There are 2 games BYU has to win every single year while in the WCC. to guarantee Dancing. Gonzaga and SMC were always the standard, Add San Fransisco this year. To be fair, BYU only has to win at home but living in the WCC has always been a razor thin margin for error.
SMC never plays away from home but this year, they have managed to play in “Neutral” courts 4 times with a RARE @USU win. While BYU has spent most of the season away from home, on the road. Looking at SMC’s road shooting % is worse then BYU’s road % of 27%. Since SMC has to have good outside shooting to win games, I would think this game won’t be as tight as polls think.
SMC’s best player stat wise is 6’ 10 Tass, Foos has noy seen a good center since he was thrown into fire against Almaq after Baxter went down at UVU. Foos got 19 minutes, only had 2 FTs( (made) but he filled stats and gave us a glimpse of what he could do.
Sr Tommy Kuhse is their point, very good outside shooter, runs the show. Barcello or Lucas can defend him well.
As I always say, SMC is full of average players that run Randy Bennett’s system perfectly, never wasting possessions. So to beat them, BYU has to limit TOs, Lohner has to keep his fouls down,
The magic number here is 60 points, SMC as won all 10 games this year when they hit 60 or more, lost all 3 games when they scored less.