BYU thought they had a chance to upset the first ever #1 ranked team to enter the Marriott Center as they have beaten the Bulldogs from Washington before.
BYU thought wrong.
In a game where the Cougars never led, Cougar freshmen were left to pack the tents they had camped out in for days to get tickets to this game.
BYU did manage to get the game within single digits a few times thanks to some lights out shooting by TJ Haws (29 points). This made the Marriott Center sound like a rock concert. Every time the Cougars took a sucker punch, they were met by a knockout from Bulldog star Nigel Williams-Goss. Nigel (not to be confused with the dad on the old Wild Thornberries cartoon) scored 33 points and showed the Alpine All-Stars that he is the best players on the best team in the WCC and in the nation with their number 1 ranking.
The Gonzaga win total now matches the great Michael Jordan’s jersey number with 23 Ws and they have enough Ls to match Jazz “great” Greg Ostertag’s number of double 00.
Gonzaga will most likely earn a top seed and a long run in the NCAA tournament whether or not they are upset by a team in conference play. BYU will most likely need to win the tournament to get a bid but maybe the Holy War karma will come their way and they’ll get a date with the Utes despite the cancellation of the game this year for “safety reasons”. Cougar fans remember what happened when the Utes wouldn’t play them in football. The season ended up with a Holy War date in the Las Vegas bowl that ended in a narrow Ute victory.
The Cougars must ride the coattails of center of the year candidate Eric Mika, sharp shooter TJ Haws and UFC hopeful Nick Emery to make their high aspirations a reality.