returning starters and nine overall letterwinners return from last year's team that went 26-8, advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the sixth straight year, and played in the Sweet 16 for the fourth consecutive season. ESPNW has tabbed the Beavers No. 6 in its "Way Too Early" rankings the 2019-20 season.

Season tickets for the 2019-20 season at on sale now, and can be purchased here or by calling 541-737-2050.

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Oregon State Athletics strives to Build Excellent Authentic Visionary Student-Athletes (Go BEAVS).

Players Mentioned

Mikayla Pivec

Destiny Slocum

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