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A mixture of good and bad news greeted BYU head coach Dave Rose on Tuesday, as he assessed the playing status of hobbled starters Noah Hartsock and Matt Carlino--both of whom suffered knee injuries in road wins last week.
The good news was that MRIs of both players' injured knees came back clear of structural damage, and Carlino was able to take part in Tuesday's practice at full speed, without the brace he used during Saturday's game at Santa Clara.
The bad news was Hartsock's inability to practice on a knee that was sleeved and braced, allowing him to do some shooting on the side and take free throws with the team, but otherwise preventing him from doing much of anything else.
"He's got some real soreness in that knee," said Rose in a post-practice session with reporters. "Hopefully he improves every day" before BYU's anticipated regular-season rematch with Gonzaga Thursday night in Spokane.
Noting that "there's not a lot of swelling" in the knee, Rose said that "I think we dodged a bullet as far as the MRI was concerned, so hopefully we can get him back as soon as possible."
As for Hartsock's status for Thursday, Rose said "there's chance" he will play at The Kennel, but added that the trainers are listing him as "day-to-day." It helps, Rose added, that Hartsock "is not a real high flyer, so he can play on an (injured) ankle, or a knee, if it's playable. He'll play if he can, I do know that. He's a tough guy, and he can be really effective, because...he's not a 'jump around' guy; he's a real skilled guy."
Rose said power forward contingency plans would include relying first on Nate Austin and Josh Sharp, and "there's a possibility we might have Stephen (Rogers) back...Stephen practice a little bit today, we'll see how he responds tomorrow...and Brock (Zylstra) has kind of played that spot for us. Our game plan will be adjusted depending if (Hartsock) can play or not."
"We'll see what happens tomorrow, and go from there," Rose said. "If he can't practice tomorrow, then we'll see if we can get him in (Thursday's) shootaround, and if he can do that, then we'll play him. If not, then we'll look forward to Saturday."
As for Carlino, Rose said his starting point guard "is in a little bit of pain, but not near as sore as Noah, and he made it through the whole practice today, so that's a good sign."
You can hear the entirety of Rose's media session in "Cougar Cuts," above left.
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Looking ahead to Thursday's crucial West Coast Conference clash with the Bulldogs on their McCarthey Athletic Center home court, Rose said that "you watch them play at home, and you watch them play on the road, with the young guards that they have, they're a much different team at home; a lot more confident."
Gonzaga starting point guard Kevin Pangos, for example, has made five of 26 three-point field goal attempts over his last five road games. In his two most recent home games, he has made 10 of 13 three-pointers. At BYU, Pangos was held to four points on 2-for-6 shooting, 0-for-3 from the arc.
"They shoot the ball a lot better (at home)," Rose reiterated when asked about the Zags' backcourt tandem of Pangos and Gary Bell, Jr. and their home performances. "Just look at the stats. They shoot the ball way better."
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Saying he doesn't think his team can count on the kind of turnover points advantage the Cougars enjoyed in Provo (BYU doubled up Gonzaga 22-11 in points off of turnovers in its 83-73 win on Feb. 2), Rose said he nevertheless expects Thursday's contest to "be a fast-paced game; I believe that they try to play a little faster at home than they do on the road, so we'll just have to see."
"I know our guys will be ready to play, and hopefully wee play well."
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BYU has defeated Gonzaga in each of the last two meetings between the two teams--games played at the NCAA Tournament in Denver last March, and at the Marriott Center in Provo last month. This will be the first-ever BYU-Gonzaga game on the Zags' home floor, and Rose said "this will be interesting for us all."
"It's the one arena, when we talked about joining the WCC, that I had never been in, so this will be my first (visit)--along with all the rest of the guys."
At stake on Thursday is a shot at the WCC regular season crown and seeding for the conference tournament next week in Las Vegas. Rose said "it seems a little early" to be concluding conference play, as the WCC ends its regular season a full week before the Mountain West Conference wraps up its campaign, but aside from that "it seems really normal...the challenge to win a regular season conference championship is very similar."
"You've got to be consistent for eight, ten weeks throughout the season, you've got to deal with a lot of challenges from your team, you see other teams deal with the same types of challenges, and then you get to the last week...you're still in the race. It's an exciting time."
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Thursday night's game will tip at 9:00pm MT and will be heard on KSL Newsradio (102.7 FM and 1160 AM) and BYU Radio (SiriusXM 143). It will be televised on ESPN2 with Brent Musburger and Sean Farnham calling the action.
Saturday's Senior Day home finale with Portland is set for a 4:00pm tipoff; BYU players will be donning pink shoes to recognize cancer awareness.
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