Philly Live, an NCAA Division 1 sanctioned summertime high school event, beckoned players from the East Coast and coaches nationally. Much talented convened in the City of Brotherly Love this past weekend.

Gonzaga’s Eagles went 2-1 in the proceedings. Below is an exploration of those games and a few participating players. Shoutout to the program for allowing itself to be tailed, and agreeing to be interviewed!

Gonzaga 68 Neuman Gorietti 63

Senior guard Ryan Saboi played a huge role in the victory (21 points), scoring throughout. When asked about the Eagles going spread to close the game – he helped seal this contest with two scores via this tactic - Sabol shared “I knew it was a tight game. I wanted to get to the bucket, not settle for a jumpshot. In a close game, get to the rim, worse case get fouled”

Here, Sabol talks about the game, recruitment, and development. A Class of 2023, 6’3” senior, he shoots and drives, while focusing on defensive development.

Roman Catholic 65 Gonzaga 58

Up 30-28 at intermission, Gonzaga rode various pressure defenses to that lead. As senior forward Thomas Batties noted “It definitely did help. We were able to speed up our opponent”.

Unfortunately Roman Catholic solved that, eventually taking the lead via free throw attempts. Batties on why: “We were kind of slow rotation wise. A step behind…our exhaustion, fatigue, played a role in that”.

Batties discussed the game, recruiting, development and playing football.

Gonzaga 60 Camden 45

Derek Dixon, a talented Class of 2025 guard, explained his Gonzaga team’s defeat of Camden thusly, saying “It was a good win, (versus) good team. We came out strong, had the lead the entire game”. Resultantly “we were able to get some subs in the game. Which was good to get them some experience”.

In this interview, Dixon discusses the contest, his game, development, recruiting, Steve Turner the Eagle's coach and Gonzaga writ large.

Bench Mob

All good teams have engagement and involvement from everyone. Despite playing time. Sure competitors want to get in, but real team players don't let that desire curtail their overall enthusiasm.

Blake Harper, a '24 guard, is just such a guy. Below he talks about that and more, including family - his pop Byron 'Snoop' Harper who coaches at Gonzaga and mom - Turner plus Gonzaga.