Zags Basketball Insiders Podcast (episode 2): An unforgettable game from Julian Strawther, and a home game against Santa Clara before Saturday’s showdown at Saint Mary’s

Julian Strawther couldn’t miss on Saturday at Portland.

Strawther and his No. 12 ranked-Gonzaga Bulldogs would gladly take a repeat performance this week.

In the latest Zags Basketball Insiders Podcast, Spokesman-Review reporter Jim Meehan and TV analyst and former Gonzaga center Richard Fox look back at Strawther’s 40-point performance, then break down two big matchups this week – Thursday’s home game against Santa Clara and Saturday’s showdown against No. 18 Saint Mary’s in Moraga, Calif.

Catch the episode here. It’s also available on Apple podcasts, Spotify and Google podcasts.

Below is a transcript:

Jim Meehan: Good Monday everybody and welcome back to the Zags Insiders Podcast. I’m joined by Richard Fox, the former Zags center and TV analyst for GU games on KHQ, SWX, and Roots Sports. I’m Jim Meehan. I’ve covered the Zags for the last 15 years. Before we get going, we do want to mention we’re missing our engineer, show producer extraordinaire, Jesse Tinsley out on a medical issue. We are sending all good thoughts, our prayers your way Jesse and hope to see you soon. But we are grateful for Kristi Burns. She’s got the toughest job of the day trying to make sure me and Richard stay on task here technologically, so that’s not an easy job is it Richard?

Richard Fox: No, it’s not. It really should be a full-time position I would think.

Meehan: Well, I’ll suggest that to the powers. We need to move on, we’ve got a lot to talk about. The season is past the midpoint, but we’re just in show No. 2 for this podcast. You can find us Monday afternoons generally when it’s posted on Apple, Spotify and Google Podcast, as well as The Spokesman-Review. Our website is spokesman.com. Click on the Zags page and you can find the podcast there as well as all of our Zag coverage all in one spot. Pictures, stories, columns, the whole works. It’s all there. Onward Fox to the week. Zags just had one game. They played Portland in Portland. It was kind of a nice seven-day break that they had. Kind of hit that reset button, mend the bodies, take a break mentally, and you get after it in the gym. Before we get into the Pilots and the Julian Strawther show that he put on, I know you probably had a break or two during the season. What does that week do for a player who has just been on the grind, two or three games a week. and then you kind of get a little bit of a respite from that. What do you remember from when you played?

Fox: I think it’s enormously beneficial, regardless of the kind of team you have or the season you have. Even if you think back to the last few years where Gonzaga runs through the league. There is a grind to that. And just to have the ability to step away. and I think for this year‘s group, considering how competitive these games have been in the last five or six weeks. Just the ability, I think more than anything, just to get away from it for a day or two. Maybe that sounds like a long time. Or for 24 or 48 hours, maybe you’re not around each other or the staff, don’t have a ball in your hands and kind of recharge. I do think just from a physical perspective I think, that a guy like Drew (Timme), in particular, who carries so much of the load I would imagine that being able to put his feet up for a couple of days wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. So I think, if managed correctly, it could be really helpful as you get down to the stretch.

Meehan: Well, the game itself. The Zags win that 82-67. It wasn’t nearly as easy as that score implies. They had a back-and-forth game. Although the Zags lead for 36-37 minutes, they were in front, but it was almost always in that single-digit range. They kind of pushed it out to 10 in the first half, Portland came right back and got it tight, 56-54. When the Zags clicked in, in those final 7-8 minutes and pulled away, I thought it was the Zags’ best defensive stretch, and maybe their best offensive stretch. They got it to the guys who were moving, who were having great nights. That was Julian Strawther and Anton Watson, with some help from other guys. And obviously Drew Timme did his thing, not in the scoring column, but in drawing so much attention that everybody else had a nice night. Let’s start with Julian. He had the game of his career. Not often that you see a guy break his scoring record, his personal best, by 17 points, but he did. On fire from 3, but I thought more impressive that, I looked at the shot totals from the game, I was surprised to see that he had 21 shots. It didn’t seem like he forced anything, rushed anything, tried to take over. It seemed like it was all within the offense. And maybe the best thing he did, when they chased him off that line, he showed the mid-range, he got to the rim a time or two, he’s got a beautiful floater. Why was it his night against the Pilots?

Fox: Well, I mean immediately I thought he was aggressively looking to score, but to your point within the context they were trying to do. Sometimes as a player, I don’t care how good you are, you see one or two go in early and it can make all the difference in the world. I think Mark Few may have talked about it after the game, as much as he had it rolling, it didn’t feel like he was trying to force the issue at all. It really came within the context of what they were trying to do offensively. Obviously, Portland was trying to shut down Timme no matter what. But I was really impressed with his approach. I think Julian in the past can get a little bit 3-point happy. And he certainly had it going from 3, but to your point, it was really just well-balanced, at 6 of 9 inside the arc, 4 of 4 from the free throw line, it wasn’t just feeding off the 3-point shot. You know he’s a guy, when he’s playing to his max ability, he’s a guy who can score at all three levels. And when he sets his mind to it, we saw this against Portland, it’s not even about the 40 points, he can be effective getting you 18, 20. But doing it the same way, which is not just relying on a 3-point shot, but (taking guys) off the bounce. He’s really good on those kickouts. He’s moving on the catch, you know. So often you see guys, they catch the ball and then move. He’s really good at, as the ball is coming to him, he’s already determined – I’m gonna attack the defender with the dribble drive. And so on the catch, he’s already moving. It’s really hard to keep him in front, and we saw that a ton against Portland, as they were trying to adjust and over-aggressively close out to his 3-point shot. And then you mentioned Anton. It’s getting to the point where I think if you’re scouting Gonzaga to get to the second half of the schedule, if you’re going to put all your eggs in the basket of ‘we’re going to shut off Timme,’ he has a big game. When Drew gets double- or triple-teamed, Anton consistently hurts the other team on the offensive glass, or his ability to kind of score opportunistically. I thought he was tremendous. We saw the same thing at Pacific, as well.

Meehan: Yeah, you’re right. And not only Anton has the big night, usually when they try to put (Timme) in a phone booth with guys everywhere around him, there is almost always one guard. If you look back, and we’ll talk about Santa Clara here in a bit, that was the Nolan Hickman game with 20. Now Drew had a nice night that night but the game before, San Francisco, he really struggled. San Francisco has some size inside that bothered him. Throughout, when Drew is not getting his customary 20, he has found ways to impact the game. And I thought he did that very well the other night. That had to have been a frustrating game for him personally. I mean (Timme) is used to scoring 20, 25. He does that in a half sometimes.

Fox: I really like so many things about Drew’s approach. One of the things I like is when he doesn’t force it. He only took seven shots. Now some might say you have to be more aggressive looking to score. But when you have two guys on you and a third guy kind of hovering around you, I just like the fact that he doesn’t force the issue. If it comes, it comes, but he’s a good passer now out of those situations and he finds other ways to impact the game. I’m not sure if we would’ve said that two years ago. If scoring wasn’t there, what else was Drew going to do? Obviously his game is so much more well-rounded now.

Meehan: And I think he is so used to having doubles, guards fronting him, or the opposite big coming. Whatever it is it’s never comfortable. I mean, I didn’t draw a lot of double teams myself, but it can’t be comfortable knowing that you’re just going to have a swarm on you every time you touch it. But he deals with it. I mean cross-court pass a couple times, the one to Strawther in the second half, he had two assists on Strawther 3s in the first half. He and Anton connecting, they just have that intuition with each other. His assist totals are impressive for a big guy. He’s had five, six, seven in a game. The way he handles those doubles, I guess experience helps that a little bit. Just being the focal point of the scouting report for so long.

Fox: He’s as gifted as we’ve seen on that side of the floor in a long, long time. There is no doubt about it.

Meehan: I think the Zags, with this reset, this seven-day break in between games, really zeroed in on their defense, tried to shorten it up. It’s been an issue at times. In conference play, I think they were giving up 78 a game coming in, a bunch of 3-pointers, pretty high percentages shooting-wise. I think I characterized it as baby steps forward against Portland. Portland’s a pretty good offensive crew. They’ve got Moses Wood, they’ve got (Kristian Sjolund), a big with stretchability, they have the guard line that’s good with Tyler Robertson. They scored 67. They did hit some 3s. They did have moments where the Zags got lost a little on their rotations. Thought the Zags were better on dribble penetration this time. I thought they gave up some 3s that they probably shouldn’t have. Their rotations were a touch better. Like I said, they didn’t make the grand step forward but I think you’ll take 67 against Portland.

Fox: And Portland shot 42%. Half the shots came from the 3-point line but they turned it over 18 times. Gonzaga had 12 steals. You know I was thinking about what we talked about last week about Gonzaga’s defense while I was watching the game. It might just be more of a function of bend-don’t-break. And we have to put together a 6- to 8-minute stretch of the game where we clamp things down. Because you know you can win a game at the end of the first half or first 10 minutes of the second half just because if your defense gets locked in for a consistent stretch. Given the way Gonzaga can score it, now if you’re in a five-point game, you can extend that out to 12, 14. And even if the team makes a run on you or your defense maybe isn’t as tight, you know after that run you’ve built that cushion. And Gonzaga is so good at scoring the ball, that may be the formula. It’s unlikely that they’re all of a sudden going to morph into a team that’s going to carve people up for 40 minutes at a high, high level, but can we put together that stretch? I think we saw that against Portland.

Meehan: What we talked about a week ago, it doesn’t have to be holding people to 60. But that number 78 has to come into the low 70s and in the 60s on occasion. With their offense, you know, nine nights out of 10 it’s going to be good enough. I think they’re going to get challenged a lot more this coming week with Santa Clara and Saint Mary’s. Those are two pretty good offenses. Not so much in point totals, but in efficiency. One more thing with the Portland series, if you go back, and the way they’ve chosen to guard Timme, I think it’s a lot of the reason why it’s this way. So much attention on Drew that the Zags have 18 3s. Last year at McCarthy, they made the building record for 3s, 17 in the first game at McCarthy this year, and I think 11 the other night. Ball is kind of in Portland’s court here. Shantay Legans, the old (Eastern Washington) coach, trying to find a way that every coach in the league and every non-conference coach the Zags face try – to find that balance of not letting Drew get 30 or not letting the 3-point line destroy you. There’s almost an adjustment that has to happen from that end to see what happens if they meet again in the tournament. is there any other option for Shantay down there?

Fox: The short answer is no. You kind of have to work with what you have. I think the teams with the most success are teams with the ability to change what they’re doing over the course of a game, just to keep Gonzaga generally, Drew specifically, off balance. Not building a rhythm. After 5 minutes, 10 minutes, a half, I know what they’re playing now and I can make an adjustment rather, than here’s the core of our game plan today, but in some point or another, we’re going to change it this way or this other way. And it’s not radical change where you say you’re doubling him every time. It’s about changing where a double comes from, how you were going to double, all of those things. Without going back and watching the game tape, it (seemed) consistent throughout the night with what they were throwing at them and you can’t do that with Drew. You know he didn’t have a big scoring night, but he had an impact in the game. To your point earlier, these other guys have stepped up in these moments. I think that’s going to be part of the challenge going forward for everybody. (If teams) do a good job limiting Drew’s effectiveness in scoring the ball, (they) cannot let another guy go off, though (they) still have to defend the other guys on this team.

Meehan: Yeah, it’s walking the fine line because things happen when they shut Drew down. I think first and foremost you just have to have either the size like (San Francisco) …

Fox: Or (Loyola Marymount) … 

Meehan: Or LMU or that crazy athleticism and length. Either one of the other than maybe you don’t have to devote as many resources to try and stop Drew. But most teams have found that’s not easy to do. This week coming up, we have Santa Clara coming into the Kennel for the rematch of a game the Zags won down in Santa Clara, I believe 81-76. That was in that stretch where every game was a nailbiter. Three or four games in a row. Zags were down 14 in the first half, they were down one with 90 seconds left. And as we mentioned, Nolan Hickman had the big night. I think he finished with 20. It may be the season’s coolest individual highlight, with that crossover step-back 3 that put the Zags ahead. A great moment for the sophomore point guard, but that game was tooth and nail all the way. The Zags were down quite a bit. Santa Clara, to me, has one of the best starting fives in the league. The don’t have the bench depth, but a couple of nice, very capable bigs with Parker Braun and (Jaden) Bediako. Big kid. Inside they’ve got a great wing, Keshawn Justice, who had a nice night against the Zags. He’s a terrific 3-point shooter. And those guards, the Illinois transfer, Brandin Podziemski and Carlos Stewart. (Stewart) was kind of a revelation, watching him in that first game. Really nice mid-range game, scored pretty well. This is a team that can give Gonzaga issues, but they’re coming off a loss against Pacific at home. Gave up believe over 90 to Pacific. What stuck out to you how the Broncos played and how Nolan kind of kept his wits and made that improv play on that last one?

Fox: Well, what’s crazy about that play was that I think it was out of a timeout. And they had drawn up some action and it completely broke down. You saw guys looking at each other and trying to direct traffic and he basically said, ‘I just have to make a play.’ And it was just making a shot, just the decisiveness from Nolan in that moment, I thought was really important, and obviously, it was the game-winner. You know that was a great game to call. The atmosphere was tremendous. It was a really physical game, maybe the most physical game that I’ve called this year and you saw that in the first half. I want to say Santa Clara was plus-9 in the first half on the glass and Drew was struggling on some residuals from the San Francisco game, but that second half was completely different. You know Gonzaga ended up being even on the glass. Drew got going as well with 20. Julian had a quiet one with 18 points. We probably would’ve been talking about him a little more if Nolan hadn’t hit that shot. You know for Santa Clara, I agree with you. Their starting five is about as good as you’re going to find in the league. They don’t have any depth and they really struggled when they went to their bench. Podziemski played 34 minutes, but when he was off the floor, they really struggled to score, although Justice got going in the second half. But that’s a team that shoots pretty well, they struggled that night – other than Justice, who was 4 of 9. He had a stretch there in the second half that kept them in it, but everybody else was 1 of 7 from the 3-point line. But he had no impact, four fouls, just a couple of points. I think he might’ve played 10 minutes. So you know they’re 2-2 since they played Gonzaga. You know I’d expect it to be physical up here. (Herb) Sendek is a really good coach and he’s been a lot of places. They are not going to throw the same formula at Gonzaga, you would expect them to change it up a bit. and if they can get going from 3, if they can make shots in the Kennel, which is obviously easier said than done, I would expect this to be a game as well.

Meehan: You have a week like this, I call it a split week, where you have one at home and one on the road, and that Saturday game is a big one. I mean there’s no way around it, it’s first and second in the league. Gonzaga moved up to 12th in the latest (AP) poll and Saint Mary’s is up to 18th. A little bit flipped in the NET rankings, Saint Mary’s is sixth and Zags are 14th. But when you have that huge game looming in the back half, even if it’s the split week with the travel in between, I think it’s very good for the Zags. Maybe their mindset or work ethic, attention to detail, and game plan, with that first game being 81-76 and how they pulled it out in the final 90 seconds, how they did it with a big second half knowing that this opponent coming in is going to be a little bit ticked off because they probably thought that this is their shot to take down the Zags and they’ve got good personnel. That should keep the Zags’ minds engaged in game one of this two-game week. Let me ask you, what do you think is the formula for Santa Clara to pull off (an upset)? I think they’ve got to get something inside from those big guys. What’s the formula for the Zags to take care of business?

Fox: Well, you know Braun was really active, I thought he played really well. They need to get something out of Bediako. They need all five of their guys in the starting lineup to play well. Stewart, I was super impressed with his ability to effectively get to where he wanted to on the floor. I mean he’s shorter, but he is just a strong bodied kid, good athlete so he can get his shot up. And he wasn’t very efficient, 5 of 17 from the field. You know the formula is a lot of what we saw with LMU, which is you don’t have to pitch a perfect game, but you’ve got to pitch a good one. And the thing that they have, which we don’t see a lot of in the league, is with Podziemski, they’ve got a guy who can create his own offense. And I thought Gonzaga did a really good job of crowding him, cutting down his angles when he had the ball. I’ll be really interested to see what Santa Clara does on their high pick-and-roll stuff. I thought Drew was really effective bothering him and not allowing him to make a play off of those screens. I’ll be interested to see what they do differently in those situations. but they’ve got to shoot the ball well. I’ve been on the other side of when you are trying to pull off that upset, we always would talk about, ‘we have to get to that last minute timeout within striking distance. Especially on the road, thinking that the home team that’s favored to win might tighten up. And can we crank that tension for them and give ourselves a chance to win. Having seen both, I think LMU is better but not by much. When you have a guy like Podziemski, you’ve got a chance to win any game, and I think you made a great point earlier Jim, which is everyone is talking about the Saint Mary’s game and, not that you’re going to overlook Santa Clara, but it’s easy to get excited about that game. You beat them once, you get them home, you beat them again. That’s going to be a tough game in my opinion for GU if they’re not dialed in from the very beginning.

Meehan: And how that game goes, if it’s not like the first one. Drew is playing 37 minutes, and all the starters are playing 30-plus. Then you gotta get on a plane, quick turnaround, quick prep, the fuel level in the tank won’t be as full. But if they come out, win by 25, rest the guys a little bit, maybe that’ll better lead us into Saturday’s game. Let’s move onto Saturday. That is going to be an interesting game. Part of the challenge in playing Saint Mary’s is playing in that building. Seats 3,500 … something like that. Fans are right on you, fire codes will be broken. I sit up at the very top, there are not many people further away from the floor than I am. It’s a good 85 degrees up there. I’m wearing a T-shirt or the lightest golf shirt I can find on that night. Just the environment in there, they are rabid fans, great student section that’s all over the Zags from the start to finish. They play in a tough place, they do it every year. BYU probably being one of the toughest. That environment … let’s deal with that first before we talk about the specifics of the game. That small, intimate, in-your-face environment, not to mention the team you’re lining up against. What are challenges facing the Zags on Saturday?

Fox: Yeah, I gotta tell ya, it’s what you want as a player, you know? There’s no fear, you’re looking forward to it, you can’t wait to be in those environments and that’s one of the reasons you come to Gonzaga. You know, despite some of the noise about the league not necessarily being one of the best leagues in the country, (and) that may be true but every time you go on the road you are playing in a full house and it’s going to be loud, special and it’s going to be a really special environment. And Saint Mary’s obviously is probably one of the most difficult places to play in the league. I think part of that has to do with how good they are, obviously, but also that gym is just so small and to a point where it feels like they’re all on top of you. And I remember playing games there. When we played Saint Mary’s they certainly had turned a corner and they were good, but they were not what they are now. But I remember calling games there. I mean you’re sitting on the floor and it feels like there’s somebody just on your back, there’s no way anybody can walk past me. It’s tight and look, I don’t think anybody in the league is afraid of Gonzaga in that way. This is probably the only league that legitimately thinks they’re better. Everybody else thinks they’ve got a chance to beat Gonzaga. Saint Mary’s certainly thinks that they’re better. So it’s just going to be a great atmosphere and it’s one of the nice things about you and (me), because we can start looking forward to that game today and we don’t have to focus on Thursday.

Meehan: Well, the Gaels, they ended up beating BYU at Provo last Saturday. I caught the last half basically. Got done writing, and found a TV set to watch it. Great ending with Aiden Mahaney, the freshman guard for the Gaels. He has just been incredible for them all season. He had kind of a fallaway jumper over BYU’s center and that held up as the game-winner. He’s the young pup in the lineup, and point guard and they just surround him with a bunch of veteran guys who have been through all the battles and games for seasons there – and very capable guys as well. They’ve got some size inside. They’ve got wing shooting. Their 3-point shooting has come a long way in the last couple of years. They had a little down stretch, especially for them, where they used to be really good from the 3. It’s back. But then just playing Saint Mary’s, you know, you’ve got to be efficient on offense, they usually work the clock, they’re going to control the tempo of the possessions, and that defense – I kind of keep going back to it, it’s an elite defense. I keep hearing from folks that it’s as good as it’s ever had been there. It’s one of those, too, where they just basically try to keep in front of you, especially a guy like Drew. They can shoot over you, they’re smart individually, and very good. Logan Johnson, (Alex) Ducas, (Kyle) Bowan. The size inside, with (Mitchell) Saxon, who has done a nice job individually, and collectively, they always kind of look like they’re connected to each other. How do the Zags – let’s do offense first – how does the Zag offense find a way? That team holds everybody into the low 60s and even the 50s. If they can get to 70, would that be good enough for them? How can they crack that defense?

Fox: Well, Saint Mary’s is holding teams on average to 57 points a game. The next closest in the league is 11 points higher, with BYU at 68. That’s amazing. It certainly has something to do with the pace of play, and their style of play, but they just they’ve got a couple guys who can get up into you and make some players on that end of the floor. But to your point, they’re just solid all the time. They don’t beat themselves. They rarely make a mistake in a rotation. They’re always well positioned on the floor. The way I would describe their defensive approach is you’re going to have to make contested shots. We’re not going to give you anything easy, you’re going to have to make shots over hands. And that’s just a very basic philosophy but that works at the college level. Obviously, as you move up through the food chain, and into the higher levels of basketball, guys can make those shots. You’ve got to be more dynamic out on the floor. But the college level is pretty simple, we’re not going to beat ourselves that night on the floor, we’re not going to make mistakes, and we’re going to do our best to keep you in front, and when we do, you’re going to have a hand in your face. You’re going to have to make contested shots. So I mean I think for Gonzaga, can you speed up the game? The message has to be when we get a stop and we’ve got a defensive rebound, we half to run. You know, you see Mark (Few) all the time right, he does this waving his hands and kind of crouches down and start sliding up the floor to try to get his guys to push it. He’s going to do that 2,000 times at St. Mary’s. It’s just going to be run, run, run. Because Gonzaga is so good in that aspect of the game anyway, but to try and beat them down the floor and not let them set up that defense is going to be a big part of it … You can’t turn over. You have to trust your stuff. It’s just very difficult to go one-on-one against them and score because it’s not just the guy on the ball. They do a good job of helping and they’re smart. To my point earlier about being able to change things up midstream, they will have the ability. They have their game plan, they’re going to have iterations of that that didn’t go, too. You have to trust your offense. Get into it, move the ball, and work for those shots. If you take a quick shots against the Gaels, it just plays right into them.

Meehan: Broken record, but I think Drew is going to have some one-on-one opportunities, maybe more, because they believe Saxon and the kid they bring off the bench, another big kid that probably can match up a little bit one-on-one, so I think it could be a night where (Timme) does some things. He hurt the Gaels in the past a few times, but the Gaels found the formula and turned it around. I think last year in the game they went and got the wins so it’s going to be on Drew (to show) patience trying to get a good shot each time down. It’s going to be one of those where it’s just going to be mental toughness, getting a good shot down each time, making sure your challenging and testing their offense each time down. I think both teams have the same goal in mind, and the Gaels aren’t gonna let you run. So I think they are both going to have to show halfcourt execution. How do you see the Zags defense against the Gaels offense? You’ve got Logan Johnson, who is a pretty good penetrator. You got the 3-point shooters, and a pretty good post presence in Saxon. They’re not gonna throw 85 on you probably, but the shooting percentage is maybe going to be a bigger number than the final point total.

Fox: Well, look you gotta be patient on both sides of the ball with Saint Mary’s. The Gaels will put you in all kinds of actions. They are not going to be uncomfortable, shooting it deep into the clock. I think what has hurt Gonzaga at points this year is they’ll start possessions out well defensively and then somebody makes a mistake or there’s a breakdown somewhere. Saint Mary’s will just kill you if you make those mistakes. So it’s just about … you’re going to have to play deep into possessions, stay true to what it is you’re trying to do, and don’t make those mistakes. Just be solid, make sure you’re doing your job defensively. Don’t try to make a home run play, flying into a gap trying to get a steal or jumping up and trying to get a block around the rim. Just be solid. That would be the first thing, you’ve got to take care of the defensive glass. This isn’t a great rebounding team, oddly Saint Mary’s. They lead the league in a rebounding margin, but it’s really because they dominate the defensive glass. It’s not so much of what they do on the offensive glass to a point. One shot and out, how many of those possessions can you put together for GU. You have to find a way to finish those defensive possessions. To your point about Drew, you know, I’ll be interested to see, and as for Saint Mary’s in the past, I wouldn’t be surprised either, if they looked to start the game anyway and let Saxton try to see what they can do to him one-on-one. But Saint Mary’s isn’t very deep, and they kind of have the same problems Santa Clara does, where their starting five is legit and you know they might have a little more quality off of their bench then Santa Clara. But they really only play seven and Saint Mary’s can’t afford to have Saxton get into foul trouble. so if I am Drew and I have one-on-one coverage, a. that’s great and, b. the faster he goes on his catches, the harder he’s going to be the guard and the more likely he gets their big guys into foul trouble. Imposing himself in that way is going to force Saint Mary’s to get a little bit deeper into that defensive game plan and try to adjust. I’ll be interested, call it the first eight minutes, what’s the what’s the foul trouble situation look like for Saint Mary’s upfront.

Meehan: Well, that’s going to be interesting, can’t wait for that one. Can’t wait for Thursday, think that is going to be a good ball game. That’s going to do it for us. Thanks Richard, thank you Kristi for producing and directing us and dealing with us today. Remember you can catch us every Monday on Apple podcast, Spotify, Google, and the easiest thing for me is just going to the Spokesman Review website at spokesman.com. Click on the Zags’ page and you can find us there. Thanks for listening, have a good week, catch us next Monday.