BYU (18-8, 9-6) at No. 19 Arizona (18-8, 12-3) | McKale Center | 8 p.m. Saturday | ESPN | 1290-AM
PROBABLE STARTERS
ARIZONA
G Jaden Bradley (6-3 junior)
G Caleb Love (6-4 senior)
F Anthony Dell’Orso (6-6 junior)
F Henri Veesaar (7-0 sophomore)
C Tobe Awaka (6-8 junior)
BYU
G Egor Demin (6-9 freshman)
G Trevin Knell (6-5 senior)
F Richie Saunders (6-5 junior)
F Mawot Mag (6-7 senior)
C Keba Keita (6-8 junior)
How they match up
The last time: Arizona put together two 9-0 runs to eventually pull out an 85-74 win at BYU on Feb. 4, quieting a crowd of over 17,000 fans at the Marriott Center. Caleb Love led the Wildcats with 18 points while making 4 of 9 3-pointers, while point guard Jaden Bradley scored all 17 of his points in the second half. The Wildcats shot 49.2% overall from the field and hit 8 of 21 3-pointers (38.1%).
Series history: The Wildcats’ win moved them to 21-19 record against their former WAC rival, which it had not previously played since Jimmer Fredette led the Cougars to a pair of wins over the Wildcats during a home-and-home series in 2009-10 and 2010-11.
What’s new with the Cougars: BYU lost 84-66 at Cincinnati on Feb. 8 after hosting Arizona but has since won three straight games — including a 91-57 blowout of No. 23 Kansas on Tuesday at the Marriott Center that moved BYU to No. 31 in the NET rankings. BYU led wire-to-wire and afterward, Kansas coach Bill Self said BYU played the best anybody had against the Jayhawks all season. The Cougars also won 73-69 at West Virginia on Feb. 11 and 80-65 against Kansas State at home on Feb. 15.
Over their past three games, the Cougars have shot 34.5% from 3-point range while outrebounding opponents by an average 9.3 per game. They also recorded 14 steals against Kansas. While they haven’t made any changes to their lineup, the Cougars have been playing defensive specialists Mawot Mag and Trey Stewart more often while playing freshman scorer Kanon Catchings less. Catchings played only two minutes against Kansas.
BYU held Kansas State to just 22 points on 29.7% shooting in the first half on Feb. 15, then held Kansas to just 26 points on 36.7% shooting in the first half Tuesday.
Key players
BYU — Richie Saunders
The Cougars’ 22-year-old junior scored above his average of 9.8 with 11 points while hitting 2 for 5 3-pointers against the Wildcats on Feb. 4, and he’s averaged 15.8 points since then. On Tuesday against Kansas, he hit all four 3s he tries in the first half and wound up with 22 points.
Kansas guard Elmarko Jackson shoots over BYU guard Richie Saunders during the first half in Lawrence, Kan.
Arizona — Trey Townsend
The Wildcats’ fifth-year power forward has struggled for the past month, even outside of his Feb. 4 concussion, and it’s unclear which way he will respond now that he’s being asked to come off the bench for the first time in his college career.
Sidelines
So close, yet so far
BYU coach Kevin Young spent the previous four seasons up I-10 as an assistant and associate head coach of the Phoenix Suns but said he’s never been to a game at McKale Center.
However, Young said he’s a friend of Riccardo Fois, the former UA assistant coach who worked with Young on the Suns staff in 2020-21. Young also worked with former UA standout and assistant Joseph Blair (a “Tucson legend,” Young noted) when they were together on the Philadelphia 76ers staff in 2019-20.
Knowing Fois, who was a UA assistant between 2021-22 and last season, “kind of led me to meet Tommy (Lloyd) a little bit but I’ve never been down to a game there,” Young said earlier this week.
Forever Jimmered
The last time BYU showed up at McKale, the Cougars left an imprint that was not easily forgotten.
For one thing, their 99-69 blowout win over Arizona on Dec. 28, 2009, prompted then-coach Sean Miller to never again schedule a nonconference game between Christmas and the Pac-10/12 schedule.
Also, Jimmer Fredette put his name into the McKale record book and it hasn’t been erased yet. Fredette scored an arena-record 49 points (also a BYU single-game record) while hitting 16 of 23 field goals that included 9 of 13 3-pointers.
“It’s unlike any other feeling,” Fredette said after the game. “The basket looked pretty big tonight.”
While Fredette's 49 came against a rebuilding team in Miller’s first season at Arizona, he also had 33 points a year later against a UA team that eventually reached the Elite Eight.
After that one, an 87-65 victory by the Cougars, Miller pretty much conceded.
"He said, 'I tell you what, if you need anything from anybody, I'm your guy,'" Fredette said after the second matchup. He said, "anything you need, you let me know and I'll get it for you."
Hazardous work
Because he’s sat courtside for decades as the Wildcats’ radio play-by-play broadcaster, Brian Jeffries said players speeding out of bounds have sometimes collided into him.
But he suffered a different collision Monday at Baylor. Because 6-7, 240-pound Bears center Norchad Omier was the guy chasing a loose ball at full speed, then tumbling over Jeffries’ table. Omier's foot left an impression just above the left side of Jeffries’ upper lip.
“It’s happened three or four times but never with anybody that big,” Jeffries said. “I’ll take a 175-pound guy anytime.”
Jeffries’ headset was knocked off, and his paperwork was disheveled. But he said the Baylor students behind him helped him recover and asked if he was OK.
Jeffries' lip healed by the time he showed up for Lloyd’s Friday news conference, making him probable for Saturday’s game.
Numbers game
6: BYU’s ranking in two-point shooting percentage (59.0)
7: BYU’s ranking in defensive rebounding percentage (75.2)
35: Years since BYU beat ranked teams twice in a row, something the Cougars will have a chance to do Saturday after beating No. 23 Kansas on Tuesday
— Bruce Pascoe
