The Saint Mary's Gaels travel to Provo, Utah to face the BYU Cougars Saturday evening in the second half of their season series. The Gaels blew out BYU in the WCC opener and have since run off a nine-game winning streak to take control of the conference lead. BYU has stumbled in their inaugural (and possibly only) season in the WCC with a second conference loss at home to Loyola Marymount. The Cougars sit 2 1/2 games back of SMC in the standings.
The Cougars will be looking to exact some revenge for the blowout they suffered in the season opener. Senior forward Noah Hartsock leads the Cougars with 17.7 points per game, while junior forward Brandon Davies scores 14.3 points per game and leads the team in rebounding with eight per game. Freshman transfer guard Matt Carlino is averaging 12.2 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game.
The Gaels will continue to look to Matthew Dellavedova, Rob Jones and Stephen Holt to lead the way. Dellavedova leads the team in scoring and is eighth in the nation with 6.5 assists per game. Rob Jones is second in the nation with 14 scoring/rebounding double-doubles and is having one of the best seasons in the country. Stephen Holt leads the conference in steals and is the second-best shooter in the conference.
ESPNU has picked up the game and will air it at 6:00pm PT. Dave Fleming and Sean Farnham will announce SMC's seventh game on the ESPN network.