2018-19 #WCChoops Schedule | BRANDON CLARKE “FRIDAY FEATURE”
By John Crumpacker
#WCChoops Columnist
Oh, what might have been.
Oh, no, what was.
BYU and Saint Mary’s, playing in a doubleheader at the Coaches vs. Cancer event at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday, were in position to notch a pair of wins to further embellish the West Coast Conference’s standing nationally (see below).
Instead, it turned out to be an 0-2 night.
Playing in what amounted to a home game, UNLV needed an improbable fall-away 3-point shot at the buzzer in overtime to defeat BYU 92-90. In the nightcap, Saint Mary’s fell to LSU 78-74 after fighting back from a 15-point deficit in the second half. As well, the Cougars clawed back from a 17-point hole (47-30) at halftime to take a 90-89 lead with 14 seconds remaining on a tough inside shot by guard Jahshire Hardnett.
BYU’s defeat represented a punch in the gut, a slap in the face and a kick in the butt all at once after it did all it could to try to win a close game.
“Our guys played their hearts out,’’ BYU coach Dave Rose said in a quiet tone. “I was proud of the competitive spirit the guys played with. We were just one play short. We played with a much better focus in the second half.’’
That’s an understatement. The Cougars scored but 30 points in the first half and roared back to put up 60 in the second.
“I think the biggest thing is we’ve been in that position at halftime before and we didn’t respond,’’ Rose said. “(This time), we fought, we got a lead, got to overtime, had a lead. That part of it was good to see from guys to respond the way we did.’’
In contrast to Rose, Saint Mary’s coach Randy Bennett groused over his team’s defensive effort against LSU and its carelessness with the ball, as in 19 turnovers, about twice as many as the Gaels normally commit.
“We’re just not very good defensively, bottom line,’’ Bennett said. “When you turn it over 19 times, you can’t be bad defensively, too. You can’t do both – turn the ball over an uncharacteristic number of times and not defend.’’
The Gaels are 7-5 and have three non-conference games remaining – Bucknell, at Western Kentucky and San Jose State – before beginning conference play Jan. 3 at USF. There’s a sense of urgency for Saint Mary’s.
“We’ve got 2 ½ weeks. We better hurry,’’ Bennett said. “League’s going to be tough. We have to have a mindset that we’re going to do it. We’ve got to get tougher in those areas (defense, rebounding).’’
What We Learned
- The college basketball world is paying attention to the WCC’s new strategy of playing an enhanced slate of non-conference games. Five conference teams are ranked in the top 68 of the most recent NET (NCAA Evaluation Tool) rankings. Coincidentally, 68 is the number of teams invited to the NCAA Tournament. Gonzaga leads the way at 14, San Francisco is 22, Loyola Marymount 51, San Diego 57 and Saint Mary’s 61. BYU is just outside the top 100 at 101. (Through games completed 12/16/18.)
- BYU’s T.J. Haws might be the craftiest player in the conference. The 6-foot-4 junior guard seems to do whatever his team needs him to do in the moment. The player we’ve christened Ginger Ghost is averaging, in 34 minutes of court time, 17.5 points per game and 5.2 assists, while shooting 50 percent from the field and 85.5 percent from the free throw line. He’s also nailing 40.5 percent of his 3-point shots, good for 2.3 made treys per game. Haws also has a plus-2.6 assists-to-turnover ratio, always a good thing for someone who handles the ball as often as he does.
- A player to watch this season, and for seasons to come, is Saint Mary’s freshman Dan Fotu. A 6-7 forward, Fotu is on the floor for 18.1 minutes per game and is contributing 4.7 points and 3.6 rebounds per game. He’s averaging almost the same from 3-point range, .480, as he is on all his field goal attempts, .487. Fotu played on New Zealand’s national U18 team at the 2016 Oceania Championships, averaging 7.5 points and 5.0 rebounds per game.
The week ahead
With more than 300 teams in Division I basketball, there are bound to be some odd pairings in non-conference play between schools that otherwise have nothing to do with each other. Three stand out in that regard, with Portland hosting Florida A&M (the only school with a venomous serpent for a mascot – Rattlers), UT Arlington visiting Gonzaga and Bucknell traveling all the way from Lewisburg, PA., to play at Saint Mary’s.
That being said and summarily dismissed, there are five games that stand out this week. BYU, fresh off that gut-punch by UNLV, plays at San Diego State on Saturday. San Diego takes on Washington State on Saturday in the Las Vegas Classic at the Orleans Arena and USF hosts Stanford (more on that game on Friday in this cyber space), on Saturday afternoon.
Additionally, Santa Clara hosts USC on Tuesday night while Pepperdine travels to Oregon State for a Monday night encounter. It’s always nice, and often revealing, to see WCC teams test themselves against Pac-12 schools.
Odd Stat of the Week
At 9-1, USF is the only team in the WCC that is unbeaten in the United States. The Dons dropped an 85-81 decision to now-No. 14 Buffalo on Dec. 1 in the Belfast Classic in Northern Ireland.
Stat Line of the Week
Senior forward Anthony Townes came up big for Pacific as the Tigers edged Cal State Northridge on the road 79-77 on Sunday. The Modesto native scored 24 points on 8-of-12 shooting and was 8 of 9 from the free throw line to go with 7 rebounds and 1 steal.
Townes was named WCC Player of the Week for what he did vs. CSUN and for his game last Monday as the Tigers defeated Long Beach State 74-68. For the week, Townes averaged 19 points and 7.5 rebounds while shooting .706 from the field. Pacific is on a four-game win streak.
Tweet of the Week
That’s USF athletics director Scott Sidwell and coach Kyle Smith posing with noted actor, and San Franciscan, Danny Glover at a game at Memorial Gym at the Sobrato Center. Good stuff.
Quote of the Week
“A little off my game was an understatement. Horrible. I’m not going to have a first half like that again. I have to be a leader and make plays.’’
That’s BYU stalwart Yoeli Childs, who had a poor first half vs. UNLV but rebounded in the second to finish with 25 points and 11 rebounds.
Follow the three dots…
With the non-conference schedule winding down, eight WCC teams have winning records as of Dec. 16 and six of those have won at least eight games. … No. 8 Gonzaga is averaging a conference-best 93.7 points per game. … LMU (58.3) and USF (58.6) are the only teams in the WCC holding opponents to fewer than 60 points per game. … Watch out for LMU’s band of pickpockets. The Lions are leading the conference in steals per game at 7.5. … Marksmen, take aim. Pacific’s Lafayette Dorsey (.958) and Portland’s Josh McSwiggan (.909) are the only players in the conference hitting at least 90 percent from the free throw line.