This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Provo • Pacific won't be playing in the West Coast Conference tournament next month, having voluntarily withdrawn from postseason play this season in the face of expected NCAA sanctions.
But the Tigers will always have the first Saturday of February, 2016.
Filling in for head coach Ron Verlin, who was suspended amid an investigation stemming from allegations of academic misconduct, interim coach Mike Burns led Pacific to one of the biggest upsets in recent memory in the WCC. The Tigers improved to 7-15 overall, 5-7 in league play, and made a case that Burns should challenge Randy Bennett of Saint Mary's for coach of the year honors with a 77-72 win over BYU at the Marriott Center.
"Our guys, I can't tell you how much they've been through, with all the suspensions and sanctions. They are just an unbelievably resilient group and they never cease to surprise me. I am just proud as heck of them," Burns said after Pacific went 25 of 29 from the free-throw line to spring the upset.
The Tigers scored just 43 points at San Diego on Thursday in losing their third straight game, but had 32 alone in the first half Saturday despite trying to slow down the game and BYU's potent attack.
"We just talked about trying to control the tempo," Burns said. "The first 10 minutes, the game was at BYU's pace. And the last 30, we kinda got it at our pace."
BYU scored 16 points in the first four minutes of the game, then just 18 the final 16 minutes of the first half.
"Congratulations to Mike and his team," BYU coach Dave Rose said. "I thought they came in here and had a really good game plan. We got off to a good start and shared the ball well, but .. we were just a step slow. We obviously have watched this team over the last three or four weeks, and they have played everybody really close.
"They had Saint Mary's [in trouble], up seven with three minutes left," Rose continued. "They had Gonzaga [trailing] going down the stretch. We know it is a team that has really talented individual guys that are really tough matchups for us, and they guard us really well. It was physical."
Pacific was the deeper team, getting 22 points from reserves D.J. Ursery, Jacob Lapmkin, David Taylor and Ilias Theodorou. BYU's substitutes failed to score, and freshman guard Nick Emery fouled out after playing 28 minutes and going 0 for 6 from 3-point range.
The Cougars were just 7 of 30 in the second half.
"If we could have made a handful of baskets in the second half and kind of changed things that way, it would have really helped us," Rose said. "But we just couldn't get anybody going."
And Pacific could — even if the Tigers will be watching everybody else play in March.
Twitter: @drewjay