PROVO — Saint Mary’s is in town and for Dave Rose, it’s a clarion call: all men on deck.
The Gaels represent the final appearance of a ranked team in the Marriott Center this season which gives the Cougars a chance to solidify positioning for the third seed in the upcoming WCC tournament in Las Vegas and an opportunity to show that the team is improving.
The challenge is a big one for the 19-9 Cougs.
People like to make fun of the size of gyms in the WCC and the spattering of small campuses spread along the West Coast on properties sponsored by religious orders.
But the top team in the WCC is as legitimate as they come. It is no fluke 27-0 Gonzaga is ranked No. 1 in the nation by 56 points in the AP poll over Villanova and by 127 points over No. 3 Kansas.
Saint Mary’s is 23-3 and ranked No. 22. The school is located in the hills near the Bay Area of San Francisco and Oakland in the state of California, which has a population of nearly 40 million souls. It is home to four Pac-12 schools in Cal, Stanford, UCLA and USC, yet the Gaels join UCLA as the only two basketball programs in that giant state currently ranked in the AP top 25.
The Gaels are a high-execution-based basketball team that has carved out a reputation for playing tough defense and running a high-efficiency offense in which all five players demand attention.
It’s a brainy scheme similar to Wisconsin’s and is based on unselfish play and wearing down defenders with pinpoint passing late in the shot clock, part of a well-choreographed motion attack.
Saint Mary’s is legitimate. It will take a legitimate BYU effort to prevail.
Rose told the media after his team defeated San Diego on Thursday that the Cougars are a much-improved defensive team compared to the team that lost to the Gaels on the road last month.
And that’s true.
But where the Cougars will need to excel Saturday night is on offense, matching Saint Mary’s efficiency and limiting wasted possessions.
BYU opponents are crashing down on Eric Mika, the NCAA’s leader in getting to the free-throw line. He’s become a flesh-and-bone piñata, a hack magnet. He’s showing a tendency on settling for outside shots. I’d like to see him go back in the den, close to the rim to get his work done sans charging calls.
Opponents are double- and triple-teaming Mika when he touches the ball and Randy Bennett’s game plan will certainly call for similar attention to the sophomore who is eight months removed from roaming the streets of Rome in a white shirt and tie.
Mika is competing for WCC Player-of-the-Year honors and the league scoring title. There’s a temptation for him to take the load on himself, force things and try to attack when he’s got other options.
How Mika handles this, and to what extent Saint Mary’s will spread its defense to take him out of the game, is one of the more intriguing aspects to this showdown.
Another key is will be who gets in foul trouble first. Mika, or those defending him.
But there’s another element to this matchup that Rose needs to consider if the Cougars are to have a chance Saturday night: His 3-point shooters have to be successful. Mika has to get them involved, and when they get the chance they have to bury the offerings.
Shooters shoot. They shoot through slumps, they shoot when open and they shoot when defended. It’s a rhythm and a confidence thing and it takes reps.
BYU’s offense has to be far more efficient than it has been for most of the season.
Nick Emery, the fearless bomber, showed signs of breaking out of a slump Thursday when he hit his first five 3-point shots. TJ Haws added some remarkable shots from distance, including a buzzer-beater before halftime that really took the wind out of San Diego.
Emery went 1 for 9 against Gonzaga, 0 for 4 from distance. He was 0 for 4 from beyond the arc against San Francisco, but made 5 of 7 in the win over San Diego.
BYU can compete with Mika getting bumped, scratched and clawed if freshman Yoeli Childs gets involved and delivers like he did at San Francisco.
But the Cougars cannot win against teams like Saint Mary’s and Gonzaga if they don’t make a reasonable number of threes at a respected percent.
It cannot be done.
This is what makes Saturday’s Gaels-Cougars matchup so intriguing with the strategies and who will execute. We all know how good Saint Mary’s can be. The Gaels are not a flash in the pan masquerading as a ranked club.
The Cougars are improving in a myriad of areas, but must prove consistency if they are to be taken seriously Saturday or in Las Vegas.
Gentlemen, start your engines.