Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Two straight Mondays, we're talking about a win. Arkansas beat Gonzaga over the weekend, 76 to 72. Not a football show today, it's a basketball show. We've got Anthony Christensen in here to discuss it. Arkansas ranked number 12, obviously, Gonzaga number 15. And so that made this one of the more high profile exhibition games of the preseason.
And it lacked a little flow.
I felt like, especially early. Yeah, you could really tell that these were two teams that were out there and, you know, playing for the first time against outside competition.
But I thought that it lived up, like from an entertainment value. I mean, you've got two good teams making plays down the stretch.
I thought it lived up to its billing, you know, for the most part on Saturday, Arkansas obviously wins 76 to 72. They got a lot of people's attention because that's the score they beat Duke by in the national championship game 30 something years ago.
[00:00:56] Speaker B: But national championship exhibition, maybe.
[00:01:01] Speaker A: Maybe exhibition leads to a national championship. We don't know.
[00:01:03] Speaker B: We don't know.
[00:01:04] Speaker A: But what were your thoughts?
[00:01:06] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, yeah, I think you're
[00:01:09] Speaker A: wearing your Gonzaga colors, by the way, today.
[00:01:11] Speaker B: I didn't even think about that. I just saw.
[00:01:12] Speaker A: So it's like whenever I was a
[00:01:13] Speaker B: little chilly, I was in here with
[00:01:15] Speaker A: Tom two weeks ago after the Tennessee football game, and he was wearing an orange shirt and an orange hat. And I said, you look like you just stepped out of the Tennessee visitor section, so you've got your zag. Go ahead.
[00:01:25] Speaker B: I mean, I just. I just threw on a sweater because it was a little chilly outside this morning, so. No, I mean, like you said, I thought especially early on, you could see it was the first time these teams had really, you know, kind of gotten on the floor against outside competition. Obviously the, you know, Arkansas had the Bahamas trip over the summer, but outside comp. Yeah, outside competition of a.
[00:01:44] Speaker A: That's been two and a half months ago.
[00:01:45] Speaker B: That too.
So I think you could definitely see that, especially early.
Um, but I thought, you know, there were. There were certainly, you know, some good things to take away. I. I came away, you know, kind of impressed by Cooper Bowser, for the most part. I thought he. He dealt. I thought he rebounded pretty well.
I thought he played physically, which was something that, you know, Arkansas missed a lot of last season was. Was somebody who's willing to kind of step in and play a physical brand in the. In the paint, you know, Billy Richmond, I thought, you know, he. He went three of three of five from three, which obviously, for NBA purposes, that's why he's still in college, you know, at least in part because, you know, they want to see him improve that three point shot and you know, you don't want to take away, you know, from one game just like, oh, there it is. He's, he's got it now. But, you know, I thought going three of five was, was a good sign if nothing else.
And yeah, I thought, you know, early on they definitely struggled rebounding.
You know, Gonzaga's, you know, been, you know, top 50 to top 100 and rebounding for, you know, forever.
[00:02:55] Speaker A: Caliper called him after the game. One of the best rebounding teams in the country.
[00:02:58] Speaker B: Yeah, so. And last year was like a little bit of a down year for them on the, on the boards. But the. Still, I don't remember exactly where they ranked in terms of rebounding, but it was pretty good.
Whereas Arkansas was in the hundreds for, for rebounding. And early on in the game I think you could see that. But then as the game progressed, I thought Arkansas did a lot better on the boards and you know, limiting second chance opportunities.
Trying to think of, of everything else. I really like Davion Thompson's game.
Outside of the late shot that he hit, you know, from, from three to kind of ice the game, I thought, you know, especially for, you know, he's 17 years old, you know, a guy who, you know, maybe isn't as physically developed as a lot of guys he's going up against. I was impressed with his ability to, to put the ball on the floor and drive, you know, like I said, for, especially for a guy his age and size and in his first game against a, a team of that level. So those are kind of the, I guess over overarching kind of things. I thought Mika Miran did some good things as well, but yeah, those are all kind of the overarching things I saw. But you always want to put the caveat, you know, it's an exhibition. So, you know, is it real? Who's to say?
[00:04:10] Speaker A: I thought Arkansas outplayed Gonzaga by more than four points. If they hit their free throws, they win that game by double digits.
I mean, even if they shoot like it was a bad free throw shooting performance, they shot 56% from the line. If you shoot 65, 75% from the line, I think that you win that by double digits.
So I thought that was the disappointing thing was the fact that you had so many, you know, times where you're going to the line and you're going one of two. I mean, it felt like that was, it was it just replayed six or seven times in the second half. It might be make miss or miss make, but it was, it felt like so many trips to the line were one of two and in the second half they were 11 to 21 at the free throw line. So that you know that, that kind of checks out.
I was impressed by the hustle plays by Arkansas. I was impressed by Arkansas 3 point shooting.
Calipari said afterward. He said, I don't know that we're a 48, three point shooting team. I don't know that anybody actually shot 46% by the way. But he said he thinks there may be a 35, 36, 37% shooting team. He said, so if that's the case and 24 three point shots, that's an acceptable number. So it didn't feel like they were just jacking up threes every time. And, and so many of their three pointers were.
They were either a situation like Thompson at the end where the shot clock's running down and he's got to get a shot up or they worked for the three point shots. I felt like there were, there were a lot of good three point attempts just kind of within the frameworks of what they were wanting to do offensively. And then the hustle plays. Like I said, I mean J.J. andrews stood out to me.
[00:05:43] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:05:44] Speaker A: For his, I mean that, I don't know that that's his game.
I don't know, maybe that's just him making a good and first impression.
But it felt like when Richmond was off the floor, Andrews was giving them the hustle place that Billy Richmond gives them.
[00:05:58] Speaker B: And in talking about how much I
[00:05:59] Speaker A: love Billy Richmond and so if you've got another Billy Richmond who can give you, and I'm not saying that he is Billy Richmond, but if you've got somebody who can play similar to that, who's going to give you the hustle place whenever he's on the bench, I thought that's a huge development for this team. And by the way, did you hear the crowd pop when whenever Billy got announced.
[00:06:18] Speaker B: Yeah. You couldn't hear the PA announcer?
[00:06:20] Speaker A: Yeah, I don't know that I have ever heard a crowd react to someone being introduced in the starting lineups. Like I heard that and I'm serious, I mean that really stood out in terms of.
That was a huge ovation from the crowd. A huge, you know, I think probably show of respect and appreciation for him coming back and you know, not, not going to the NBA, not transferring. The fact that in this day and age You've got somebody that's going to stick with the team for three years.
Play that crowd, pop in your next recruiting in home visit for a guy and say, look, you know, you come here and maybe you're not an NBA player in a year or two, but you stick with us. Look at what this guy who's not even from Arkansas, what kind of admiration people have for him for sticking with the program.
That, honestly, that was one of the big takeaways from the. The game Saturday was something that didn't even have anything to do with what was happening on the floor. It was that show of appreciation for Billy in the pregame.
[00:07:24] Speaker B: Yeah, no, you know, he's. He's somebody who, you know, obviously we've gotten to know him, you know, just over the course of his, his three years and, you know, he's. He's kind of. He's become one of my favorite players to talk to as well.
When, when they were doing the little like media scrums the other. I guess last week I, I had just finished talking to Davion Thompson. I turned around Nobod or nobody was talking to Billy Richmond at that point in time, and he just points at me and I'm just like, all right, I guess I'm talking to Billy.
So that was, that was kind of fun. But no, you know, and, and again, you know, I thought he. He had, he had a really nice night. And it wasn't just that he, you know, shot the ball well. It wasn't just that he had the team. Yeah. Five assists, I believe it was seven rebounds, if I'm not mistaken.
[00:08:05] Speaker A: 17.75.
[00:08:06] Speaker B: Yeah. So he, it wasn't just that he, you know, shot the ball well, which is, you know, big for him, big for Arkansas, big for his future.
It. It was that he had, you know, an allaround really good game and obviously, you know, he does all of the, all the, you know, effort plays and all of that as well. And then going back to, to what you said about J.J. andrews, you know, I talked to him over the summer. He said that he, you know, Billy Richman was somebody he, you know, was trying to emulate a lot, was looking up to a lot.
So, you know, and yeah, no, he had, he had a nice night as well.
I believe it was 10 points and however many rebounds, I don't remember, nine, almost a double double for him. And, you know, he's. It. It's kind of funny, just like the similarities in, in terms of just kind of, I guess, reputation, because coming out of high school. The thing that people talked about with J.J. andrews was like he's got to improve his shot. And I think you saw a little bit of that in the Bahamas. Obviously, you know, an, an even bigger asterisk there than, you know, coming from an exhibition game.
But you know, he went two of three from, from the three point line and you know, I thought he, he looked, I, I thought he, yeah, I, I. A lot of positives to be taken.
You know, it is an exhibition, so you don't want to, you know, put, you know, you don't want to put the mortgage on anything by any means. But yeah, Hustle will travel. Yes, absolutely.
[00:09:31] Speaker A: It doesn't matter if you're playing Gonzaga in an exhibition or UAPB in the
[00:09:35] Speaker B: season opener or turf in the Bahamas.
[00:09:37] Speaker A: You play with as much energy as, you know, like an Andrews played with the other day. Billy Richmond plays with regardless. I thought I'm a pair maker. I mean like, like if you look at the box score. Well, I mean he didn't, I mean what's his box score? One point.
[00:09:52] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:09:52] Speaker A: And no field goals.
[00:09:55] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:09:55] Speaker A: No rebounds in 15 minutes.
I felt like he had a bigger impact on the game.
[00:10:00] Speaker B: Yeah, I thought you definitely saw some which show.
[00:10:02] Speaker A: Hey, let's tell everybody real quick that we're brought to you by Eglin's Best and Arkansas greatness starts early. Before the pads go on. Before the crowd roars, day begins at the breakfast table. Eglan's Best delivers superior nutrition with more vitamin D and less saturated fat than ordinary eggs. You can start strong with Eglin's Best. Better taste, better nutrition and better eggs. We're also brought to you by Bentonville Glass. They've been serving their community since 1971. They're committed, professional and versatile. If you're looking for a quality leader in northwest Arkansas or for skilled craftsmanship, look no further than Bentonville Glass for all your glass market needs with the highest quality products. And Combine SAM at 507 South Main and Bentonville or online at bentonvilleglass.com as always, hope that you'll subscribe to the podcast. You can find us by searching Whole Hog Sports, YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and on our Facebook and Twitter page, the Pear Maker.
The play that stood out to me and this, this kind of includes all three of these players that we were talking about in terms of hustle plays. And I thought hustle plays and timely threes. That's what I wrote Saturday. Those are the things that I thought kind of characterize this game. There's a missed free throw by Abdutore and Maker and I think it's Cooper Bowser are battling for the basketball. Richmond comes away with a loose ball, takes a hard dribble to his left, finds Andrews cross court for an open corner three. And he makes it. It gives him a nine point lead. I think Gonzaga called a timeout at that point in time.
That just, that, that play felt like if you just wanted like a 10 second snapshot of what that game was about and why Arkansas won, it was because of plays like that, you know, mostly in the second half, but in the, you know, toward the end of the first half as well.
[00:11:46] Speaker B: Yeah, no, for sure. Like you said, just the effort plays. I thought you saw a lot of that and you know, a lot of that does kind of come down to the defensive side of the ball. Right. So, and they, they built this roster with defense in mind. Obviously last season. Defense was their, was kind of their undoing, right, the defense and the kind of lack of, of ability to deal with, you know, the bigger and more physical teams most of the time. I know they beat Tennessee, but you know, they struggled with a lot of those, you know, bigger teams. Case in point, Arizona.
But yeah, I think you, you saw that and yeah, I thought that was promising. You know, I thought they, they still played at pace. You know, they, they played, I thought, I think they had, what was it, 73 possessions in that game. So they've still played fast, you know, so it kind of signals that they're going to continue to try to continue that trend from last season when they're, they, when they played at the 17th fastest pace in the country, if I remember correctly.
So yeah, I think those are kind of the, I guess combinations that kind of lead to, lead to that stuff.
[00:12:56] Speaker A: You know, we saw this too in the Bahamas, but I think that seeing them play a team that's comparable, better, that's either you can use a lot of words here to describe what they saw in the Bahamas, but if you
[00:13:09] Speaker B: ever want to be a professional basketball player, go to Columbia.
[00:13:13] Speaker A: No disrespect, we thought this was going to be the case with this team, but I thought this was, I thought it showed Saturday.
Just they're so much deeper, so much deeper. I mean, I mean you feel like there's legitimately 10, maybe 11 that they can go deep on this team and, and still have a quality lineup on the floor.
[00:13:35] Speaker B: Yeah, no, I, I, I, I would agree with that as well. And you know, I, I, yeah, I agree you, you saw some of that played 10. Strength in depth. Yeah. And John Caliperi said at SEC media days that he wants to.
And yeah, you think you saw that. And it's not like they played 10 guys and one of them played for, you know, three minutes. Everybody played, you know, 11 minutes or more. So I think that's something to be, I guess, excited about, if you will, you know, again, you know, exhibitions, you know, can be fool's gold. I mean, remember when Cincinnati beat Michigan last year and then didn't make the postseason and Michigan won a national title? So, you know, you don't want to, like I said earlier, you don't want to put the mortgage on anything, but, you know. Yeah, I think that's, I think that's definitely a promising thing. And beyond just, you know, all these guys playing, you know, 11 plus minutes, I thought everybody at least gave you something. Like you mentioned, obviously my parmaker, you know, didn't, you know, light up the stat sheet by any means, but I think he still did some good things. You know, Jordan Smith didn't score a field goal, but, you know, I thought defensively he gave them some stuff. You know, he had finished with a couple of steals, a couple of assists.
And, you know, Jordan Smith is obviously going to be, he's not going to go over nine.
He's going to be, you know, just a huge, huge, huge part of this team. But yeah, it's all of the guys who played, you know, gave them something. It wasn't just guys were on the floor to be on the floor. They all, they all, they all contributed in some sort of way, it seemed.
[00:15:12] Speaker A: Yeah. So I said 10, maybe 11 deep. I guess it'd be nine, maybe 10 deep would be the way to. But still, that's better than in the past couple years where it's 70.
[00:15:23] Speaker B: Yeah. And yeah, I mean, when, when you run into, you know, injury issues like they did, especially in that, in the first year under John Caliperi, when they will. Yeah, it's inevitable. Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, you're, you, you have a deeper bench to rely on than you, than you have in the past. You're not going to. Or at least in theory, you shouldn't be relying on guys who haven't played in, you know, a few weeks. If you get into foul trouble against al, so.
And guys who haven't played in meaningful SEC minutes.
[00:15:53] Speaker A: It was more than a few weeks. Yeah, some of those cases. Right.
[00:15:55] Speaker B: Yeah. So I think that's, it's certainly a benefit. Right.
And I think you, I, I think you saw that.
[00:16:05] Speaker A: So I mean again, I love the hustle. I love the hustle plays that we saw from this team. What do you think didn't go right for them the first 18 minutes or so. And, and what do you think changed?
[00:16:16] Speaker B: I just think the offense was kind of clunky, which you know to be expected. You know, first exhibition against a team
[00:16:22] Speaker A: with the polls didn't look great. Offense.
[00:16:24] Speaker B: No, no. And I think toward the beginning either. Yeah, I think you kind of saw that. I think you saw a little bit of, you know, Gonzaga I think had, what was it, a 10 point lead. At one point they were up 36 to 26.
[00:16:35] Speaker A: But at that point that's kind of when they shifted. Just hit their first three.
[00:16:40] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:16:40] Speaker A: Like all of their points or it felt like a lot of their points were either they're working it inside or it was missed three second chance.
[00:16:49] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:16:49] Speaker A: Put back, get fouled, hit a free throw, something like that.
[00:16:52] Speaker B: Yeah. And then obviously Arkansas goes on the 180 run to that, closed the first half and opened the second half and a lot of that I thought came down to the rebounding.
You know, Gonzaga wasn't getting as many opportunities on the second chance on second chances in Arkansas, you know, started running better offense, I guess if, if you will.
[00:17:14] Speaker A: They're getting transition.
[00:17:15] Speaker B: Yeah, they're getting in transition and you know, Braden Huff, I, I, you know, I love Braden Huff's game. I thought they did a better job defending him in that stretch. You know, he still finished with A game high 19 points and all of that.
[00:17:27] Speaker A: He went off down the stretch. That's where he scored the bulk of his point. Yeah, I don't know, I don't have an exact number, but I would guess that he probably scored close to, if not more than half his points in the last six minutes of the game.
[00:17:39] Speaker B: Yeah. So I think it's, it's a combination of things and I asked Mark Few about it after the game, just kind of what led to that stretch and he mentioned the rebounding, he mentioned the physicality, he mentioned the aggressiveness on the defense. So I think that's all, I guess stuff that kind of got them going when they started slow and yeah, I think that's a positive sign if nothing else.
[00:18:04] Speaker A: So Arkansas plays Memphis Wednesday night. Memphis has beaten Mississippi State pretty handy by 17 in its exhibition game.
What do you expect whenever Memphis comes over here?
[00:18:17] Speaker B: Yeah, I think it'll be an interesting game. Obviously they bring in Brandon Cummings from, from Pittsburgh. He's probably going to be, you know, the go to scorer. You would think on, on this Memphis team. But you know, Penny Hardaway's teams are always physical. You know, they're always, you know, hard nosed defensive teams. And I think that's an important thing for, for a team like Arkansas to see, you know, before going into the season. Especially before that. That Virginia game on opening weekend, if I'm not mistaken, that's, that's an opening Sunday right after the UAP game.
[00:18:47] Speaker A: They open with UAPB on a, what's that?
[00:18:50] Speaker B: Tuesday, Wednesday, Wednesday of the week.
[00:18:54] Speaker A: But because they've gotta, they've got to deal, they've, they've got to work around the election that week too. So they play UAPB and then they play Virginia on Sunday.
[00:19:01] Speaker B: Yeah. So I think playing against a team like Memphis, which, you know, expectations for Memphis aren't exactly super high going into the year, you know, there's some conversations about, you know, Penny Hardaway, seat temperature and you know, whether conversations about that
[00:19:17] Speaker A: for like four years now.
[00:19:18] Speaker B: Yes, but I think they're especially loud now.
[00:19:21] Speaker A: I mean, the longer you go, obviously.
[00:19:22] Speaker B: Yes. Yeah. The hotter it gets and you know, missing out on the NCAA tournament last year and all of that stuff. So I'm intrigued to see how Memphis comes out and, and plays kind of in, in those circumstances. But I think playing against a team that is going to play, you know, the, the brand of defense that, that Memphis, you know, it's kind of always played under Penny and like a trapping style, a lot of trapping style and all that. And I, I think that's going to be, you know, a big benefit for, for a team like Arkansas that has so many young players who haven't played, you know, you know, a lot of college minutes. So I think that's something that, that you know, I'm looking forward to. I'm, I'm intrigued just on my own personal level just to see how Memphis does against a team of Arkansas stature. You know, how much does.
Yeah, how, yeah, how does, how does Memphis kind of break down Arkansas's defense? Because like we mentioned, obviously Arkansas is kind of built to be a stronger defensive unit. So how does, you know, a team of, you know, all newcomers from Memphis kind of break down a team like that? So there's a lot of things to be intrigued by and.
Yeah, yeah, that's what I've got.
[00:20:28] Speaker A: Did, did you ask or did you go back and look on Saturday?
Were, were there specific defenses that the coaches asked each other not to play?
[00:20:38] Speaker B: Yeah, if I, if I remember correctly, John Caliperi on when, when we did the scrums with all of the players. I think that was last Tuesday before the game. Yeah, he had mentioned that he had called Mark Few and he's like you said a zone yet he said, nope, all right, we're not playing zone.
[00:20:53] Speaker A: Yeah, I didn't see it.
[00:20:54] Speaker B: There was not a lot of zone played, was there?
[00:20:56] Speaker A: I was going at it. I didn't want to say for sure that there wasn't a zone played, but I didn't, I didn't recall seeing anything.
[00:21:02] Speaker B: Yeah, no. So, yeah, maybe they try to implement some zone. That's something I guess to, to watch for against Memphis, but that's where I'm going with Memphis.
[00:21:11] Speaker A: Like, like, I think they're going to test Arkansas maybe with that trapping style.
I mean, and it would be this way regardless of, of what Gonzaga did or didn't do. But I feel like you're going to see some things maybe on, on Wednesday from a defensive standpoint for Memphis that's going to test Arkansas. Maybe they play zone, maybe they don't. But like, it's going to be different, I guess maybe for lack of a better term of the way they're going to challenge Arkansas.
[00:21:35] Speaker B: Yeah, no, for sure it'll be a different challenge, I think.
Yeah. I mean, you look at, you know, this Memphis team, they're probably not going to have the same kind of skill level players. They're not going to have a guy who can, you know, handle the ball in a similar way to Isaiah Harwell, who I, I, I love Isaiah Harwell's game. You know, I, I, you know, I, I saw a little bit of it in limited minutes at Houston last season and I was a little upset that he left Houston just on my own, I guess, level, because I, I thought that he could have been in for a big season, especially with Kingston Flemings now off to the NBA.
I, you know, I think he finished with like nine points, but I still, I love Isaiah Harwell's game.
You know, is Memphis going to have a guard like him? Is Memphis going to have a guard like, like Xavian Lee who has, you know, experience, you know, in a Florida team and now with Gonzaga and then obviously is his three years at Princeton as well. You know, how many guys is Memphis going to have kind of on that level? Like I mentioned earlier, I'm excited to see Brandon Cummings. You know, I think there's, I, I think Luke Almad Almadovar guy transferring to Memphis from SEO, you know, has, you know, some, some crazy dunk highlights. So I'm excited to see his athleticism, how they kind of try to. To defend against him, you know, try to. You limit his opportunities. Driving as well. But yeah, I think I, I not expecting Memphis to be as skilled as. As. As Gonzaga was, but I think that they definitely bring or present a different kind of threat.
[00:23:09] Speaker A: Hey, meant to ask you what you think about the Masamba job and make him your. An employee.
I mean, did you go back and watch the replay?
[00:23:18] Speaker B: I did.
Stomped on his foot or, or maybe tripped him or something. It looked like a stomping. Yeah, they. Those guys, they, they. They kind of went at it a little bit. You Mika Miran and had a really nice block. Did you tell.
[00:23:30] Speaker A: Did Mika get teed up? Was it a. Was it a. I think it was. Or did he get teed up as he was walking away? Because that's like.
[00:23:38] Speaker B: Yeah, he, he was at him after. After Ja got the te.
[00:23:41] Speaker A: For a. For a taunt.
[00:23:43] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, I thought, I thought that's what it was.
[00:23:46] Speaker A: That's what it looked like in real time.
[00:23:48] Speaker B: Yeah. So cuz Joa gotten teed up cuz he pushed him or whatever.
Yeah.
[00:23:54] Speaker A: After he had stomped on his foot.
[00:23:56] Speaker B: Yes. And then, and then Mika, I guess, you know, was. Was happy with the, with the call and then started, you know, clapping and then he got teed up.
Yeah, I thought that was fun.
[00:24:05] Speaker A: And then he got mad and I mean he, he played really hard there for that stretch. You know, he had the, he had the play where he made the shot through contact and I missed the free throw. Everybody missed a free throw. It felt like. Except for you on Saturday.
[00:24:17] Speaker B: And you don't want to see my free throws. I'm not a shooter, John. Kyle Perry made fun of me for not.
[00:24:22] Speaker A: I was really. Because we didn't see Mika in the Bahamas.
[00:24:25] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:24:25] Speaker A: And so I was, I was really intrigued to see how he looked on Saturday. I, I like.
[00:24:30] Speaker B: Oh yeah. I. And I think you could tell like to a certain degree that it was kind of his first game in a long time.
There were a couple like. I, I liked a lot of what he did on the defensive end for ex. You know, he got some deflections that, you know, if he were, you know, more, I guess game sharp because he hasn't played since, you know, who knows when. I don't remember the exact date of his last game.
Maybe if you were. If you were more game sharp, those turns into. Those turn into steals and opportunities on the other end.
[00:24:58] Speaker A: Surprised you don't have the meek urine and file right there. Where. Yeah.
[00:25:01] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:25:02] Speaker A: March 8, 2000.
Sorry, I've taken you.
[00:25:06] Speaker B: No, no, no, you're good, you're good. But you know, he, I guess he had the two blocks. The first, the first block, you know, on Mosamba Job, you know, you kind of saw him kind of, you know, take his time and kind of observe, you know, when Job was going to go up and you know, he made the block, it was clean, it was through contact and all of that. And you know, that, that impressed me a lot. And then obviously, you know, wasn't his most efficient night shooting the ball. But I think you could see, you know, kind of that, that skill set we've, we've heard about and seen in highlights where, you know, yes, he can hit shots from the outside, but also like you mentioned, the shot that he finished through contact, you know, he put the ball on the floor and drove. Which, you know, for a guy, you know, with his skill set at his
[00:25:47] Speaker A: side, he had a similar play down the stretch, about two and a half minutes left where he had a runner off the glass that was a big shot because Zag had been on, I think a five to nothing run at that point.
[00:25:56] Speaker B: Yeah. So you can see why people are excited about him. Right. So.
But yeah, the, the, the, the, the little, the, the little mirror and job side quest I, I thought was kind of fun.
[00:26:10] Speaker A: 16,436. Was the attendance Saturday probably going to be smaller than that or lower than that. When they play Memphis on maybe.
[00:26:18] Speaker B: I'd imagine there's going to be more traveling support, maybe Memphis. Yeah, it's a little closer than.
[00:26:22] Speaker A: Maybe it's a Wednesday night.
[00:26:23] Speaker B: It is a Wednesday night.
[00:26:25] Speaker A: I just, I feel like it's hard, number one, I feel like it's hard to get people, people's attention on basketball when it's in football season.
I was actually surprised there weren't more people at the game on Saturday. There were. Lower, lower bowl was pretty full. Upper deck looked like it was about maybe a quarter, quarter full.
And so I expect it's gonna be a little bit more bring your own energy on Wednesday if you're Arkansas, because I don't, I don't know that there's gonna be as many people in the Sands.
[00:26:52] Speaker B: Yeah, but yeah, no, I think, I think. And they've kind of shown that they've kind of got guys who can do that. I think, I think that, you know, Jordan Smith is a guy who can do that. Obviously. I think we've seen Mika Mirren and can, can do that as well.
But yeah, no, I'm looking forward to it. I think it's going to be, you know, a fun challenge, if you will. You know, Memphis, like I said earlier, brings a different kind of style than. Than Gonzaga did. And.
Yeah.
[00:27:23] Speaker A: And it's Memphis coming to Bud Walton Arena. I mean.
[00:27:25] Speaker B: Yeah, there's a history there.
[00:27:27] Speaker A: And it's been probably 25 years.
[00:27:29] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:27:30] Speaker A: Since Memphis. I mean, Calipera was their coach.
[00:27:32] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:27:32] Speaker A: Last time they came to Bud Walton Arena. So there's probably a little bit of nostalgia there, too. That'll make this game fun. Little fun.
[00:27:40] Speaker B: External factors. Yeah, I'm looking forward to that. I wish they. I wish Davis Fogel had gotten to play for Gonzaga.
That made me a little sad.
[00:27:48] Speaker A: But maybe you can wear your Memphis colors in. Whenever you talk about the game like this.
[00:27:53] Speaker B: Yeah, it's like a lighter blue.
[00:27:55] Speaker A: Put a little Gonzaga bulldog right there. Put zags across the front.
[00:27:58] Speaker B: Yeah, I could be on the. I could be on the coaching staff. Mark Few, hit me up.
[00:28:03] Speaker A: All right, Anthony, appreciate you being here. Anthony Christensen, you can read all of his coverage@whole hogsports.com Chip Sous will be being here tomorrow. Hope that you'll join us then on our podcast. We'll see you next time.
