BYU basketball searching for opponent after WCC opener postponed

BYU’s head coach Mark Pope yells to his players as BYU and Westminster play at the Marriott Center in Provo on Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2021. BYU won 65-53.

Scott G Winterton, Deseret News

Not long after BYU beat Westminster 65-53 Wednesday night at the Marriott Center, coach Mark Pope and his staff hunkered down to try to figure out if they can schedule an opponent on short notice.

Suddenly, it’s like the 2020-21 basketball season all over again.

The Cougars’ West Coast Conference opener against Portland, scheduled for Saturday, has been postponed due to COVID issues within the Portland program. The game will be rescheduled.

Four WCC teams on currently on COVID pause — San Diego, Santa Clara, Portland and Pepperdine.

For now, BYU’s WCC opener is expected to be Jan. 6 at home against Pacific.

But maybe the Cougars can find another opponent before then.

“We’re going to go up to the office and hash it out and see. There’s been a bunch of games canceled,” Pope said. “Can we get a game? We’re pretty beat up and banged up and missing guys right now, too. We’ll take all of that into consideration and figure out what we can do.”

BYU finished up its nonconference portion of the schedule with a 12-3 record.

The Cougars posted a 6-1 record against teams that played in the NCAA Tournament last season.

What has Pope learned about his team to this point of the season?

“The biggest takeaway is, I’ve got to stop scheduling like this. It’s not smart,” he said. “The No. 2 takeaway is, we’ve got a lot of guys than are willing to contribute and we need every single one of them. We’ve needed every single guy to win games. Our conference schedule is really difficult. … That’s what I’ve learned, that we have a lot of people we can count on and trust. We’ll need every single one of them.”