Rose, BYU players preview visit to Gonzaga


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Noting that "their size is an issue...their depth is an issue," BYU head basketball coach Dave Rose met with the media on Tuesday and framed his team's challenge when facing the Gonzaga Bulldogs on the road Thursday night.

Following a 90-minute Marriott Center practice, Rose told reporters that it's as important that his players play well as it is that they play hard.

"This is a really good basketball team," Rose said of the tenth-ranked Zags. "I think our guys are excited to play them."

"You have to put a special game together to go in there and beat them."

Gonzaga is coming off a buzzer-beating, heart-breaking Saturday loss at Butler that snapped the Zags' eight-game win streak. They now return home, where they have compiled an 8-1 record this season.

"It's a great arena," Rose said of The Kennel. "The fans are close, they're really involved. The student section is terrific. The tradition that they have there, you can see it in all the fans--they expect to win."

"It's a great college feeling."

You can hear Rose's entire post-practice media session, along with comments from Tyler Haws, Brandon Davies, Matt Carlino and Brock Zylstra, in "Cougar Cuts," above left.

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BYU enters the Gonzaga game at 15-5 on the season, 5-1 in the West Coast Conference. Gonzaga is 17-2, 4-0 in the WCC. Gonzaga leads the all-time series 3-2, with the two teams having split the last four meetings. BYU defeated Gonzaga in the 2011 NCAA Tournament and won the first regular season meeting in 2012, while the Zags won the final two get-togethers of last season.

Thursday night's game tips at 9:00 p.m. MT from the McCarthey Athletic Center in Spokane; pregame coverage begins at 8:00 on KSL Newsradio 102.7 FM/1160 AM and BYU Radio (SiriusXM 143).

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Photo: Courtesy BYU Photo

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