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PROVO — It’s not a stretch to call this the most important week of the regular season for BYU men’s basketball.
The Cougars tip-off at home Thursday night against San Francisco (7 p.m. MT, BYUtv, KSL Newsradio) in a game that could decide the No. 2 seed in the upcoming West Coast Conference Tournament.
Following that, BYU will hit the road to face No. 2 Gonzaga at 8 p.m. Saturday, a game that few expect the Cougars to win and perhaps equally few expect them to contend, as the Zags ride a winning streak into the encounter that has been a bugaboo in The Kennel.
But the Thursday night tip? That one’s prime for the taking.
“These two are probably the biggest of the season,” BYU freshman Gavin Baxter told the Locked on Cougars podcast. “The timing of it all and the fact that we didn’t play our best game at San Francisco. We want to get back at them.”
Sure, San Francisco (20-6) is a team that is 8-4 in West Coast Conference play, including an 82-63 win Jan. 19 on The Hilltop.
But the Cougars (18-10, 10-3 WCC) are 19-7 all-time against the Dons, riding a five-game winning streak that includes last week’s road sweep of San Diego and Loyola Marymount that included a career-high from leading guard TJ Haws, and can all-but guarantee themselves a bye into the conference tournament semifinals with a victory.
In other words, BYU has come a long way since that January night in the Bay Area.
"I don’t think we played our best game at San Francisco, by any means," BYU coach Dave Rose said. "We had a long drought in the first half and we went away on the other end.
"I think we’ve grown a lot and our team has matured since then."
That's provided plenty of motivation for Thursday night.
"I think the most important thing is playing our game," freshman Connor Harding said. "Early in the season, a lot of teams didn’t see the best BYU team. But we’re starting to find our flow and our rhythm.
"We’re excited to see these teams … and to play them again."
BYU is playing as well as it has all year, if not better. After slumping to an 8-7 non-conference record — the worst since the Cougars joined the WCC in 2011-12 — coach Dave Rose’s team has found itself.
Yes, Gonzaga is on another level, with the Zags owning teams by double-digits in every conference game this season, including a 93-63 beatdown in Provo on Jan. 31. Mark Few’s team played its two closest games in pulling away for 13-point road wins at USF and LMU.
But in a year where west coast basketball is struggling and the perception of several Power-5 conferences has taken a hit, the WCC could be in contention for multiple NCAA Tournament bids — and BYU can help its resume with a win over the Dons and the title of Best Team Not Named Gonzaga in the league.
“We’re trying to hold on to that second-place seed,” Baxter said. “That’ll be big for us going into the (WCC) tournament. It would be huge for us, and that goes into this week being huge. We’ve really got to have the right mindset.
“It’s still possible to make the NCAA Tournament. We’ve just got to push it this week.”
BYU rates No. 73 nationally in KenPom’s predictive metrics, while San Francisco is just inside the top-50 at No. 49.
In the NCAA-approved NET rankings, USF is No. 52 to BYU’s 75. Saint Mary’s is a top-50 NET team for the WCC, coming in at No. 47, while Gonzaga ranks No. 2 nationally, just behind top-rated Duke.
Those are the teams that should find themselves with top-four seeds in Las Vegas, though San Diego has the chance to play spoiler with games against the Gaels, the Dons and the Cougars in the season finale March 2.
But first thing’s first: Thursday will go a long way in clearing up the conference picture.
Academic honors
The WCC announced its All-Academic first team Wednesday, and Haws and team captain Luke Worthington were named to the 10-member list.
Haws, a junior finance major, holds a 3.48 grade-point average in BYU’s Marriott School of Business. Worthington, a senior who is majoring in family life and already plans to pursue a graduate degree at BYU, has a 3.42 GPA.
"Those are two guys that embody everything that we did," Rose said. "They try to do it all for us: good players, good students, and they represent the university the best way they possibly can."
San Francisco had four players make the list, including two-time honorees Jordan Rating and Nate Renfro.
The full list is available on wccsports.com.
