Saint Mary’s Basketball will host the BYU Cougars Thursday, Jan. 9. What are the keys for the Gaels to get back in the win column?
Saint Mary’s Basketball needs to get a ‘W’ after dropping the 107-99 quadruple overtime loss at Pacific on Jan. 4. Tip-off will be at 8:00 p.m. PT and will be televised on ESPN2.
BYU (12-4, 1-0) and Saint Mary’s (14-3, 1-0) are expected to battle for runner-up in the West Coast Conference behind Gonzaga (16-1, 2-0), who is ranked #1 in the AP Poll and #7 NET. The Cougars (#32 NET) opened conference play with an easy win at Loyola Marymount (#228 NET). BYU’s best win was a 72-71 victory at Houston (#43 NET) on Nov. 15. Their worst loss has been 72-68 in overtime at Boise State (#112 NET) on Nov. 20.
Meanwhile, Saint Mary’s (#39 NET) are coming off the 4OT at Pacific (#126 NET), after winning 69-58 at San Francisco (#121 NET) on Jan. 2. The Gael’s worst loss, of course, was on their home floor to Winthrop (#176 NET) 61-59. Their best was on Nov. 5, 65-63 over Wisconsin (#26 NET).
This has the makings of a tight contest between league rivals that feel they should take part in the national tournament come March. The two teams are very similar in that they have very efficient offenses that can be deadly from three-point range and above-average defenses.
The matchup is the WCC game of the week and will be nationally televised. For Saint Mary’s to win this one and bounce back from the Pacific loss, the Gaels must take care of the following areas…