7:00 PM PST
Loyola Marymount Lions at Portland Pilots
Chiles Center, Portland, Oregon.
Loyola Marymount is 8-14 on the season, 1-8 in WCC play and currently on a six game losing streak.
Portland is 8-16 on the season, 1-8 in WCC play and currently on a six game losing streak.
TV: Comcast SportsNet Northwest and Bay Area.
Radio: KXLU 88.9 FM in L.A. and KPDQ 800 AM in Portland.
Brigham Young Cougars at San Diego Toreros
Jenny Craig Pavilion, San Diego, California.
BYU is 18-6 on the season, 8-2 in WCC play and currently on a three game winning streak.
San Diego is 12-12 on the season, 5-4 in WCC play and currently on a one game winning streak.
TV: BYUtv.
Radio: KSL 1160 AM & 102.7 FM along the Wasatch Front and 1090 AM in San Diego.
Satellite Radio: BYU Radio Sirius XM 143.
Online: Live video from BYUtv Sports. Live audio from KSL and The Mighty 1090.
8:00 PM PST
Saint Mary's Gaels at Santa Clara Broncos
Leavey Center, Santa Clara, California.
Saint Mary's is 19-4 on the season, 8-1 in WCC play and currently on a seven game winning streak.
Santa Clara is 17-7 on the season, 5-4 in WCC play and currently on a one game losing streak.
TV: ESPN2 and ESPN Pacific Rim.
Radio: KDOW 1220 AM in the Bay Area.
Online: Live video from ESPN3, live audio from KDOW.
Pepperdine Waves at #6 Gonzaga Bulldogs
McCarthey Athletic Center, Spokane, Washington.
Pepperdine is 10-12 on the season, 2-7 in WCC play and currently on a three game losing streak.
Gonzaga is 21-2 on the season, 8-0 in WCC play and currently on a four game winning streak.
TV: ROOT Sports Northwest and Rocky Mountain and Comcast SportsNet California.
Radio: KGA 1510 AM in the Inland Northwest.
Online: Live audio from KGA.
LMU at Portland:
Both teams are on six game losing streaks. The best news about this game is that, once it's done, one of those streaks will be over. These two teams are by far the two worst teams in the conference. That said, this should be a pretty fun game to watch. Portland has a really hard time scoring, LMU has a really hard time stopping other teams from scoring.
When these two teams met back on January 12th in Los Angeles it was a back and forth affair. The Pilots were on the "forth" end of the affair as time expired, they won by 68-64. This game should be pretty similar.
BYU at San Diego:
What's the deal with the Toreros lately? On Saturday they hung with one of the best teams in the nation, Gonzaga, but came up two points short. Then, on Monday, they had one of the worst teams in the conference, Loyola Marymount, hang with them and needed a last second shot to escape with a one point victory. Talk about playing to the level of your opponent.
BYU can't drop this game if they want to keep their slim at large hopes alive. A win does nothing to help them other than not hurt them. The Cougars should be able to roll the Toreros over. They did that back on January 19th in Provo to the tune of a 74-59 victory in which the Cougars had control the whole way.
If the last two games are any indication, the Toreros will keep this one close.
Saint Mary's at Santa Clara
This is going to be good. Two longtime rivals, separated by 50 road miles, both with legitimate shots at winning the WCC. Though at this point it looks more and more like the legitimate shot at winning the WCC only comes in the WCC Tournament. These are two teams that are very evenly matched. Does that not convince you this will be good? Well, KenPom has this game as the most thrilling of the night according to his amazing metrics.
The biggest difference between these two teams has to be the way the teams are coming into this game. Saint Mary's just blew out Portland for their seventh straight win. Santa Clara was just blown out by Brigham Young for their 3rd straight loss against a team above them in the WCC standings.
Saint Mary's needs this win because if they lose again to a team not named Gonzaga their at-large hopes take a massive hit. They're playing on national TV. They didn't get many chances to do that in their pitiful non-conference slate.
Santa Clara needs this win because, while their at-large hopes are pretty much non-existent, it would be a huge confidence booster heading into the home stretch of WCC play (during which time they play Gonzaga and Saint Mary's again). The WCC has been, for the second straight year, split pretty well into three tiers. The top tier with Gonzaga, Saint Mary's and BYU then the middle with Santa Clara and San Diego (only because of their in-conference record), then everybody else.
Santa Clara has put together a very good season both in and out of conference. The Broncos have managed to put themselves on the verge of a 20 win season. They're hanging around the top of the conference standings, at three games back with three remaining against teams above them they're still in contention for a top three finish. However, the Broncos have done that by beating the teams below them in the standings and have yet to take down a team above them.
Both teams have a lot riding on this game beyond just the rivalry aspect.
Pepperdine at Gonzaga:
Don't let the Waves' record fool you, this is a squad that knows how to put a real scare into the big boys. The last time these two met the Zags had a real hard time pulling away from the Waves. It took about 30 minutes for the Zags to take the lead for good. In the Waves' games against BYU and Saint Mary's they hung around for at least the first half. Last Thursday, in the Waves' second game against BYU, they led for nearly the whole game except for the most meaningful part, the end. The Cougars escaped with a two point victory.
Also, don't let the Zags' ranking fool you. They may be #6 in the nation but they just barely managed to grind out a victory over San Diego on Saturday. Now, that may have just been an aberration considering it came after a 45 point blowout of Loyola Marymount (the same Lions squad that San Diego barely managed to grind out a two point victory against just two days later). But, this is conference play and anything can happen.
To be truthful though, I don't see anything less than a blowout happening here. After that San Diego game the Zags should be in full on rebound mode, they could use grabbing some more rebounds too, and the Waves are the unfortunate team that has to travel from warm Malibu to cold Spokane to try and stop that rebound. For the future of this Pepperdine program, which is very promising mind you, just avoiding a blowout would be very beneficial. The Kennel will be the most hostile environment this freshman laden team has ever experienced. To just hold their own would be great.
The biggest difference between these two teams has to be the way the teams are coming into this game. Saint Mary's just blew out Portland for their seventh straight win. Santa Clara was just blown out by Brigham Young for their 3rd straight loss against a team above them in the WCC standings.
Saint Mary's needs this win because if they lose again to a team not named Gonzaga their at-large hopes take a massive hit. They're playing on national TV. They didn't get many chances to do that in their pitiful non-conference slate.
Santa Clara needs this win because, while their at-large hopes are pretty much non-existent, it would be a huge confidence booster heading into the home stretch of WCC play (during which time they play Gonzaga and Saint Mary's again). The WCC has been, for the second straight year, split pretty well into three tiers. The top tier with Gonzaga, Saint Mary's and BYU then the middle with Santa Clara and San Diego (only because of their in-conference record), then everybody else.
Santa Clara has put together a very good season both in and out of conference. The Broncos have managed to put themselves on the verge of a 20 win season. They're hanging around the top of the conference standings, at three games back with three remaining against teams above them they're still in contention for a top three finish. However, the Broncos have done that by beating the teams below them in the standings and have yet to take down a team above them.
Both teams have a lot riding on this game beyond just the rivalry aspect.
Pepperdine at Gonzaga:
Don't let the Waves' record fool you, this is a squad that knows how to put a real scare into the big boys. The last time these two met the Zags had a real hard time pulling away from the Waves. It took about 30 minutes for the Zags to take the lead for good. In the Waves' games against BYU and Saint Mary's they hung around for at least the first half. Last Thursday, in the Waves' second game against BYU, they led for nearly the whole game except for the most meaningful part, the end. The Cougars escaped with a two point victory.
Also, don't let the Zags' ranking fool you. They may be #6 in the nation but they just barely managed to grind out a victory over San Diego on Saturday. Now, that may have just been an aberration considering it came after a 45 point blowout of Loyola Marymount (the same Lions squad that San Diego barely managed to grind out a two point victory against just two days later). But, this is conference play and anything can happen.
To be truthful though, I don't see anything less than a blowout happening here. After that San Diego game the Zags should be in full on rebound mode, they could use grabbing some more rebounds too, and the Waves are the unfortunate team that has to travel from warm Malibu to cold Spokane to try and stop that rebound. For the future of this Pepperdine program, which is very promising mind you, just avoiding a blowout would be very beneficial. The Kennel will be the most hostile environment this freshman laden team has ever experienced. To just hold their own would be great.
No comments:
Post a Comment