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The rubber match is set.
Eleven days after stunning No. 3-ranked Gonzaga on its home floor to snap the Zags' 41-game home winning streak, the Cougars will have to knock off the nation's seventh-ranked team again to claim the West Coast Conference title.
Tipoff is at 7 p.m. MDT and the game will be televised by ESPN.
The Cougars (25-8) tuned up for the rematch by romping past Portland 84-70 on Monday night, leading by as many as 23 points before coasting to the finish when the focus shifted more to Kyle Collinsworth's NCAA-record sixth triple-double than the game itself. BYU led for all but 31 seconds, and Collinsworth got the triple-double with six minutes, 45 seconds remaining on a pair of free throws.
He finished with 13 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists.
"Yeah, it was a big free-throw. Everyone is yelling while I am shooting, mostly BYU fans. The credit goes to my teammates," Collinsworth said. "Like coach [Rose] said, we have a lot of shooters, and Chase [Fischer] made a ton of threes, and with our teammates and our pace, it makes it easy to get triple-doubles. They are such great shooters, and our pace is extremely fast."
Fischer was also sensational, making 6 of 12 3-point attempts en route to 24 points, a game-high. Tyler Haws added 18 on 8 of 11 shooting and Skyler Halford chipped in 10.
Fischer said Collinsworth's feat was not a surprise to him, "because I see how hard he works, and how he said he lifted his legs a thousand times a day. That is no joke. Obviously that is a really hard injury to come back from. I just see how hard he works every day and has the dedication not just with the basketball stuff, but how hard he recovers and how good he eats, and just everything that is kinda behind the scenes.
He's a special person, and I think it is not surprising for anyone on our team to see this happen. He's an amazing person, though."
Along with Fischer's 3-point shooting and Collinsworth's triple-double, the game will be remembered for a highlight-reel dunk delivered by Corbin Kaufusi after Fischer missed a trey. It came early in the second half and set the tone for the rest of the game.
"Yeah, I was kinda upset that I missed it at first," Fischer said. "Once again, that is nothing from Corbin. We see that every day [in practice] because he is a freaky athlete. I think that was a big momentum-builder for us to start the second half, because they went on a little run and we missed some outside shots. I think that was a huge play for him. Credit to him, he keeps getting better every game. I think he's a special athlete."
Minutes after Gonzaga routed Pepperdine in the first semifinal, the Zags' Byron Wesley said the team was pulling for BYU to get to the championship game so GU could get a chance to redeem itself from the big loss 11 days ago.
Revenge will be on the Zags' minds, and they will have a mostly partisan Gonzaga crowd backing them up, although nothing like Feb. 28 in the Kennel. There's a couple thousand BYU fans here, too, which should make for an electric atmosphere on Tuesday night.
"I think we understand the challenge," BYU coach Dave Rose said. "They are a top-five team in the country, have been all year. Our guys are ready for what they are in for tomorrow night. They are a deep team. This team has got very good balance to them, great guards. Not just their starters, but they bring guys off the bench who are very good.
And then their talent up front is skilled, and physical, and deep. And we got a real challenge. I know our guys have confidence in our ability to beat them. We are going to have to play well, and do things like we did tonight, where we trusted each other. Defensively, we've got to be strong in our assignments, and then we have to rebound. This is a great rebounding team.
So we will get some rest tonight, and go tomorrow. It is a great time of the year. I am glad we are playing tomorrow."
The Cougars will try to get a monkey off their backs as well. They haven't won a conference tournament since 2001, something Rose was reminded about in the post-game presser.
"I think our guys are really excited for the opportunity," Rose said. "We have been in the finals quite a few times, and I think that when you get to this point, and we have got to this point quite a few times, and felt like we didn't have full strength of our guys.
I think the guys we have right now are pretty dialed in, and mostly healthy. I am excited for that opportunity.
The great thing about individual teams every year, is when you are presented the opportunity to do something special. We had one of those opportunities a week ago Saturday. And to be able to take advantage of those things, it is a great feeling.
I think our guys will be excited, not only for this team, but for our program."
That said, it will be a surprise if guard Anson Winder, BYU's third-leading scorer with a 13.1 average, is able to play. Rose said Winder sprained his knee in the first half of Saturday's 78-76 win over Santa Clara, and it stiffened up on him Sunday.
When he woke up Monday morning, it had swollen up, and Winder wasn't able to play against the Pilots.
"I don't know if he will be able to play tomorrow or not," Rose said. "If there is any way possible that he can, he will.
But that is something that is interesting with our guys. We have been through a lot of these experiences where guys have missed a game or two or three.
Our guys are used to stepping up. I think tonight, especially in the first half, there were a lot of references to playing for each other, and playing for guys who couldn't play tonight.
So, I feel for Ans. We are all hoping for the best. But we probably won't know until tomorrow."