BYU earns No. 2 seed in WCC Tournament, will have bye all the way to the semifinals

MALIBU, Calif. — Going into Saturday afternoon’s regular-season finale at Pepperdine, BYU needed a win to capture the No. 2 seed in next week’s West Coast Conference Tournament in Las Vegas.

A Cougar loss would have meant that Saint Mary’s could seize the second seed Saturday night with a victory at Gonzaga, which owns the No. 1 seed in the tournament.

But BYU ended any possible drama regarding the No. 2 seed with an 81-64 win over the Waves as Yoeli Childs scored a career-high 38 points and collected 14 rebounds. 

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Earning the No. 2 seed means the Cougars will get a bye all the way to the WCC Tournament semifinals a week from Monday at Orleans Arena. It’s the first time BYU has had a No. 2 seed with the triple bye.

“It’s huge. Obviously, we wanted to take the No. 1 seed. That was our goal coming into the season. We fell a little bit short of that,” Childs said. “Our No. 1 goal has been to improve every day and I think we’ve done that. The No. 2 seed is huge. It’s a triple bye and it gives you a chance to go fresh.”

“It’s huge. Obviously, we wanted to take the No. 1 seed. That was our goal coming into the season. We fell a little bit short of that. Our No. 1 goal has been to improve every day and I think we’ve done that. The No. 2 seed is huge. It’s a triple bye and it gives you a chance to go fresh.” — Yoeli Childs

“I’m so proud of these guys. It’s the best record we’ve ever had in the WCC in the history of BYU,” said coach Mark Pope. “It clinches the No. 2 seed and most importantly, that these guys continue to rise up to the challenge of trying to have the best locker room in America.” 

Saint Mary’s enters the tournament as the No. 3 seed and Pacific will be the No. 4 seed. The Gaels and Tigers will play quarterfinal games next Saturday. 

It’s likely that BYU and Saint Mary’s will play in the semifinals on March 9. The winner of that game is expected to match up with No. 1 seed Gonzaga, which is ranked No. 3 in the country in the WCC championship game.

The Cougars haven’t won a conference tournament title since 2001.  

With the No. 2 seed, BYU will get a long layoff before playing again. 

“The No. 2 seed is awesome. It’s the first time we’ve had that in a while,” said senior Zac Seljaas. “It’s awesome to have that accomplishment. We just have to keep going and learn from this game and keep it rolling and keep getting better every day.”

These are all of the seeds for the WCC Tournament — No. 1 Gonzaga, No. 2 BYU, No. 3 Saint Mary’s, No. 4 Pacific, No. 5 San Francisco, No. 6 Pepperdine, No. 7 Santa Clara, No. 8 Loyola Marymount, No. 9 San Diego and No. 10 Portland.

The tournament tips off Thursday with LMU taking on San Diego and Santa Clara facing Portland.

The WCC boasts five teams with 20 or more victories (Gonzaga 29-2; BYU 24-7, Saint Mary’s 24-7; Pacific 22-9; USF 20-11) for the fourth time in history and for the third consecutive season.

“Every single game in the WCC Tournament is going to be hard,” Pope said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re playing the 7-10 play-in or the 8-9 game. It’s going to be hard. That’s why we have this regular season, to try and earn ourselves as far ahead as we can for the best seed and then go fight and compete.”