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A week after they stunned then-No. 2/3 Gonzaga 73-70 at the Kennel, the BYU Cougars get back on the court tonight at Orleans Arena, taking on Santa Clara in a WCC Tournament quarterfinal game (9 p.m. MST, ESPN2).

The Broncos advanced late Friday night, and looked good doing it, pounding hapless Loyola Marymount 85-54 in a first-round game.

BYU is a 12-point favorite at the sports books here in Las Vegas, partly because the Cougars crushed the Broncos by an average of 28 points in two regular-season games.

But Santa Clara looks like a different team, and shot 55 percent while getting accustomed to the Orleans Arena floor.

"They have been playing really well," said BYU assistant coach Mark Pope. "They have won three out of four. Them inserting [freshman Jarvis] Pugh into the starting lineup has really changed the feel of their team.

He is doing a great job, as everybody saw tonight. He brings them unbelievable energy and he complements their perimeter guys so well.

With [Denzel] Johnson and [Jared] Brownridge and [Brandon] Clark, that's a high-powered offensive team. Tonight, they shoot 53 percent from the 3-point line and almost 60 percent from the field as a team and 75 percent from the free-throw line and scoring a lot of points. They are playing really well right now."

No doubt, the Broncos are on a roll, and won't be an easy out tonight.

"Definitely," said Brownridge, who scored 19 points on 6 of 11 shooting. "I think the Saint Mary's win gave us a lot of confidence coming into the WCC Tournament. Hopefully, we can keep this thing going. I was really proud of all my teammates tonight. … I think we are ready to go. We got BYU next. That's all our focus is on."

Added Clark, when asked why Saturday's game will be different than the 81-46 and 78-57 losses to BYU earlier this season: "Well, tomorrow's game is win or go home. I mean, it could be the last college game I play. I feel like at this point in the season, we are all playing together, trusting the young guys to make big plays. I think if we can keep riding this positive energy, we should be fine."

I found it curious that Santa Clara coach Kerry Keating went out of his way to mention that BYU is already in the NCAA Tournament, regardless of tonight's outcome. Perhaps that is the cynic in me. It was almost as if Keating was making a sales pitch. I wonder about his motives.

"In January, they put it on us and San Francisco," Keating said. "These people [who] are talking about the bubble and BYU [on it], they weren't watching our league back when they came in and hammered both of us on that road trip. They were playing better than anyone in the country.

So, their resume' is great and it has nothing to do with tomorrow's game. …. The media want to portray it that way, but they are in the tournament. Believe me when I tell you, they are in. Tomorrow's outcome will not affect them getting in the tournament.

Trust me — they are a good team. And they are one of the 68 best teams in the country. You will see that tomorrow, because they are going to play like that tomorrow, I'm sure. And our challenge will be to get to that level, to overcome that and win and do our best in trying to win."

More from BYU's Pope, who was made available to the media after Santa Clara's win:

On shooting around in the arena on Friday and getting accustomed to it:

"That's why we came early, is to be able to do that. Our guys were really good this morning. They had really good energy. They have had a really positive vibe for quite a while. They haven't tasted losing for awhile, so we hope we can keep our edge and our guys have done a nice job getting prepared for this."

On the health of the team:

"We are just about as healthy as we've been in a long time. Of course, we still are missing Nate and Jamal desperately, but the guys who are playing are in a pretty good shape. We have a lot of guys that are dinged up, but I think our guys mostly feel pretty good."

On why Santa Clara is a good matchup for BYU:

"Well, it is a double-edged sword sometimes. As coaches, we are always on the paranoid side. If they beat us twice, we would be nervous, and we beat them twice, and as they say, it is hard to beat a team three times, so we had some good fortune when we played them the first two times this season, and Brownridge got those two early fouls which of course changes how they play.

It is going to be a great battle. It is two high-powered offensive teams going at it. It is going to be fun."