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Santa Clara, Calif. • The BYU Cougars have been here before. Seven days ago.
After Thursday's emotional 114-91 win over San Francisco that saw Nick Emery score 37 points to break the school's freshman scoring record, the Cougars face a quick turnaround. They tangle with 9-16 Santa Clara at 2 p.m. MST on Saturday at the Leavey Center.
The Broncos improved to 5-8 in the West Coast Conference with a 74-71 win over San Diego on Thursday night while BYU (18-8, 9-4) exorcised the demons left over from last Saturday's perplexing 77-72 loss at home to Pacific with the win over the Dons.
Of course, the last time BYU faced an inferior opponent after a big win (over Saint Mary's) things didn't go well, which is why coach Dave Rose spoke cautiously in the bowels of The Sobrato Center on Thursday night after the Cougars scored 58 points in the first half and 56 in the second in the blowout win.
"When we are good, we are really, really good," Rose said. "That's what we will emphasize. We tried three or four different things between Thursday and Saturday with this group. We will work hard tomorrow and prepare. It is an early start on Saturday. I expect our guys to give a great effort, but that's not enough. We have to be good. We have to execute and be on top of our game, and that's what needs to be done. So we will see."
The Cougars insisted after the matinee loss to Pacific that they didn't have an emotional letdown — Emery said they simply overlooked the Tigers — but they are clearly guarding against that this weekend. Thursday, sophomore Corbin Kaufusi was inserted back into the starting lineup, and he delivered a double-double (10 points and 10 rebounds) and played 21 minutes while senior Nate Austin got off the bench for just one minute.
The other big man, Kyle Davis, was battling an illness, but still had 12 points and six rebounds in 18 minutes.
"I feel like we have a lot of fight in us," said freshman Jordan Chatman, who has emerged as BYU's best on-ball defender. "You have to be a tough team to lose a game like we did against Pacific, and come back and win here. I am proud of the way we played against a tough team."
Rose said to expect more shuffling of the starting lineup to keep players motivated.
"I think we can do that [make changes] with this group because of matchups and what we've seen the first time through the WCC schedule," he said. "I would bet it probably changes two or three more times just because of the matchups."
Speaking of matchups, BYU faces a difficult one Saturday in Santa Clara junior guard Jared Brownridge, the second-leading scorer in the WCC with a 19.9 average. The Cougars held him to 16 points on 5-of-16 shooting in the 97-61 win in Provo on Jan. 7, but he's a tough guard, Rose said.
"Well, [containing] Brownridge is a huge key," Rose said. "[KJ Feagin] is also playing well. It is a really good offensive rebounding team. We gave up a lot of offensive rebounds [16] tonight, so that is something we will have to be better at when we go over there. It will be a tough game. We usually get a good crowd over there. Hopefully we will get some good support."
Guards Chase Fischer and Zac Seljaas are playing through shoulder injuries.
Despite the surprising losses to Portland and Pacific, the Cougars are on pace to post one of their better WCC records. They were 8-5 through 13 games last year and 9-4 at the same juncture in the two seasons before that.
"It has been a season of ups and downs," Emery said. "You just gotta look at the next one. The season is long, there are a lot of games, and yeah, we are still frustrated about the loss on Saturday, but as long as we learn from that and move on and get momentum going into the tournament, that's all we want."
Twitter: @drewjay —
BYU at Santa Clara
P At Leavey Center, Santa Clara, Calif.
Tipoff • Saturday, 2 p.m. MST
TV • BYUtv/TWC; Radio • 1160 AM, 102.7 FM, Sirius XM 143
Records • BYU 18-8, 9-4 WCC; Santa Clara 9-16, 5-8 WCC
Series history • BYU leads 25-5
Last meeting • BYU 97, Santa Clara 61 (Jan. 7, 2016)
About the Cougars • Nick Emery set the school's freshman scoring record with 37 points and the freshman 3-pointer record with 10 in the 114-91 win over San Francisco. He's had eight 20-point games, fourth-most by a Cougar freshman. … Kyle Collinsworth passed Jonathan Tavernari for 14th on the all-time scoring list, has 1,530 career points.About the Broncos • Jared Brownridge scored six points in the final minute, and 19 total in Thursday's 74-71 win over San Diego. … They got 39 points from their reserves, including 12 from Henrik Jadersten and 10 from Brendyn Taylor. … Brownridge moved into 12th place on the all-time scoring list and has 1,573 in his career.