Saint Mary’s out-toughs BYU in ugly WCC semifinal rematch in Vegas

LAS VEGAS — BYU left Las Vegas and the West Coast Conference just like it did a year ago.

Saint Mary’s may have scored fewer points than anyone expected, but the Cougars were actually about half as good in that regard than they’d been all season and the quick exit left the same sick feeling in their gut.

Saint Mary’s got physical with the Cougars in a hard-fought sloppy game and No. 14 BYU didn’t respond well in blowing an 11-point lead, the result head coach Mark Pope called a devastating loss.

BYU can’t seem to have good things in league tournaments.

A year ago, a Dave Rose-coached team was chased off the court by San Diego, a team they’d swept in the regular season. This time, it was a nip and kill before the final buzzer by the Gaels.

Jordan Ford made a drive-and-stop 17-footer with one second left to lead the No. 3 seed Gaels to a 51-50 upset of No. 2 seed BYU. It was the knockout punch for a Cougars team that went nine minutes without a field goal late in the second half.

Before tipoff, the Cougars were mentioned as a possible No. 4 NCAA Tournament seed. The loss will likely knock them down to a No. 6 or even No. 8 seed in The Big Dance.

The Cougars simply played down to a tired, dragging Saint Mary’s team, showing nothing of the spark, emotion and passion of their last two wins over No. 2 ranked Gonzaga in Provo and a blowout win over Pepperdine in Malibu.

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A lock for the NCAA tournament, perhaps the gears were not engaged mentally. The Cougars looked mentally and emotionally detached if you subtract a TJ Haws first-half hockey faceoff with Malik Fitts.

That was it.

“They were very physical with us and made us play one-on-one,. And then they took the ball away from us. Moving forward, we need to share the ball and play with more force to get those shots that we’ve gotten all season long. I think this will help us prepare moving forward.” — Jake Toolson

Yoeli Childs scored 23 points and had 10 rebounds to become BYU’s all-time leading rebounder. But in crunch time, he failed to score up close on multiple post plays deep inside the paint as SMC doubled and tripled him and pushed him around. His final shot was a rim-out bunny hopper with 15 seconds to play and a one-point lead. 

His supporting cast read like this: Haws and Gavin Baxter five points, Alex Barcello and Zac Seljaas three, Jake Toolson 11. This, from the nation’s top 3-point-scoring team that had averaged 80 points during the season.

The motor was on, but the transmission was left in park, offensively. The Cougars went nine minutes without a field goal when it counted and they had a multiple-possession lead at crunch time.

On defense, it may have been one of BYU’s best efforts of the season until the last play when Ford, one of the best one-on-one players in the nation, was left in single coverage with the ball thrown to him deep in back court.

Pope said he should have designed something different at that moment and he took responsibility for not preparing the Cougars for the physicality of postseason play.

This is the stage teams scratch and claw and take it to opponents. BYU, on offense, came with a meow and a bowl of milk. The Cougars were devoid of the chip-on-the-shoulder attitude that had carried them to an undefeated February.

Toolson said the Cougars had failed to move the ball around like they had most the season. They didn’t make themselves dangerous. The constant throws to Childs inside did not lead to efficiency (he was 8 of 20), but led to a lot of empty possessions after starting the game with eight turnovers in the first half.

“They were very physical with us and made us play one-on-one,” said Toolson. “And then they took the ball away from us. Moving forward, we need to share the ball and play with more force to get those shots that we’ve gotten all season long. I think this will help us prepare moving forward.”

Pope, who’s brought a magical season for BYU fans in his first year, was very disappointed.  He, Childs and Toolson were at the podium taking questions afterward and it was evident this loss hit them all hard.

Said Pope, “This team has rung the bell every time this year. The last time we suffered a loss we went on to win nine straight with some epic wins. I trust this group. It is a player-led group. We have unbelievable leadership. We don’t have any choice but to prepare harder for what comes next.

“We’ve been good at writing stories this season and so the story we have to write now is that this devastating loss, the poor coaching performance, not the best we’ve put on the court, will springboard us to doing something special in the NCAA. That’s something these guys have been doing their whole lives, waiting for this chance.”