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LOS ANGELES — Within the metropolis that’s internet hosting the Tremendous Bowl, it’s busier, and extra crowded, and probably much more hyped, than normal.
And whereas there’s loads at stake for the Los Angeles Rams and Cincinnati Bengals within the Tremendous Bowl on Sunday, there’s loads at stake right here this weekend for the BYU basketball program.
Shackled to a four-game shedding streak, this may as nicely be Tremendous Bowl week for the Cougars. BYU’s season hangs within the stability.
The Cougars go to Loyola Marymount Thursday (9 p.m. MST, ESPNU) earlier than taking part in at Pepperdine Saturday.
BYU’s hopes of reaching the NCAA Event could possibly be sustained or shattered relying on what occurs this weekend.
This shedding streak started on the street 14 days in the past at Santa Clara, the place the Cougars dropped a heartbreaker simply earlier than the buzzer in a 77-76 loss. They haven’t been the identical since.
“Two weeks in the past, we have been (forward) 74-70 with 45 seconds left and the ball,” coach Mark Pope stated Tuesday. “We have been 45 seconds away from the very best begin within the historical past of BYU basketball within the WCC. This has punched us within the face. It actually has. We’ve staggered somewhat bit.”
BYU has plummeted from second place to sixth place within the West Coast Convention standings.
The Cougars (17-8, 5-5) acquired some assist in the standings Tuesday night time when Saint Mary’s misplaced to Santa Clara and Portland knocked off San Francisco. BYU is making an attempt to get the very best seeding attainable within the WCC Event subsequent month in Las Vegas.
A attainable street to restoration begins at Gersten Pavilion in opposition to LMU.
The Lions (9-12, 2-7) have misplaced 5 consecutive video games and sit in ninth place within the WCC. LMU’s 6-foot-6 senior ahead, Eli Scott, might trigger points for the Cougars. Scott averages a team-high 16.3 factors, 6.9 rebounds, and three.3 assists.
“He’s such an issue. Would this man simply graduate and get out of right here, please? He’s a terrific participant,” Pope stated of Scott. “He’s a point-post. He’s so bodily, he’s so intelligent, he’s so ambidextrous within the put up. He’s an elite-level passer. He’s only a downside and he has good gamers round him. They’re getting higher. They’re a greater crew than they have been a month in the past. He’s the ring chief and he’s powerful.”
Senior guard Joe Quintana averages 12.2 factors and has made 58 of 142 (41%) from 3-point vary.
LMU, like BYU, doesn’t have lots of dimension.
“It’s going to be tremendous attention-grabbing. They don’t have nice size. What they do have is, they cowl a boatload of floor,” Pope stated. “They’ve received some width to them that’s actually spectacular. They’re tremendous bodily. They’re an underesized crew however they really make extra of their dwelling within the put up than any crew in our league, perhaps not the Zags. But it surely’s tremendous attention-grabbing how they’re constructed.”
Pope stated his crew has made some changes however he added that’s not what's going to decide success.
“Very seldom is it scheme that saves you. Scheme can encourage you. Scheme could make issues somewhat bit simpler. Scheme should buy you somewhat little bit of confidence. It’s essential,” he stated. “However actually, it’s the guts and soul and combat and perception. All of us are shocked the place we're proper now. However we’re right here. That’s really super-exciting. We have now to dig out of it. It’s nice … We consider we’re going to discover a technique to make it work.”
Final week, Pope took Caleb Lohner out of the beginning lineup and determined to deliver him off the bench.
Lohner has struggled this season offensively. Over the past 4 video games, Lohner has scored 11 factors and has shot 4 of 29 from the sector. However he’s been a robust rebounder, grabbing 23 within the final 4 video games.
Lohner has accepted his new function, in response to Pope.
“He’s unimaginable. I like him a lot,” Pope stated. “He’s constructed completely different. He’s endured lots of frustration. He won't let it present. He won't run away from the second. … Typically adversity can reveal character. I don’t understand how you may not be probably the most proud human being on the planet to have a son like Caleb Lohner.
“By frustration and doubt, he’s an unimaginable teammate, he refuses to flinch on the courtroom. He runs on and off the courtroom, whether or not it’s been a superb play or a nasty play and daps up his guys. You speak about being relentless. It’s not straightforward to do what he’s doing proper now. Not everybody will get to see that up shut. Caleb in all probability hasn’t performed in addition to he want to. That’s the one factor most individuals see and the one factor they digest. Similar to I haven’t coached in addition to I want to coach. That’s what folks publicly get to digest. What I get to witness in these guys, there’s no phrases. He’s particular. He’s coping with it nicely.”
In fact, Lohner’s not the one one which struggled over the previous two weeks.
In the meantime, BYU is hopeful that time guard Te’Jon Lucas, who missed the Gonzaga sport as a consequence of damage, will probably be out there to play this weekend.
For the Cougars, with all that they've skilled the final two weeks, a win Thursday simply may really feel like successful the Tremendous Bowl.