Provo • If BYU has any hope of upsetting No. 16 Saint Mary’s on Thursday at McKeon Pavilion in Moraga, Calif., the Cougars must slow down Gaels big man Jock Landale.
That’s no secret. What the Cougars are not divulging is how they plan to do that.
In the Gaels’ 74-64 overtime win on Dec. 30 at the Marriott Center, Landale almost single-handedly beat BYU with 31 points on 13-for-15 shooting. Officials allowed the 6-foot-11, 260-pound Australian to repeatedly drop his shoulder and bull his way to the hoop, and he took advantage to the dismay of more than 16,000 fans who screamed for offensive fouls.
“Everybody has put together what they think can work for them. Only a few guys have been able to break it, as far as this year is concerned, because he has had pretty good games almost every game all season long,” BYU coach Dave Rose said. “We have an adjustment to our plan that we had last time. I think our plan was pretty good, but he still was good enough to beat us.”
BYU’s best interior defender, 6-10, 230-pound Luke Worthington, started in that game and the two after it. But after the Cougars scored fewer than 70 points in three straight games, Rose put 6-7 guard Zac Seljaas into the starting lineup and had Worthington come off the bench during the Cougars’ current four-game winning streak.
“It is a possibility [that Worthington will start],” he said. “But we are on a nice run right now and I think the matchup with Jock will be pretty diverse as far as our team is concerned. How we start isn’t nearly as important as how we finish.”
Rose closes practices
Until this season, Rose had only closed BYU’s practices to the public and the media a couple of times in his 13-year tenure. But almost all of them have been closed this season.
“My [assistants] have been trying to convince me for years, and I have always been a guy that has just said, ‘hey, if people want to come watch, let them come watch,’ ” Rose said. “But I guess the kicker this year [is] they have shown me actual proof of the fact that people kinda know what is going on before we go and play them.”
Rose said his assistants asked him if he knew every person who watched his practices 20 or 30 years ago had a video camera in their hand, if he would have had open practices.
Of course not, he said.
“Everybody who comes to practice now has a [cell phone camera],” Rose said. “They are paranoid. I am not, really. But I gave in.”
NCAA mum on Emery investigation
Junior guard Nick Emery posted another blog last week describing his path back from the conditions that caused him to withdraw from BYU a day before the 2017-18 season opener. Emery continues to say he plans to return to the team next season, but did not address his potential issues with the NCAA regarding his eligibility after The Tribune reported in October that he possibly received improper benefits from a BYU booster.
BYU officials said last week that they have nothing new to report after sending their findings to the NCAA.
Tuesday, an NCAA spokeswoman declined to provide any information on Emery’s case.
Worthingon’s bittersweet memories
Worthington was a freshman on the 2013-14 BYU team that won at Saint Mary’s 60-57 on Feb. 15, 2014, to spoil Matthew Dellavedova’s jersey retirement night. Worthington sustained an AC joint separation in the game.
“Smaller venue, but fun to play there and I just have a feeling that we need to do it again — and we should do it again, and that is what is going to happen because I think this team is the best team that I’ve played on,” he said. “Actually, I know it is the best team that I’ve played on. And I am excited to go snag this one.”
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