The BYU Basketball team prepares for their final two regular season contests to be held at the Marriott Center.
PROVO – It’s quickly as it came, the BYU basketball season is approaching the end as the Cougars prepare to welcome San Diego and Saint Mary’s to the Marriott Center for their final two home contests of the regular season.
After dropping their first contest against each team, the Cougars are in pursuit of revenge. BYU fell to the San Diego Toreros 88-75 on January 14th. San Diego ran passed the Cougars after closing out the contest on a 13-0 run. TJ Haws led the Cougars with 27 points and shot 6/12 beyond the arc.
BYU has yet to concede a game to the Toreros in the Marriott Center since joining the West Coast Conference, carrying a 5-0 record.
“When we played at San Diego, defensively, we were slow,” said BYU Head Coach Dave Rose. “If we got beat initially, we didn’t have anything back behind to help it. Also, our shot selection was pretty questionable there which led to a lot of points for them.”
The Cougars hope to carry momentum from Saturday’s contest where the BYU defense held the San Francisco Dons to 52 points and 25% shooting from the field. BYU recorded eight blocks in the game.
“I felt we were more connected on the defensive end,” said Rose. “Our defense provided a good spark off the bench. The three days we’ve had this week have been pretty smooth. I hope we can get through to Thursday’s game with the group of guys we practiced with.”
The home season finale will feature a match up against #22 Saint Mary’s. In the previous game, Saint Mary’s won 81-68. The last time the Gaels visited the Marriott Center, BYU beat Saint Mary’s 70-59 as they entered the game ranked #25 in the country.
“We’re just trying to learn from our mistakes,” said Eric Mika. “I thought today we picked it up on defense and we look good heading into [these games].”
BYU is in pursuit over their 12th consecutive season with 20-plus wins. The Cougars currently hold an 18-9 record and would reach the milestone with two wins in their final home stand. The Cougars have dominated this season at the Marriott Center boasting a 13-2 record while at home.
BYU’s Thursday game against San Diego will tip off at 9pm MT and can be seen on ESPNU. The game will also be broadcast on the Cougar IMG Sports Network (102.7 FM, 1160 AM 143 SiriusXM) with the Voice of the Cougars Greg Wrubell on the call.
