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LOS ANGELES - The 2017 West Coast Conference Men's Basketball Championships heads into the quarterfinal round today, Saturday, March 4 at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nev. And it begins with a pair of teams entering on a high-note when sixth-seeded LMU takes on No. 3 seed BYU at 1 pm.
The LMU Sports Network takes a look at the first match-up of the four-game set on Saturday as the Lions enter the tournament winners of their last three games and four of their last five. The Cougars have won their last two, including the 79-71 win a week ago at previous No. 1 Gonzaga.
The game can be seen on all of the WCC's regional television partners, including Spectrum SportsNet, CSN Bay Area, and BYUtv. It can also be streamed live on Twitter and on TheW.tv. The game will also be live on KXLU 88.9 FM.
The Lions will ride their defense into the contests, having won their last three by keeping their opponents under 70 points and 45 percent shooting from the field. They have held opponents to under 70 points 15 times this season and are 12-3 in those games. They are also 14-2 on the season when holding opponents to under 45 percent from the field (USF shot 37.9 percent and UoP shot 40.7 percent last weekend.
BYU enters the tournament second in the WCC with 81.1 points per contest and third in the league in shooting at 46 percent. They have been stingy on defense, ranking second in the WCC holding teams to just 40.6 percent from the field.
THE MATCH-UP
• The Lions have been led all season by their five seniors, who have combined to play 348 games at the NCAA Division I level. Their tenure at LMU can be defined as Cardiac Lions, entering the first game of the WCC Championships played over half their games down to the final minutes, including the final two games of the year. On the season, the Lions had their 12th and 13th game of the season decided in the last 10 seconds of the contest in a 53-51 win over USF on Feb. 23 and a 67-66 win at Pacific on Feb. 25 (record of 6-7). They have played 17 games decided by eight points or less, going 9-8 in those contests. LMU is 4-3 in one-point games, 1-0 in two-point games, 1-2 in three-point games, the five-point setback against BYU (Dec. 31), a pair of six-point wins in WCC play, a 1-1 mark in seven-point games and an eight-point setback at BYU on Jan. 28, 85-77...
• Like the Lions, BYU won their last two contests of the regular season, none more thrilling than their road win over previous No. 1 and unbeaten Gonzaga in the final regular season contest of the year. The Cougars' 79-71 win was the first in program history against the No. 1 team in the country. Eric Mika had 29 points and 11 rebounds, TJ Haws scored 17 and Elijah Bryant added 14 points and five rebounds. Three Cougars earned All-WCC honors. Eric Mika and TJ Haws were named to the All-WCC First Team and Haws and Yoeli Childs earned All-WCC Freshman Team honors…
• This will be the 17th overall meeting between the two programs with BYU holding a 12-4 edge in the series. BYU won both regular season match-ups of the season by single digits. In the first meeting in Los Angeles on Dec. 31, BYU overcame an 18-point deficit to win 81-76.
Trevor Manuel had 16 points and seven rebounds off the bench. In Provo on Jan. 28, the Cougars won 85-77, hitting 28-of-44 free throws.
Buay Tuach had 21 points for the Lions.
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