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BYU secures No. 2 seed in WCC tournament with win over Saint Mary’s

The Cougars closed out the regular season with a fourth-straight victory, beating the Gaels 65-51.

(Isaac Hale | Special to The Tribune) Brigham Young University forward Matt Haarms (3) blocks a shot from St. Mary's College guard Logan Johnson (0) during a game between the BYU Cougars and the Saint Mary’s College of California Gaels held at the Marriott Center in Provo on Saturday, Feb. 27, 2021.

(Isaac Hale | Special to The Tribune) Brigham Young University forward Matt Haarms (3) blocks a shot from St. Mary's College guard Logan Johnson (0) during a game between the BYU Cougars and the Saint Mary’s College of California Gaels held at the Marriott Center in Provo on Saturday, Feb. 27, 2021.

Provo • What started as a slugfest, changed into a hot shooting night and ended with BYU securing the No. 2 seed in the West Coast Conference Tournament with a 65-51 win over Saint Mary’s, Saturday in the Marriott Center.

This is just the second time since the Cougars moved to the WCC that they completed a sweep of the Gaels, having previously defeated them on the road last month.

“It was extremely, extremely fun,” senior Alex Barcello said. “That’s probably the best word that I could use to describe tonight as. To go out there and play my last regular-season game, and get a win against a really tough team — it means a lot to me. ... I’m excited for postseason now. It’s on.”

The game started kind of slow at first, with BYU wanting to run, but Saint Mary’s forcing the game to slow down and make it more of a grind.

The Gaels were effective in stopping the Cougars’ offense, but still had to deal with BYU’s defense. Senior Matt Haarms was key on that end of that ball, particularly in the first half when he put up five blocks.

The Cougars also were able to outrebound the Gaels 28-22 in the first half.

Senior Brandon Averette believed maybe the fact that it was Senior Night was partly to blame for the slow start.

“Basketball players, we’re used to routine — the same thing every game, the same warmup,” Averette said. “And just kind of the Senior Night vibe, it didn’t throw us off, but I think us knocking off our routine it was a little weird.”

While BYU was held to 32.7% field goal shooting in the first 20 minutes, the Cougars shot 66.7% in the second half.

Barcello said the main thing the team focused on in halftime was physicality. If they could keep that up, shots would eventually fall.

“We didn’t have the greatest first half, shooting-wise,” Barcello said. “We were getting good shots, we played really good defense and we were going to continue that going into the second half. And I think we really did a good job about that.”

Sophomore guard Trevin Knell proved to be the spark for the Cougar offense, putting up a team-high 15 points (tying his career best) — 12 of which came from the arc. Knell also added four rebounds and one assist while not turning the ball over.

With Knell’s performance on Saturday, BYU has had seven different leading scorers in its last eight games.

“I’m not 100% sure, but I’m 1005 sure nobody in the country has done that,” BYU coach Mark Pope said.

The ability to have any player on the team lead the offense on any given night is a trait the Cougars believe will help them in the postseason. It also gives BYU confidence.

“I think it’s honestly fun,” Averette said. “Usually, the same guys are scoring, leading the team in scoring every single game. That doesn’t really feel good to a role player and who may not have as big as a role.”

Although the WCC Tournament is set to start on Thursday, the Cougars have earned byes up until the semifinals on March 8 and, if they win, would go on to the championship game on March 9.

While there were previous reports that BYU and top-ranked Gonzaga could opt out of the conference tourney, Pope said the plan as of now is to go.

Last fall, it was unclear if the basketball season would happen. But, having been able to put together a 24-game season without once having to pause activities on BYU’s end due to COVID-19 related issues would have been pointless if the Cougars can’t continue practicing precautions — especially with the NCAA Tournament around the corner.

“We’ve got to find some way to keep them safe,” Pope said. “And I know these guys want it just as bad as we all do, so they’re going to be really careful. We’re going to be really careful.”