/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70360786/AP21329021059285__1_.0.jpg)
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23107204/merlin_2899891.jpg)
For now, BYU is in sole possession of first place within the West Coast Convention standings.
The Cougars beat Pacific 73-51 of their WCC opener Thursday evening on the Marriott Middle. Due to COVID-19 points all through the league, it marked the primary convention sport of the season.
How lengthy can BYU (13-3, 1-0) stay in first place?
The Cougars are coming into a vital stretch, starting Saturday (8 p.m. MST, ESPN2) at dwelling in opposition to Saint Mary’s.
Subsequent week, BYU visits two of the opposite high groups within the league with a sport in opposition to No. 4 Gonzaga Thursday and a showdown at San Francisco Saturday.
However first up are the Gaels (12-3, 0-0), who will likely be taking part in of their WCC opener in Provo. If BYU has any hopes of capturing a WCC regular-season title, it wants a win at dwelling in opposition to Saint Mary’s.
The Cougars are presently No. 30 within the NCAA’s NET rankings, whereas the Gaels examine in at No. 43. Proper now 4 groups — Gonzaga, BYU, Saint Mary’s and USF — are projected to be NCAA Event groups in March, and this sport usually has NCAA Event implications. Saturday’s matchup may find yourself being a uncommon Quad 1 dwelling sport for the Cougars.
Saint Mary’s needed to postpone its sport Thursday at Santa Clara due to COVID-19 points inside its program.
However BYU coach Mark Pope stated Thursday evening that Saturday’s sport is on.
“We’ve obtained 100% affirmation this morning at 11:15 that their gear supervisor is packing their darkish uniforms and it’s a go,” he stated. “We’re good. Let’s go, man.”
BYU and Saint Mary’s have perennially competed for the No. 2 spot within the WCC behind nationwide energy Gonzaga. In October, the Cougars have been picked to complete second within the preseason ballot and the Gaels have been projected to put third.
Little doubt, defensive-minded Saint Mary’s will problem BYU.
“They’ve been flirting with (being) a top-10 defensive group within the nation. They’re so bodily,” Pope stated. “And so they’re actually, actually lengthy and tremendous disciplined. The sport doesn’t ever break open with Saint Mary’s as a result of there’s by no means a push of tempo within the sport. It's like each time they take a shot, they’ve obtained 5 guys operating again in the event that they don’t have the rebound and so they’re set.”
Saint Mary’s has dimension and depth. The Gaels’ 6-foot-10 heart, Matthias Tass, is averaging a team-high 12.5 factors per sport, 6-8 ahead Kyle Bowen is their main rebounder (6.5 rpg), whereas 6-7 Dan Fotu averages 10.1 ppg and 4.3 rpg.
That dimension and size will likely be a problem inside for the Cougars and 6-6 freshman Fousseyni Traore, who recorded a double-double, with 12 factors and 11 rebounds, to associate with two assists and three blocks, in opposition to Pacific.
Pope is impressed with the progress Traore is making.
“You see a freshman participant like him making these varieties of refined, difficult, affected person performs and it’s fairly thrilling,” he stated. “He’s been terrific and we’ve desperately wanted him. He’s carrying a giant load for us.”
Saint Mary’s additionally boasts guards Logan Johnson (10.3 ppg), Tommy Kuhse (10.1 factors, 3.5 assists per sport) and Alex Ducas (9.4 ppg, 4.1 rpg). In the meantime, Augustus Marciulionis, son of NBA Corridor of Famer and former Golden State Warrior Sarunas Marciulionis, is averaging 4.6 ppg.
BYU is aware of what kind of sport this will likely be.
“It’s a bodily battle all the 40 minutes. We’re going to be ready for that,” guard Alex Barcello, who scored a game-high 15 factors in opposition to Pacific. “We all know it’s going to be 40 minutes of simply back-and-forth battling and physicality.”
“(Alex) goes to be overwhelmed and bruised,” Pope stated. “He’s been by way of this for 2 years. It’s simply the character of the sport. They’re an amazing defensive group coached by an amazing coach (Randy Bennett).”
In fact, BYU and Saint Mary’s have performed in traditional video games over the previous decade within the WCC.
In 2020, the Cougars misplaced 87-84 to the Gaels in time beyond regulation in Moraga, defeated them 81-79 in Provo and fell 51-50 within the WCC Event semifinals in Las Vegas. That’s a distinction of six factors in three video games.
Final season, BYU snapped its six-game shedding streak in Moraga, 62-52, and later downed Saint Mary’s in Provo, 65-51.
“This rivalry, within the tenure we’ve been right here the final 2 ½ years, has been actually particular. It seems like each sport, the typical deciding issue has been some extent or a point-and-a-half,” Pope stated. “Looks as if each sport has been shut. We’ve obtained our work lower out for us.
“They’re flirting with a top-30 place, which is so nice. We may truly play a house sport, not in opposition to the Zags, that would find yourself as a Quad 1 sport. That's superior and speaks extremely of the league and extremely of Saint Mary’s.”