PROVO — The BYU basketball team should learn a lot about itself this weekend as the Cougars host California Saturday in a closed scrimmage.
“I’m really excited because it’s either going to give us a lot of confidence or it’s going to really humble us,” said first-year coach Mark Pope. “Either one of those is a huge win. I’m just excited to go play somebody and see who we are and where we are and how we feel and how we fit together.”
“It’s been a long offseason. There’s a lot of hard work that goes into this, but we’re super excited. It’s going to tell us a lot about where we’re at.” — BYU guard TJ Haws
The NCAA allows Division I programs to play two preseason games that don’t count. Schools can choose to hold a closed scrimmage against another Division I program or play an exhibition game against a Division II, Division III, NAIA or a foreign team.
These scrimmages are closed to the public and to the media and the score and stats aren’t allowed to be published by the schools involved.
“This will be the first time we compete against someone else where we’re actually trying to play with just the roster that’s available to us for the opener,” Pope said.
“It’s been a long offseason. There’s a lot of hard work that goes into this, but we’re super excited,” said guard TJ Haws. “It’s going to tell us a lot about where we’re at. But everyone’s hyped for it and we’re really looking forward to Saturday. … You play so many scrimmages against each other. You keep playing against each other. It will be fun to get on the floor with somebody else.”
Cal is lead by first-year coach Mark Fox, who previously coached at Nevada and Georgia.
“Coach Fox is the guy that brought me into this business. We’ve known each other forever. He was a (graduate assistant) at Washington,” Pope said. “We stayed after practice every single day together just the two of us, him as a player and me as a player, just playing one-on-one and getting up shots. I love him dearly. The fact that he’s going to be up here and we get to see if we can get our teams ready in the same gym for a day is super exciting to me.”
BYU forward Yoeli Childs will miss the first nine games of the regular season due to an NCAA suspension while forward Gavin Baxter could be out for the season due to a shoulder injury.
Meanwhile, guard Zac Seljaas, who broke his foot in August in Italy, is progressing.
“He’s doing good. (Assistant) coach (Chris) Burgess put him through a 15-minute shooting workout today. We’re hoping to get him in some live stuff next week,” Pope said. “He’s coming along really fast. He’s been so diligent and has worked so hard through this whole thing. He’s been so hungry the whole time. He’s doing great; as good as we can hope for.”
The Cougars have dealt with other personnel setbacks. Guard Blaze Nield has dealt with a sprained ankle while guard Jesse Wade is “managing his knee right now,” Pope said.
Pope added that Haws, who underwent minor knee surgery last month, is practicing with the team while Childs has been battling an illness but was expected to return to practice Thursday.
In addition to the closed scrimmage against Cal, BYU will also play an exhibition game Nov. 1 against UT Tyler at the Marriott Center. The Cougars officially tip off the season on Nov. 5 against Cal State Fullerton.