BYU Inconsistent When Playing St. Mary’s, Gonzaga Back-To-Back

PROVO, Utah – BYU is coming off of an impressive 71-66 win over St. Mary’s in the Marriott Center. They snapped a five game regular season losing streak to the Gaels.

They have to play No. 4 Gonzaga on Thursday night in Provo. Since joining the West Coast Conference in the 2011-12 season, the Cougars have had to play St. Mary’s and Gonzaga back-to-back three times in the regular season and once in the Conference Tournament.

In those four games, St. Mary’s was always the first game on the schedule followed by Gonzaga in the second game. The first time BYU was faced with this challenge was their first season in the WCC, the Cougars lost to No. 21 St. Mary’s 80-66 in Provo but they beat No. 24 Gonzaga at home, 83-73. That was the first of two times that BYU played the two teams when they were both ranked in the top 25.

2011-12

In the 80-66 win over the Gaels at the Marriott Center, Matt Carlino and Noah Hartsock both had 15 points apiece to lead the Cougars in scoring. Brandon Davies had 14 points and 7 rebounds.

When they bounced back to beat the Bulldogs five days later, Hartsock had a fantastic game with 24 points and 14 rebounds. Carlino added 17 points and Davies chipped in 15 points. Matthew Dellavedova – who is now in the NBA – had 10 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists for the Gaels.

BYU finished with a 26-9 record, losing to Gonzaga 77-58 in the WCC Tournament Semifinals. They beat Iona in the “First Four” of the NCAA Tournament and lost to Marquette in the second round of the big dance.

Hartsock was the leading scorer that season with 16.8 points per game, Davies had 15.2 points and 7.7 rebounds per game.

2012-13

The Cougars played at St. Mary’s that season and lost 64-57 to an unranked Gaels team. Davies led the way with 25 points and 9 rebounds, Tyler Haws added 12 points as the only two Cougars to score in double figures. Dellavedova had 20 points for St. Mary’s.

Gonzaga rolled into Provo seven days later as the No. 2 ranked team in the country with a 27-2 record, they beat the Cougars 70-65. Four BYU players reached double figures in scoring, led by Haws with 19 points and 6 rebounds. Davies added 12 points and 11 rebounds, while Craig Cusick and Brock Zylstra both dropped 10 points each. Kelly Olynyk, who is now with the Miami Heat, had 19 points to lead the Bulldogs.

BYU ended the season with a 24-12 record, they lost to San Diego in the quarterfinals of the WCC Tournament but reached the semifinals of the NIT when they lost to Baylor by six points.

Haws led the team in scoring that season with 21.7 points per game, Davies posted 17.7 points and 8 rebounds per game.

2013-14

BYU started the difficult stretch on the road at St. Mary’s but they were able to pick up the 60-57 win over the Gaels. Haws was once again the leading scorer with 18 points, Kyle Collinsworth poured in 14 points.

They returned home to host No. 25 Gonzaga where they beat the Bulldogs 73-65. Anson Winder had 17 points to lead the Cougars, Carlino added 15 points off the bench and Eric Mika chipped in 13 points and 8 rebounds.

The Cougars finished the season with a 23-12 record, losing to Gonzaga in the WCC Tournament Championship 75-64. They lost to Oregon 87-68 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Haws averaged 23.2 points per game that season to lead BYU, Collinsworth chipped in 14 points, 8.1 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game.

2017-18

Those three seasons were the only times that St. Mary’s and Gonzaga were back-to-back on BYU’s regular season schedule. They only played the two teams back-to-back in the WCC Tournament once, which was last season.

The Cougars upset No. 20 St. Mary’s in the semifinals of the tournament with an 85-72 win. Yoeli Childs exploded with 33 points, 6 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocks. Elijah Bryant had a great game as well with 25 points and 5 rebounds.

It looked as though BYU used all of their energy on St. Mary’s when they had to face No. 6 Gonzaga in the conference tournament championship. The Bulldogs handled the Cougars 74-54 with Kim Tillie leading the way with 22 points for Gonzaga. Childs had 20 points, 8 rebounds and 3 blocks to lead BYU, Bryant and Payton Dastrup had 11 points apiece.

The Cougars ended the season with a 24-11 record and lost to Stanford in the first round of the NIT.

Bryant led the Cougars in scoring last season with 18.2 points per game. Childs averaged 17.8 points and 8.6 rebounds per game.