BYU, trying to regain momentum after falling to Pepperdine, visits No. 16 Gonzaga
West Coast Conference basketball, like life, comes at you fast.
Gonzaga took care of business Thursday, beating San Francisco 99-81. Perhaps 60 minutes later, last-place Pepperdine put the finishing touches on a 92-80 victory over BYU, snapping the Cougars’ modest two-game winning streak before they visit No. 16 Gonzaga on Saturday.
Roughly 90 minutes after GU’s win, the WCC title chase became far more interesting when Loyola Marymount toppled No. 15 Saint Mary’s in overtime, slicing the Gaels’ lead over the Zags to one game.
So, take into account that Gonzaga coach Mark Few probably wasn’t aware of BYU’s disappointing loss to Pepperdine when he was asked to preview Saturday’s matchup at the McCarthey Athletic Center. Furthermore, Few’s overriding thoughts on the Cougars go back to Jan. 12 in Provo, Utah, when Gonzaga somehow escaped a 10-point deficit in the final 5 minutes to pull out a 75-74 win on Julian Strawther’s 3-pointer with 9.8 seconds left.
“They’re definitely playing their best ball right now and obviously they’re going to be hungry with how we kind of stole one down there,” Few said of BYU. “It’ll be a very physical game and they’ve kind of figured out their roles much better and their rotations.”
BYU displayed positive signs prior to Pepperdine with routs over LMU (89-61) and Pacific (81-66). It would have been three wins in a row, but Saint Mary’s guard Aidan Mahaney’s tough, fadeaway jumper handed the Cougars a stinging 57-56 defeat two weeks ago.
BYU had put together three consecutive strong defensive efforts, but those good vibes were washed away by the Waves, who hit 61% from the field in a 51-point second half. BYU gave up a season-high 92 points and dropped to 2-4 in conference road games.
“We’re a good defensive team,” Cougars coach Mark Pope said in a postgame radio interview. “We’re a top-35 defensive team, but man, we have an Achilles’ heel right now in terms of explosive perimeter players that we’ve got to answer.”
That’s something Few can probably relate to with LMU guard Cam Shelton and Saint Mary’s guard Mahaney doing most of the damage in Gonzaga’s two conference losses.
The reality is the Cougars (16-11 overall) are 4-6 after opening the WCC season with two wins. Their swansong in the WCC hasn’t unfolded as they’d hoped. BYU is in danger of posting its two worse WCC seasons before joining the Big 12, regarded as the nation’s best conference, next season.
BYU’s worst conference winning percentage since joining the WCC in 2011-12 was .600 with a 9-6 mark last year. The Cougars are 6-6 (.500) and fifth in the standings.
Still, they’ve been underdogs before against GU at the McCarthey Athletic Center and reeled off three straight wins from 2015-17, the latter ending the Zags’ bid for an unbeaten regular season. GU (20-5, 9-2 WCC) has won the past five at the Kennel by margins of eight, 34, 23, 17 and 26 points.
“BYU is always a rivalry,” Zags senior forward Anton Watson said. “It could be the last time we play them, we don’t know, but we expect the most from them. They’re going to bring it, so we’ve got to be on top of our game.”
The Cougars entered the week second in the WCC in scoring defense (68.2), field-goal percentage defense (42.1) and rebounding margin (+6.4).
‘They’re playing defense, rebounding the ball really well and I think more set with their guard rotations,” said Few, whose team clinched the program’s 26th consecutive 20-win season. “It’ll be another heck of a game, I would guess. It usually is with BYU.”