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BYU basketball coach Dave Rose will find out what his team is all about today.

Still smarting from the 80-74 loss they suffered at Pepperdine on Thursday night, the Cougars take the court in the Los Angeles area again today, taking on surging Loyola Marymount at 2 p.m. MST at Gersten Pavilion.

"This will be a lot about our guys and where we are and what type of fight we have left in us," Rose said. "I expect them to come out and play really hard. I hope so."

The Lions are 8-16 overall, 4-8 in the WCC, and BYU is a 9-point favorite, but new coach Mike Dunlap's team won't be a pushover today. LMU has won three of its last four games, including a 70-61 win over San Diego on Thursday.

Yeah, those same Toreros who stunned BYU two weeks ago in San Diego.

Here's my preview of today's BYU game, which notes that the Cougars should have guard Chase Fischer today. After missing the Pep game, Fischer practiced at LMU on Friday and is feeling better.

BYU guard Anson Winder said the Cougars missed Fischer for his leadership as much as his scoring.

"It hurts a lot," Winder said after scoring 20 points against the Waves. "He is such a big part of our team. He is one of our main guys. He spreads the floor with his shooting, and just his leadership. It hurts not having him out there to fight with us. Hopefully we can get him back out there as soon as possible."

Winder said he felt a "little strain or something in my groin" in the first half against Pep, which is why he asked to be taken out of the game. After some stretching, he was back in there.

"We just got to stick together," Winder said. "Things like this can make a team or break a team. So if we can stay together and win the one on Saturday and get back on track, that's all we can ask for."

Tyler Haws is now 91 points away from tying Jimmer Fredette (2,599) for first place on BYU's all-time scoring list. If he scores his average the next three games against LMU, Saint Mary's and Pacific, he will break the record two weeks from today against San Diego in the Marriott Center.

But the Cougars aren't worried about that now. They are just trying to get back on track and get a road breakthrough after three straight losses away from the Marriott Center.

"We just got to fight," Haws said. "You got to look inside you and see what you are made of now. No one is going away. We are still going to compete and fight every single second. That's all we can do."

Rose told his team after the Pepperdine loss, BYU's eighth this season, that there are still a lot of games left to play.

"We are trying to figure out what the difference is in our peaks and valleys in games, and try to correct that," he said.