'We're facing that right now': How will BYU respond to challenge from The Game?

PROVO — Like it or not, sometimes The Game — that is, the game of basketball, with capitalization referencing how BYU coach Mark Pope likes to refer to it — gives you exactly what you need.

Entering Thursday night's road game at BYU, head coach Todd Golden and his San Francisco men's basketball team had a season possibly teetering, having lost three of the previous four games that included the Dons throwing away a 23-point home lead en route to Saint Mary's 72-70 win on the Hilltop.

Once a trendy bracket buster or at least at-large candidate for the NCAA Tournament, San Francisco tumbled down the analytics with two home losses — remember BYU's 71-69 victory at Sobrato Center that feels so very far away right now? — and faced the possibility of an NCAA elimination game at the Marriott Center.

Fast forward a few nights and the Dons were positively ebullient, practically dancing out of Provo after Khalil Shabazz went for 15 points and Yauhen Massalski added 16 points and 13 rebounds in a 73-59 win over BYU.

With the win, the Dons (18-5, 5-3 WCC) are once again squarely in the thick of at-large contention — and the dreams of a four-bid West Coast Conference are back on the table, at least according to several college basketball pundits and analysts.

"The dream of a four-bid WCC is alive and well if San Francisco can win this game," CBS Sports' Jon Rothstein said at halftime of the broadcast. "Todd Golden can't buy beer without getting carded, but he may be able to take a team to the NCAA Tournament.

"San Francisco has been up big before; they had a big lead against Saint Mary's and blew that game. They need this one tonight."

Check, check and check.

The Dons aren't in the tournament as much as BYU isn't out of it yet. But the visitors took a huge step forward Thursday night, surging to No. 27 in KenPom with a No. 36 ranking in the NET and a 3-3 record in Quad 1 opportunities.

The Cougars (17-7, 5-4 WCC) now face their own crossroads. Once racing toward a single-digit tournament seed, BYU — which fell to a combined 9-6 in Quad 1 and 2 games — now faces the prospect of being pushed to the fringe of the bubble.

BYU isn't out of contention for the NCAA Tournament, and there's still plenty of work that can be done to flip the season once again. But after three-straight losses, including Mark Pope's first-ever Quad 4 loss at Pacific, the Cougars face a myriad of questions as No. 2 Gonzaga heads to Provo for a Saturday night tip (8 p.m. MST, ESPN).

BYU, which tumbled to No. 36 in KenPom, is moving backward, drifting away from looking like a No. 6 or No. 7 seed to the 8-9 matchup, or possibly double-digit seed line. And it doesn't get any easier for the Cougars, who opened up as an underdog against Gonzaga.

"It's not like you get through a stretch and then get to breathe," Pope said. "Through it getting harder, we have to get doubly better. That's our challenge. We have to find a way to get more together.

"When the game is asking us to doubt ourselves and doubt each other, we've got to find a way to trust in ourselves. And that's really hard; everybody faces that at some point in their life, and we're facing that right now.

But Pope isn't ready to throw in the towel just yet.

"I've got a lot of confidence in these guys," he said. I know their insides. Our job right now is to make this disappointing stretch make us into something by the end of the season. Very few teams do that; we'll see if we can."

Perhaps even more of a concern is that the once-described "best locker room in America" — a source of pride for the Cougars since Pope took over years ago — has begun to fracture. Or at least, question. Doubt, even.

Those were words Pope himself used after the most recent skid, which contained his first-ever loss at Santa Clara, his first-ever run of consecutive losses in the regular season, and just his fourth loss at home since taking over for Dave Rose.

The Cougars weren't hurt by a road loss to the Broncos, but they were humbled and hurt by a loss at Pacific. Statistically, a loss to San Francisco doesn't damage BYU's overall NCAA Tournament resume — and wins over Oregon, San Diego State and Utah State (among others) continue to look better and better as the season progresses.

But it doesn't help, either.

"It's really testing us a lot. This best locker room in America is something we strive for; we care about it a lot," Pope said. "But the best deodorant is winning, and losing is the opposite.

"This is something these guys have never experienced before, that we've never experienced as a staff here. It's a challenge that we've got to rise to, and it doesn't get any easier. The game Saturday is going to be harder than this one, and the game next to it is going to be harder than that. It's not going away."

Pope took the responsibility for the losing skid on himself, again saying that he needs to get better as a coach, much like he said with disappointment in Santa Clara and in Stockton.

But his players need to bear responsibility, too. Against San Francisco, Alex Barcello had a game-high 25 points — 42% of the Cougars' scoring output — before fouling out in the final minute. The other four starters of Te'Jon Lucas, Trevin Knell, Gideon George and Fousseyni Traore totaled 8 points on 3-of-16 shooting with 15 rebounds and seven assists.

BYU's biggest bright spot not named Barcello came from Seneca Knight's 12 points off the bench and freshman Atiki Ally Atiki, who totaled a career-high 10 points, four rebounds and four blocks and shot 5-for-5 from the field — a perfect shooting night for the second-straight game.

During BYU's three-game skid, Ally Atiki has totaled 22 points on 11-of-12 shooting with 13 rebounds and five blocks. And he's still only a freshman, still learning the game of basketball after moving to Canada's London Basketball Academy from his native Tanzania.

"I thought he was terrific tonight. But this game just describes you crazy, doesn't it?" Pope said of Ally Atiki, who finished with a -10 in plus-minus. "You look at Atiki, think he's playing great, and at halftime he's the worst plus-minus on the team. It's super frustrating — and that's just a basic number.

"All of the numbers are backward and upside down; it's hard to make sense of them. It makes me feel like I don't know anything about basketball. From my eyes, I thought he was terrific and super functional. And he's getting better; there's no doubt. He's helping us when we need him to help us. He's in there competing, and he's got a really good future in this game. But we're not super excited about the future right now. We want to win now."

The reeling BYU side faces a Gonzaga team coming off its 11th-straight victory won by 30 points against San Diego. From there, they'll move to a two-game road trip to Los Angeles to face LMU and Pepperdine, followed by a visit to Saint Mary's.

It doesn't get easier for the Cougars.

The Game gives you exactly what you need, ready or not.

"Every team goes through this, and the question is, are you going to break apart and fragmente and limp out of the season? Or are you going to have unbelievable commitment and fight and come over this really bad part better? Can we let this make us better?" Pope asked rhetorically. "Can this be our UCLA moment from last year, and somehow we fight so hard and grow more that we're steeled and tougher for the postseason? Very few teams can do that. But I've got a lot of faith in these guys."

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