Men: No. 5 seed BYU (19-14) vs. No. 1 seed Saint Mary’s (25-6)
West Coast Conference men’s basketball tournament semifinals
Monday, 7 p.m. MST
Orleans Arena (Las Vegas)
TV: ESPN
Radio: 102.7 FM, 1160 AM, BYU Radio Sirius XM 143
Previous matchups: BYU lost to Saint Mary’s 57-56 in Provo in late January when Aidan Mahaney hit a contested fadeaway jumper with 0.3 seconds to play, and the Gaels beat the Cougars 71-65 in California last month in a game where BYU trailed by three points going into the final minute.
In their last game: BYU beat Loyola Marymount 73-63 in the WCC tournament quarterfinals on Saturday to advance to Monday’s semifinals. Rudi Williams scored a team-high 23 points and the Cougars built a big lead early and held off several comeback attempts by the Lions.
Saint Mary’s lost 77-68 at Gonzaga a little over a week ago in the regular-season finale in a matchup of top 20 programs. The Gaels, even with the loss, shared the regular-season WCC title with the Zags.
Key players: Williams continues to come up big for the Cougars since reentering the starting lineup three games ago, and he’ll need another strong effort against Saint Mary’s. Fousseyni Traore is coming off a quiet game against Loyola Marymount, but he’s played well against the Gaels in their two previous games this season.
Logan Johnson leads Saint Mary’s by averaging 14.7 points and 3.7 assists per game, and he scored 27 points in the Gaels’ most recent win over BYU. Mahaney has been excellent as a freshman, and he hit big shots in the final minute of both Saint Mary’s wins over the Cougars this year.
What’s at stake: The winner of this game will play in the WCC tournament championship game against the winner of No. 2 seed Gonzaga and No. 6 seed San Francisco.
Women: No. 5 seed BYU (16-15) vs. No. 1 seed Gonzaga (27-3)
West Coast Conference women’s basketball tournament semifinals
Monday, 1 p.m. MST
Orleans Arena (Las Vegas)
TV: BYUtv
Previous matchups: The Cougars lost to the Zags 67-58 in Spokane, and BYU fell again to Gonzaga in Provo 58-51. In their second matchup, BYU trailed by one with 2:13 remaining, but Gonzaga, despite being held to a season low in points, made the plays down the stretch to win.
In their last game: Lauren Gustin had a WCC record 27 rebounds in BYU’s 66-56 win over San Francisco in the WCC tournament quarterfinals. The Cougars shot 52.2% from 3-point range, led by five 3s from Emma Calvert.
The Zags beat BYU 58-51 in their final regular-season game. The victory clinched an outright WCC regular-season title for Gonzaga.
Key players: Gustin continues to be the main catalyst of BYU’s success, while teammates like Calvert, Nani Faletea, Arielle Mackey-Williams and Kaylee Smiler have come up with big moments so far in the WCC tournament.
Yvonne Ejim is Gonzaga’s top scorer and rebounder this season, averaging 16.4 points and 8.2 rebounds per contest, while Kaylynne Truong is also a high scorer (16.1 ppg) for the Bulldogs.
What’s at stake: The winner of this game will play in the WCC tournament championship game against the winner of No. 2 seed Portland and No. 6 seed Pacific.