Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
PROVO — Two nights after a humbling 30-point loss to No. 4 Gonzaga, BYU basketball bounced back in a big way with a 67-49 win over Loyola Marymount.
It was the toughest night of the season, followed by a night of elation and excitement.
So which was the real BYU team?
The answer, of course, may be both. Maybe the Zags are just that good, for one. But the Cougars hope the Saturday night version sticks around a little longer.
Gavin Baxter recorded a career-high 25 points and 10 rebounds (plus a pair of blocks for good measure), and Nick Emery had a season-high 17 points off the bench.
And even on a night when BYU's two best players, Yoeli Childs and TJ Haws, combined for just 15 points and nine rebounds, the Cougars still overwhelmed a Lions team that may be the best, record-wise, since BYU joined the West Coast Conference in 2011 but is also 16-7, and 4-5 in league play.
Still, BYU needed to send a statement after its first blowout loss, the worst at home since a 30-point defeat to Penn State in Dave Rose's first season as an assistant coach in Provo.
Consider the statement sent.
"That loss hurt us," said senior McKay Cannon, who dished out seven assists and held LMU's leading scorer James Batemon scoreless on the other end. "It was good for us to get our mojo back. It’s a long season, and we want to keep this momentum going."
BYU passed the halfway mark of the West Coast Conference play in as good of a spot as anyone in the league, save for the Zags (21-2, 8-0 WCC), who are lapping the field with a three-game lead.
The remaining seven games include four on the road — the biggest being a trip to Gonzaga on Feb. 23 the highlight — as well as home games against Pacific, San Francisco and San Diego.
If the Cougars hold serve the rest of the way, they should be in line for the No. 2 or No. 3 seed in the WCC tournament in Las Vegas — a critical position that is on the opposite side of the bracket from the Zags.
And the Cougars may be playing their best basketball, despite the loss to Gonzaga. BYU has struggled to find a consistent third option to pair with Childs and Haws, so having Baxter and Emery break out in the way they did at the same time is a boon for the program.
Emery has had a few big games before. But none quite like his second-half explosion against LMU, when he made four of his five 3-point attempts and finished 5-of-5 from deep to lead all shooters.
"He played great," Cannon said. "He really stretched the floor, and hit some big shots, and he played really well on defense. He’s an energy guy, and I was happy for him, as well."
Pair it with the return of Jahshire Hardnett from a hand injury that caused him to miss five games, Cannon's defensive presence, and a group of role players like Connor Harding and Luke Worthington, and BYU will look to turn the corner — both figuratively and literally, in terms of the league schedule.
"We won a game with our two leading scorers in single digits," Rose said. "If you had told me that a couple of weeks ago, I didn’t think we could do it. It just wasn’t happening with our guys.
"But for it to happen here and to happen the way that it happened, I think it gives the whole team confidence. I really believe our best basketball is ahead of us — after a really tough night on Thursday."
That doesn't make the remainder of the season easy. Two of the three teams to beat BYU in league play are still on the schedule in USF and Gonzaga.
But the game against the Dons may be more manageable at home than on The Hilltop, especially after USF dropped back-to-back road games against San Diego and Saint Mary's.
"That 20 minutes in the second half might have been as good as we've played in here all year," Rose said.
