BYU Basketball prepares to face Pepperdine on Thursday.
Photo Courtesy of BYU Photo
PROVO – It’s been a while since BYU beat the Pepperdine Waves at Firestone Fieldhouse – three years to be exact – but the Cougars hope to snap that losing streak as they travel to face the Waves on Thursday night.
That task will be a bit tougher than the Cougars originally hoped for as both LJ Rose and Corbin Kaufusi were sidelined in practice on Tuesday – Rose with knee soreness, and Kaufusi with the flu.
“Corbin’s got what Nick had,” said BYU Head Coach Dave Rose. “Hopefully we can stop this and it won’t go through everybody.
“LJ’s dealing with a sore knee, he’s been dealing with it for a few weeks no and we’re trying to pinpoint it,” Rose added.
Even with the limitations, the Cougars will add the services of Nick Emery who is feeling better after having the flue last week.
“I feel a lot better,” Emery said. “I actually have energy now, which is good. It was a rough week. I felt sicker than a dog.”
Pepperdine has disrupted the Cougars in the past with their size and physicality. Coach Rose sees that as a challenge as they head into Thursday’s contest.
“[Pepperdine’s] a real athletic team. Year in and year out they have athletic guys that cause us problems,” said Rose. “Their size – physically – their physical strength has caused us to speed up or not execute at our level.”
The two teams already faced off last month with the Cougars winning that game 99-70. Despite that win, they know they can’t overlook the Waves.
“I remember losing [last time we played there] don’t really remember why,” said Eric Mika. “It’s hard to get up on the road and you can see it over a few years. For whatever reason it is, we need to move past the games that we’ve lost on the road against teams we should beat – teams we beat here at home.”
The Cougars look to find that answer on Thursday night.
The game will tip off at 9 pm MT on Thursday with coverage provided by ESPNU. It can also be heard on the Cougar IMG Sports Network (102.7 FM, 1160 AM 143 SiriusXM) with Greg Wrubell on the call.