BYU’s upset of No. 2 Gonzaga also a big win for a former Kentucky star
BYU took the fight to Gonzaga and sent a message to everyone else about how dangerous it could be when March rolls around.
The No. 23 Cougars, coached by former University of Kentucky star Mark Pope, imposed their will on offense and defense for the better part of 40 minutes for a 91-78 victory over second-ranked Gonzaga on Saturday night. They ended the Bulldogs’ 19-game winning streak by battling for loose balls and forcing turnovers on one end and attacking the basket without fear on the other end.
BYU (23-7, 12-3 WCC) never trailed after halftime en route to winning its eighth straight game.
Gonzaga trailed by 14 points early in the second half before mounting a comeback. The Bulldogs cut the deficit to 70-68 with 7:52 remaining. But Gonzaga scored a single basket over the final seven minutes.
“Our guys were fighting,” Pope said. “If you want to have a chance to play with them, then you better be dialed in on every single possession.”
Gonzaga had numerous winning streaks snapped. Coming into the game, the Bulldogs had won 40 straight regular-season conference games and 39 straight road contests against WCC opponents. The 40-game winning streak against conference opponents had been the longest such streak in the nation.
BYU should climb multiple spots in the AP Top 25 poll, while Gonzaga (27-2, 13-1 WCC) will see where it ends up after the Nos. 1 and 4 teams also lost.
“I hope that all 18,000 of us in there and everybody that watched it on TV got to see something they’ll never forget because it’s one of those really special moments in sports and it’s not going to be our last,” Pope said. “We live in every moment. My whole life right now is in these guys right now. I don’t know about program trajectory. I just know that you can be in this business for 50 years and not get that night. These guys got it. It just makes me happy. The only thing it means for our program is we have got to wake up tomorrow and work our rear-ends off and that’s just the nature of the program.”
