BYU Men’s Basketball with big games this week in conference standings

PROVO – The BYU Men’s Basketball team is currently a little roll as they have won five conference games in a row and have won nine out its last eleven games.

They sit at second in the West Coast Conference standings (10-3, 18-10 overall) and are currently 1.5 games ahead of third place San Francisco (8-4, 20-6 overall). The Cougars have an opportunity to create some more distance for that second seed as they host the Dons on Thursday.

Cougar fans may well remember the last time the team took on San Francisco nearly a month ago. BYU struggled to get going offensively and lost 82-63 on the road. This time, the game will be played at the Marriott Center.

“It’s always fun to travel, but it’s nice to be at home with our fans,” said guard Zac Seljaas.

BYU will look to continue to build off its recent momentum in its win streak. Last week the Cougars played University of San Diego and Loyola Marymount University. Both games required a comeback as BYU found itself down double digits in each contest.

“We knew we had to take one possession at a time. There was no point in going out and jacking shots and trying to do it on your own. That’s how you get buried when you’re down 14,” forward Yoeli Childs said about his team trailing by 14 points against the Toreros. “We did a good job of staying together. When they were on their run in the first half, we weren’t doing a great job of making the extra play and the extra effort. I think we changed that.”

The team beat USD Thursday 88-82 in overtime and beat LMU 70-62 on Saturday.

With a Cougars win it would put them up 2.5 games over the Dons. BYU will then only have two games left in its regular season after Thursday’s contest with San Francisco having three.

Saturday the Cougars hit the road to take on the No. 2 ranked team in the nation, the Gonzaga Bulldogs. Then will finish out their regular season at home March 2nd against USD.

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