BYU Basketball: 2019-20 keys to beating Saint Mary’s Gaels on the road
By Andy Patton
Control the Pace
Neither of these teams is exactly track stars out there. St. Mary’s runs the 326th fastest tempo in all of college hoops, out of 353 schools. In other words, they take their sweet, sweet time looking for a bucket. Considering they are ninth in the NCAA in offensive efficiency, it’s a strategy that seems to be working for them.
BYU is no slouch when it comes to efficiency either, coming in at 19th, but they run a much quicker pace, ranking right around the middle of the pack (164th) when it comes to tempo.
That may need to come up even more on Thursday.
St. Mary’s doesn’t have a ton of depth, a point that was driven home by Pacific in their thrilling win last weekend, and if BYU can push the pace and look for easy points in transition it could force St. Mary’s to turn to their bench more to get fresh legs, which is to BYU’s advantage.
Of course, the Gaels are very good at taking care of the basketball (42nd fewest turnovers in the NCAA) and as previously stated they are crazy efficient at scoring, which makes getting out in transition difficult.
Still, if BYU can push the pace as often as possible, it will create matchup problems that should give them an advantage, while also testing SMC’s less than stellar depth.
Finally, perhaps the biggest key for the Cougars is feeding the big man.