USBWA District VIII Coach of the Year Mark Pope | Finished 2019/20 Ranked No. 18/16 | Three All-WCC First Team Honorees Jon McBride, BYU Athletic Communications | C: (801) 866-4932 | [email protected] | 331 SAB | Provo, UT | 84602 2020-21 BYU SCHEDULE UP NEXT FOR THE 10-5 COUGARS — PEPPERDINE Overall: 19-5 | Home: 10-2 | Away: 7-2 | Neutral: 2-1 All times local to site BYU men’s basketball will face Pepperdine (12-11, 8-6) in the semifinals of the West Coast Conference Tournament Monday night at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. The Cougars and Waves split their regular season series with BYU Date Day Opponent Score W/L Time Network winning 65-54 in Provo and Pepperdine winning 76-73 in Malibu. N25 Wed Westminster 108-59 W 6pm BYUtv N26 Thu New Orleans 86-61 W 7pm BYUtv BYU NOTES (19-5, 10-3 West Coast Conference) N28 Sat Utah Valley 82-60 W 7pm BYUtv D1 Tue vs. USC+ 79-53 L 2:30pm ESPN2 • The Cougars are 19-5, most recently defeating Saint Mary’s at home 65-51. D2 Thu vs. St, John’s 74-68 W 5pm ESPN2 • BYU is the No. 2 seed in the WCC Tournament for the second consecutive season. D5 Sat at Utah State 67-64 W 7pm MWC • BYU has wins over LMU, Portland (twice), Pacific (twice), Pepperdine, San Francisco (twice), Saint Mary’s D9 Wed Boise State 74-70 L 7pm BYUtv (twice), Weber State, Texas Southern, No. 18 San Diego State, Utah, Utah State, St. John’s, Utah Valley, New D12 Sat Utah 82-64 W 4pm BYUtv Orleans and Westminster. The four losses were to USC, Boise State, No. 1 Gonzaga (twice) and Pepperdine. D18 Fri at San Diego State 72-62 W 2pm CBSSN • BYU is led by senior guard Alex Barcello who is averaging 15.7 points, 4.6 assists and 4.5 rebounds per game. D21 Mon Texas Southern 87-71 W 7pm BYUtv He scored a career-high 29 points where he was 7-for-7 beyond the arc, a BYU record for most 3-pointers in a game without a miss, two games ago against San Francisco. D23 Wed vs. Weber State# 87-79 W 5pm BYUtv • Brandon Averette and Matt Haarms, BYU’s other two senior leaders along with Barcello, are the next behind J7 Thu Gonzaga 86-69 L 5pm ESPN Barcello in scoring with 11.4 and 11.0 points per game respectively. J14 Thu at Saint Mary’s 62-52 W 8pm ESPN2 • Barcello was named to the WCC First Team. Averette and Haarms were named to the WCC Second Team. J16 Sat at San Francisco 72-63 W 5pm ESPN Haarms was the WCC Defensive Player of the Year. J21 Thu Portland 95-67 W 7pm CBSSN • Haarms is coming off a season-high-tying five blocks against Saint Mary’s. J23 Sat Pepperdine 65-54 W 8pm ESPN* • All-WCC Freshamn Team awardee Caleb Lohner has led the team in rebounding all season, averaging 6.8 J27 Wed at Pepperdine 76-73 L 12pm TBD boards per game. Lohner had a breakout game offensively against Pacific two weeks ago, racking up a career- J30 Sat Pacific 95-87 (2OT) W 4pm CBSSN high 19 points on 6-of-8 shooting, including 5-of-6 from beyond the arc. He followed that up with an 18-point F4 Thu at Portland 105-60 W 4pm Stadium performance against LMU, continuing to shoot lights-out from the field. F8 Mon Gonzaga 82-71 L 9pm ESPN • BYU is one of only 11 Div. I teams currently in the KenPom top 30 in both offensive and defensive efficiency. F18 Thu at Pacific 80-52 W 5pm CBSSN • The Cougars have had seven different players lead them in scoring in the last eight games. F20 Sat at LMU 88-71 W 12pm CBSSN • BYU’s bench production has been big this season, outscoring opponents in 21 of 24 games played. F25 Thu San Francisco 79-73 W 8pm CBSSN • BYU has never lost back-to-back games in the Mark Pope era and has the third-longest active streak of games F27 Sat Saint Mary’s 65-51 W 7pm ESPNU played without consecutive losses at 58. The two teams above them are Houston and Gonzaga. WCC Tournament M8 Mon Pepperdine 9pm ESPN2 PEPPERDINE NOTES (12-11, 8-6 West Coast Conference) + Legends Classic Presented by Old Trapper • Pepperdine is 12-11, most recently defeating Santa Clara 78-70 in the the WCC quarterfinals. # at Vivint Smart Home Arena • Pepperdine is the No. 4 seed in the WCC Tournament. * Specific ESPN Network to be determined at a later date • The Waves have wins this season over San Diego, Saint Mary’s, San Francisco, BYU, Pacific, Portland (twice), WCC Game Concordia-Irvine, Cal, Saint Katherine, and UC Irvine. Its losses have come to LMU, Saint Mary’s, Santa Clara, BYU, No. 1 Gonzaga (twice), CSU Bakersfield, UC Santa Barbara, CSUN, San Diego State, and No. 22 UCLA. BYU QUICK FACTS • Pepperdine is led by guard Colbey Ross and forward Kessler Edwards. Ross is a Top 5 WCC scorer, averaging 18 points per game. Edwards is averaging 16.6 points per game. They’re the only two Waves in double figures. BYU Cougars (19-5, 10-3 WCC) • With Ross’s game-high 25 points against Santa Clara in the quarterfinals, he is now the leading scorer in WCC • Head Coach: Mark Pope Tournament history. • Alma Mater: Kentucky, 1996 • Division I Career Record: 120-69 (6th Season) Head Coach – Lorenzo Romar • Alma Mater: Cincinatti, 1992 • Record at BYU: 43-13 (2nd Season) • Division I Career Record: 435-329 (24th Season) • No. 18/16 AP/USA Today Coaches Polls in 2019-20 • Record at Pepperdine: 86-89 (6th Season) BROADCAST INFORMATION SERIES INFORMATION TV/Streaming: ESPN2 • All-Time Series: BYU leads 17-8 RADIO: BYU Sports Network BYURadio SiriusXM 143, BYURadio.org/BYURadio app, BYUCou- gars.com/BYU Cougars app, KSL Newsradio 102.7 FM/1160 AM LAST GAME’S STARTERS AND STATS SOCIAL MEDIA Website: BYUCougars.com Facebook: /BYUBasketball | /BYUCougars Twitter: @BYUBasketball | @BYUCougars Instagram: @BYUCougars Hashtags: #BYUHoops #GoCougs 3 4 13 5 33 Matt Haarms Brandon Averette Alex Barcello Gideon George Caleb Lohner Follow @BYUGameNotes on Twitter for in-game 7-3 / 240 / C / Sr. 5-11 / 185 / G / Sr. 6-2 / 180 / G / Sr. 6-6 / 190 / F / Jr. 6-8 / 230 / F / Fr. Cougar achievements, milestones and notes. Amsterdam, Netherlands Richardson, Texas Chandler, Arizona Minna, Nigeria Dallas, Texas P R Blk P R A P R A P R A P R A 11.0 4.7 2.0 11.4 2.8 3.7 15.7 4.5 4.6 5.5 3.3 0.3 7.3 6.8 1.2 #BYUHoops 1 BYU BASKETBALL NOTES SENIOR SPOTLIGHTS BYU BASKETBALL 2020-21 PREVIEW Brandon Averette BYU men’s basketball enters year two of the Mark Pope era with a promising roster in what will likely be one of the most • Played his junior season at Utah Valley in 2019-20 unique seasons in college basketball history. In 2019-20, Pope led the Cougars to a final national ranking of No. 18/16 in the • Earned a spot on the All-WAC Newcomer Team AP/USA Today Coaches polls and a 24-8 overall record. BYU was poised to return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time • Averaged 12.8 points, 2.1 rebounds and 3.0 as- since 2016 until the NCAA Tournament was canceled due to the pandemic. sists while adding 27 steals • Posted season highs of 23 points, six rebounds, Preseason Recognition seven assists and three steals Several Cougars have earned recognition heading into the 2020-21 season. Senior center Matt Haarms has been named one • Played his freshman and sophomore seasons of 20 watch list members for the 2021 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award by the Naismith Memorial Basketball (2016-18) at Oklahoma State Hall of Fame. In the WCC Preseason Polls, BYU was picked to finish second and senior guard Alex Barcello was named to the • As a sophomore in 2017-18, averaged 6.3 points, Preseason All-WCC Team. Finally, college basketball writer Jon Rothstein named Mark Pope one of 12 coaches on the rise 1.8 rebounds and a team-best 2.9 assists per entering 2020-21. Check out a position breakdown below. game • Played in all 36 games with six starts on a team Point Guard that finished 21-15 overall and advanced to the The lead guard position will be captained by a pair of seniors who will likely play together for a majority of the minutes. Alex third round of the 2018 NIT Barcello, who transferred from Arizona before last season, started all 32 games at the two-guard in 2019-20 and averaged • Posted season highs of 22 points, four rebounds, 9.3 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.8 assists in his debut season with the Cougars. He will be lioned in the backcourt by Brandon seven assists and three steals Averette, who comes to BYU as a graduate transfer from Utah Valley. Averette, who played his freshman and sophomore • As a freshman in 2016-17 averaged 5.2 points, 1.5 seasons at Oklahoma State, averaged 12.8 points, 2.1 rebounds and 3.0 assists while starting all 30 games at UVU in 2019-20. rebounds and 1.8 assists • Played in all 33 games, helping the Cowboys Jesse Wade also returns to the program after an injury-riddled 2019-20.