BYU Basketball: San Diego Toreros Round 3
By Adam Gibby
BYU Basketball played San Diego just one week ago in Provo and nearly had their worst meltdown of the season which may be a good thing for the Cougars.
It’s March and weird stuff happens. With Conference Tournaments going on around the country, BYU Basketball needs to be careful that nothing weird happens tonight against San Diego.
The Cougars and Toreros will play for the third time their six games, something unheard of in any sport outside of baseball. Whether this is something good or bad is debatable and we will have to just wait to see how it all plays out.
Why it may be good
The Toreros have gotten really close to beating the Cougars twice. In the first game, the Cougars were down by as many as 14 points before TJ Haws and McKay Cannon led a comeback that led to overtime where the Cougars dominated outscoring the Toreros 13-7.
In the second game, it was the Cougars who had a very big lead late in the second half with the Cougars up 20 with 9:57 left in the game. San Diego guard Isaiah Pinero and the other guards began to hit everything they shot and the game got down to a six point game following a Finn Sullivan basket. The Cougars were able to rally again and put distance between them and USD to finish out the game.
In both games, USD had late momentum before losing the game, and both times they came up short and lost. Having that happen twice can be really tough on a team, especially happening twice in less than 20 days. Having already played yesterday, and knowing the Cougars are fresh, this may be a game that the Toreros don’t feel motivated to play as much as if it were another team. They may struggle to have a gameplan they are comfortable with and may result in opportunities to put the game away early. Also, the Cougars have learned that San Diego is resilient and that they can’t stop attacking until the final buzzer.
Why it may be bad
A lot of times when a team loses twice or even once to a team in the matchup they are able to take the underdog role and get off to a fast start the next time. If BYU Basketball is looking forward to Saint Mary’s or Gonzaga at this point, the Toreros may get an early lead on the Cougars.
USD has already seen that BYU can rally and seen how they can hold off a team late. They could potentially use this and prevent it from happening again. There is also the potential that with BYU not playing in a week, that could also lead to a slow start. The Toreros played last night and it is very possible that they will be in a better rhythm to start off the game.
Projection
The Toreros will get ahead early in the game as the Cougars are looking forward a bit and take a few minutes to get back in their game rhythm. Yoeli Childs and TJ Haws will lead a late first half comeback and keep it close at halftime. In the second half it will be a back and forth game but the fatigue of playing last night will get the better of USD and BYU will be able to pull away late.
Score: BYU 84 – USD 77