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BYU should be back to full-strength as the Cougars open a crucial four-game West Coast Conference road stretch Thursday at San Francisco.
Center Eric Mika, who missed the last two games after an injury suffered Jan. 4 v. San Diego, participated in Tuesday's Marriott Center practice, and afterward, head coach Dave Rose sounded optimistic about Mika's playing prospects this weekend.
"Eric is feeling better," Rose told the assembled media. "He practiced a little bit yesterday, and today was into practice full-time, so unless he has a setback tonight, we anticipate him having a good practice tomorrow and playing on Thursday--that's what we're hoping."
BYU won the last two games without Mika (against Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount at the Marriott Center), but Rose had to be creative with his lineups in the process, moving Nate Austin from power forward to center, and bringing Josh Sharp off the bench at the power forward position.
"Eric is a big part of our offensive and defensive game plan, and I think that having another body will really be good," said Rose on Tuesday. "I believe that the combination of Josh and Nate was really good for us, in playing those minutes, with a couple of wins, and should help the confidence of the team, but we need Eric."
"We need Eric to play well, and the last couple of times on the road he has been in foul trouble, so hopefully sitting and watching for a couple of games might help him mentally. He might have picked up a couple of things from a different point of view. The most important thing is that he is healthy--that's what we hope."
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BYU's game at USF will be followed by Saturday's contest at Santa Clara, with the Cougars then heading back out on the road the following week for games at Portland and Gonzaga.
BYU is on a current five-game road losing skid, having last won away from the Marriott Center on Nov. 30 at Energy Solutions Arena, against Utah State. The Cougars last true away win was its season-opening road game at Stanford, on Nov. 11.
Rose was asked if BYU's current three-game home win streak sends the team out on the road as a better team than it was the last time the Cougars left Provo.
"We'll find out," Rose said. "That's the challange with our guys...hopefully this team understands the challenge of the weekend."
"These road games in league are really hard to win, and we have to get a great effort from everyone; we can't just have a couple of guys play well."
BYU enters Thursday night's game with an 11-7 record and a 3-2 mark in the WCC; the Dons are 11-7 and 4-2. USF's game with BYU is the first of a five-game home stretch for Rex Walters' club.
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You can hear post-practice interviews with Rose, and guards Tyler Haws, Skyler Halford and Matt Carlino, in "Cougar Cuts," above left.
Thursday's game tips at 7:00 p.m. MST from War Memorial Gymnasium in San Francisco. Radio pregame coverage begins at 6:00 on KSL Newsradio 102.7 FM/1160 AM, BYU Radio (SiriusXM 143), byucougars.com and network affiliates.
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