What Gonzaga players said after beating Texas Southern in season-opener

Tyon Grant-Foster didn't expect to start in Gonzaga's season-opener against Texas Southern on Monday.

Neither did anyone on the Bulldogs coaching staff did either, in fact. But a clerical error by an unnamed assistant coach made for the first hiccup of the 2025-26 campaign, as well as a special moment for someone who was considered ineligible by the NCAA the previous week.

"I didn't know," Grant-Foster said regarding his playing status going into the game. "Coach told me, he's like, 'Yo, I'm not gonna start you tonight.' And I was like, it's fine; after everything, I've made so much practice and I have to catch up."

Needless to say, Grant-Foster was surprised to find out about the accidental change to the starting five.

It wasn't the only misstep the Zags made out of the gate, as the Tigers took advantage of a sluggish offensive start from the home team to hang around for much of the first half, even pulling within four around the 7-minute mark.

Gonzaga tightened up defensively down the stretch, holding Texas Southern to just two made field goals over the final 7 minutes of the first half to go into the locker room with a 46-27 lead. It was more of the same in the second half, as the Bulldogs pulled away for a 98-43 win.

Of course, the player who wasn't supposed to start wound up leading the way in scoring, as Grant-Foster finished with a team-high 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field.

Here's more of what Grant-Foster had to say, as well as comments from Mario Saint-Supéry and Graham Ike after the game.

Ike on the spark Gonzaga's bench provided

"They gave us a huge jump, especially after that first media [timeout]; we got off slow. But kudos to everybody for sticking with us, staying locked in on the game plan and just bringing that energy all night, that effort all night. As you saw, loose balls are flying around; guys were diving on the floor, making the extra play for the guys, and it was awesome to see that. Great to be back out there."

Ike on responding to Texas Southern's physicality

"It's a physical game, and we like to play a physical brand of basketball as well. So the first 4 minutes, you just got to understand how the refs might call it. They didn't call it too much, so they let us bang, which is great. Just got to slow down, adjust with the game; after the first 4 minutes, I felt like we adjusted well."

Saint-Supéry on playing with Ike and Huff

"I haven't played with two bigs like this, and I think it's so easy to play with them. Because it's like, just play and pass to them, and each time it's an assist, and it's great to play with people like them."

Grant-Foster on Gonzaga's upcoming schedule

"I mean, that's what I came here for. I didn't come here to play some mediocre teams. I came here to play the best teams with the best guys, so I just feel like we're ready. I mean, obviously, we got some tuning up to do, but I just feel like the competition is going to get better, and so are we each game."

Ike and Grant-Foster on Gonzaga's defensive ceiling

Ike: "I think greatness can be done on that end. That's what we want to hang our hat on, even when we're not scoring the ball. We want to get stops at all times. I think we could just defend at a high level when everybody's locked in, and we usually are. We just want to stay on that."

Grant-Foster: "I feel like when it comes to that, obviously, we play great defense. There's some nooks and crannies we got to get better at, but I feel like our thing is just ending it off with the rebound. We'll have a great 22 seconds of defense, and then it'll slip out of our hands or out of bounds and give them another chance. So I just feel like we come up with those rebounds."