Cougars to tip with No. 22 Gaels in late-night WCC Tournament semifinal


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LAS VEGAS — Saint Mary’s center Jock Landale walked into the postgame press area after the Gaels’ come-from-behind 69-66 win over Pepperdine.

Exhaustion wore on his face as he breathed heavily following his 17-point, 19-rebound performance, taking a sip from a bottle of water.

Then he heard what came next: Monday night, 8:30 p.m. PT against BYU.

“All these late games, man. Oh my gosh,” he quipped in a moment captured by nearly a dozen video cameras.

C’est la vie for a team ranked in the top 25 with demand from ESPN.

BYU (23-9) will face the 22nd-ranked Gaels in a West Coast Conference semifinal Monday night (ESPN2, KSL Newsradio), with the Cougars’ season hanging in the balance. With a lack of quality wins and an RPI that has taken too many hits, BYU knows it needs to win the conference tournament and clinch the league’s outbid bid to have a chance at the NCAA Tournament.

And they’ll have to wait all day and most of the night to take a shot at the Gaels, who have won five-straight against the Cougars that includes two wins from the regular season and last year’s 80-51 win at Orleans Arena.

“We’ve played them good both games, and led at our place for the majority of the game. But we’ve yet to beat them,” BYU coach Dave Rose said after his team rallied for an 85-79 win over San Diego.

“We’d look forward for the opportunity to turn the tide a bit.”

Of course, it's not as long as the last time BYU and Saint Mary's played during the regular season. Because of the conference's scheduling arrangement, the Cougars and Gaels have not faced off since the opening weeks of conference play — Dec. 30 in Provo and Jan. 25 in Moraga, Calif.

There are plenty of ways the Cougars have changed over the course of the past month. And moreso when Saint Mary's coach Randy Bennett compares them to last year's team that lost to the Gaels by 29 points.

"They don’t have Mika — thank goodness," Bennett quipped, referring to former BYU and Lone Peak star Eric Mika, who is now playing professionally in Italy.

"I think they’ve changed defensively, and offensively they play more deliberate than they were. Before, they would play more up-tempo, and now they are more half-court with better shot selection. I think defensively, they’ve definitely improved from last year."

BYU star Elijah Bryant was still soaking in the aftermath of his 27-point game against the Toreros when asked about the Gaels. But he knows the challenge of the league tournament semifinals will take all of the Cougars’ attention.

“Pepperdine took us to overtime at their place, and we also went to overtime with Saint Mary’s,” he said with a shrug. “We’re excited to play either team, and we’ll be ready to play whatever team.”

BYU in the WCC tournament

Landale, the reigning WCC player of the year, sees danger in a BYU team desperate to continue its postseason — much like Pepperdine, which led the Gaels until the final moments despite its 6-26 final record.

“We already know it’s going to be a really tough game for us,” Landale said of BYU. “They’ve got two really good guards in (TJ) Haws and Bryant, and Childs down in the post is really good. They’ll play us physical down low, and we have to step up and guard them. They can go on massive runs with so many offensive weapons.

“It’ll be a tough game for us, but I’d back our guys to get the job done.”

Tough games — and even late ones, with national television accommodations — are a way of life for the Gaels.

And they’ll continue to be, for as long as their NCAA tournament hopes remain viable.

“I think it’s just something we have to expect,” Landale said. “We can’t come in half-ass and expect things are just going to be easy for us.”

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