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San Diego • If ever a set of games illustrated the difference between playing at home and on the road in college basketball, they happened two days apart last February in front of a sparse crowd at Jenny Craig Pavilion in San Diego and a massive one, relatively speaking, at the Marriott Center.
Two nights after falling 69-67 to the Cougars in a competitive heartbreaker at home, the San Diego Toreros traveled to BYU and were humiliated 91-33 in front of 16,324 fans. That's not a misprint: 91-33.
The Cougars led 39-11 at halftime, then opened the second half on a 12-1 run. San Diego missed its first 10 shots and went 0 for 20 from deep in Provo after going 8 of 18 at home 48 hours before that.
The rematch is Saturday night at JCP, where the Toreros (8-9, 1-4 WCC) are 5-5 this season and a much better team than they showed Feb. 20, 2016. BYU coach Dave Rose is worried about residual effects of last year's debacle.
"And also, you throw one other thing in there," Rose said, looking ahead after the Cougars knocked off San Francisco 85-75. "The game got away from them last year in here, and kids remember stuff. All their guys are back, and so hopefully we will be ready for that part of the emotion of this game."
At least leading scorer Brett Bailey (17.1 ppg.), sophomore guard Olin Carter III (16.5 ppg.), sophomore guard Tyler Williams and junior forward Cameron Neubauer are back.
The starters in 2016-17 combined for 17 points last year, shooting 7 of 22 despite a 4-for-6 effort from Bailey. Marcus Harris, Jito Kok and Duda Sanadze are gone, but 6-foot-8 freshman forward Juwan Gray (8.1) has stepped in to add size inside.
Bailey and Carter "played really well against us at their place," Rose said. "It is another team that is really going to give you a second, third and fourth effort. They play really hard, and hopefully we will be prepared for it."
San Diego caught a minor break in the WCC's new scheduling deal this season and didn't have to travel the day before the game, unlike BYU. The Toreros lost 59-57 at home to Santa Clara on Thursday night.
"Yeah, this is very similar to what we did right after Christmas," Rose said, noting that school being in session adds to the difficulty. "We didn't really handle that as well as we needed to. The outcome worked out for us, but we will need to be better prepared for San Diego than we were for LMU."
Sophomore center Eric Mika, who scored a career-high 31 points against the Dons, was part of a sweep of San Diego the last time he faced them, in 2014 before his LDS mission. He said it is "too early to say" whether he likes the new traveling system, but he does have some regrets.
"We definitely miss going to California for three days in a row, so, I dunno, I miss the little mini-vacations," Mika said. "I think travel can really take it out of you, so we just gotta handle it. I think we have been doing a great job with our strength and conditioning coach of getting our minds and our bodies right while we are traveling. We are doing a good job and we just gotta keep it up."
Twitter: @drewjay —
BYU at San Diego
P At Jenny Craig Pavilion, San Diego
Tipoff • 8 p.m. MST
TV • ROOT
Radio • 1160 AM, 102.7 FM
Records • BYU (13-5, 4-1 WCC); San Diego (8-9, 1-4 WCC)
Series history • BYU leads 11-3
Last meeting • BYU won 91-33 (Feb. 20, 2016)
About the Toreros • They are coming off a 59-57 home loss to Santa Clara. … Leading scorer Brett Bailey (17.1 ppg.) had 15 points and nine rebounds; Cameron Neubauer and Olin Carter III added 11 apiece. …They are 5-5 at home and 3-4 away from home.
About the Cougars • They have defeated the Toreros three straight times after falling 77-74 at JCP on Jan. 24, 2015. … Eric Mika posted his 10th double-double of the season, a career-high 31 points and 12 rebounds, in Thursday's 85-75 win over San Francisco. … Nick Emery has made a 3-pointer in 27 straight games and can tie Jimmer Fredette's school record of 28 straight with one against USD.