Blue roundup: Cougars rattle Gonzaga

BYU earned a huge win Thursday, beating No. 24 Gonzaga, 83-73, at the Marriott Center.

The Spokane Spokesman-Review reports that the Bulldogs were rattled by the Cougars.

"Gonzaga brought out the best in BYU for the second time in roughly 11 months," writes Jim Meehan. "The Cougars ended Gonzaga’s season last March with an 89-67 victory in the NCAA tournament. This time, BYU (19-6, 7-3 WCC) put a hurt on Gonzaga’s chances of winning a 12th consecutive WCC title. The 24th-ranked Bulldogs (17-4, 7-2) dropped further behind Saint Mary’s (22-2, 11-0), which rallied past San Diego."

Ken Pomeroy attended Thursday's game and offers analysis of what he saw.

"Coming into the game, Gonzaga not only led the WCC in defensive efficiency during conference play, they led the league in three of the four factors while ranking second in turnover percentage," Pomeroy writes. "Part of this is explained by having only played one game against Saint Mary’s or BYU, but the larger part of the explanation is that their defense is pretty solid. This game really didn’t change my mind about that, either. Sure, Gonzaga gave up 83 points, but BYU had 82 offensive possessions. The half-court defense was still impressive considering the opponent had a decent offense and the game was on the road. The problem was on the other end, where 12 first-half steals by BYU led to 17 points, often of the fast-break variety. Those points should be blamed on the faults of the offense, and if you take those out of the equation, the Gonzaga defense did very well."

The Voice of the Cougars, Greg Wrubell, provides insight on the Cougar basketball team in this edition of "Cougar Tracks."