BYU Basketball: 2019-20 keys to beating Saint Mary’s Gaels on the road

Get Yoeli Childs the Ball

After serving his nine-game suspension for a paperwork error, BYU forward Yoeli Childs has picked up right where he left off last season for the Cougars. In seven games, Childs is averaging 20.9 points, 10.1 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.4 blocks per game.

He is shooting 62.1 percent from the field and averaging just under 29 minutes per game, proving once again he is one of, if not the best, pure scorer in the WCC (alongside Jordan Ford).

Childs is a key to BYU’s success in every game, but against a St. Mary’s team that lacks size and is not particularly equipped to defend the paint, Childs needs to feast.

The season-ending injury to Matthias Tass hampered the Gaels already thin frontcourt, and it’s hard to imagine the likes of Aaron Menzies, Dan Fotu and Jock Perry doing much to prevent Childs from getting his points.

Malik Fitts will likely draw the task of handling Childs from the get-go, and while Fitts is a similar build to Childs, he is an average defensive player who lacks the physicality to really knock Childs around.

Childs has done most of his damage this year against inferior opponents, although he did drop 29 on 12-16 shooting against the Utes in his first game back.

Another outing like that and BYU should prevail against a St. Mary’s team that is desperately trying to avoid losing their second conference loss this early in the regular season.

BYU vs. St. Mary’s should be an entertaining, albeit slow-paced, battle between two teams fighting for a spot in the NCAA tournament as well as a spot in the AP top 25, of which they are both currently just on the outside looking in.