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BYU men’s basketball will finish at home against Gonzaga

Chris Detrick | The Salt Lake Tribune Brigham Young Cougars guard Nick Emery (4) Brigham Young Cougars forward Yoeli Childs (23) and Brigham Young Cougars guard Elijah Bryant (3) walk off of the court during the game at the Marriott Center Thursday February 2, 2017.

Provo • For the fourth straight season, BYU’s basketball team will end the regular season in 2018 with a game against the mighty Gonzaga Bulldogs.

Nobody in Provo is complaining about that, seeing as how BYU has knocked off Gonzaga three consecutive times in Spokane, which has to be some sort of record.

The West Coast Conference released its 2017-18 men’s and women’s basketball conference schedules on Tuesday. This is the second year that the race will stretch over a nine-week span, with no byes, and no travel partners.

Conference play begins on Dec. 28 and concludes on Feb. 24 (with BYU hosting 2017 national runner-up Gonzaga at the Marriott Center). The Cougars will be playing the Zags twice in three weeks, because they are at The Kennel in Spokane on Feb. 3.

Last year, BYU upset Gonzaga 79-71 in Spokane to hand the then-No 1 Zags their first loss of the season. Gonzaga went on to the NCAA Tournament’s national championship game, where it lost to North Carolina.

Another WCC team that should be in the Top 25, Saint Mary’s, will visit BYU on Dec. 30, a mild bummer for the Cougars because students will not be on campus. BYU travels to Moraga on Jan. 25, having not won there since 2014. Saint Mary’s blew BYU out three times last season and returns most of its team from last season.

The Cougars will open the conference season at home against Portland, which will be part of a five-game home stand that starts with Utah on Dec. 16 and also includes Idaho State and Texas Southern.

In February, the Cougars will play three straight road games — at Pepperdine, at San Diego, at Portland — before returning home for the season finale against the Zags.

Prior to traveling to Gonzaga on Feb. 3, the Cougars will play at Loyola Marymount on Feb. 1. Meanwhile, GU will be waiting on the Cougars because it will play San Diego on Feb. 1.

BYU’s 2017-18 Men’s Basketball Schedule

Nov. 1 — Westminster

Nov. 8 — Colorado College

Nov. 11 — Mississippi Valley State

Nov. 15 — at Princeton

Nov. 18 — UT Arlington

Nov. 21 — Niagara

Nov. 24 — vs. Alabama at Barclays’s Center Classic, New York

Nov. 25 — vs. UMass at Barclay’s Center Classic, New York

Nov. 29 — at Utah Valley University

Dec. 2 — at Utah State

Dec. 6 — Illinois State

Dec. 9 — vs. Weber State at Beehive Classic, Salt Lake City

Dec. 16 — Utah

Dec. 21 — Idaho State

Dec. 23 — Texas Southern

West Coast Conference Games

Dec. 28 — Portland

Dec. 30 — Saint Mary’s

Jan. 4 — at San Francisco

Jan. 6 — at Pacific

Jan. 11 — Pepperdine

Jan. 13 — at Santa Clara

Jan. 18 — Loyola Marymount

Jan. 20 — San Diego

Jan. 25 — at Saint Mary’s

Jan. 27 — Pacific

Feb. 1 — at Loyola Marymount

Feb. 3 — at Gonzaga

Feb. 8 — Santa Clara

Feb. 10 — San Francisco

Feb. 15 — at Pepperdine

Feb. 17 — at San Diego

Feb. 22 — at Portland

Feb. 24 — Gonzaga

March 1-6 — at West Coast Conference Tournament, Las Vegas