Cougars at Saint Mary's on Thursday

Game notes: BYU at Saint Mary's

After a 70-68 win over Utah State on Tuesday, BYU returns to WCC play on Thursday to take on Saint Mary's at McKeon Pavilion at 8 p.m. PST. The game will be televised on ESPN2 and broadcast on KSL Newsradio 102.7 FM and 1160 AM.

BYU Cougars (20-8, 9-4 WCC)

• Head Coach: Dave Rose
• Alma Mater: Houston, 1983
• Division I Career Record: 205-62 (8th)
• Record at BYU: Same

Saint Mary's (22-5, 11-2 WCC)

• Head Coach: Randy Bennett
• Alma Mater: UC San Diego, 1986
• Division I Career Record: 257-123 (12th)
• Record at Saint Mary's: Same

Player and team notes

• BYU won its 20th game with a 70-68 victory against Utah State, giving the Cougars eight-straight 20-win seasons, the longest such streak in program history. All eight seasons have come under Dave Rose, a program record for 20-win seasons by one coach. Stan Watts had seven 20-win seasons.
• Dave Rose earned his 200th career victory with a 74-57 win over San Diego on Jan. 19, 2013. Stan Watts is the only other coach in BYU history with 200-plus wins. Watts won his 200th game during his 12th season at the helm on Feb. 2, 1961, at New Mexico. It was his 329th career game (Watts’ career record was 371-254 in 23 seasons). Rose is in his eighth season and earned win number 200 in his 259th game.
• Tyler Haws has scored 20-plus points 19 times this season. He opened the year with six-straight 20-point games and later had a streak of seven-consecutive 20-point games.
• Matt Carlino has scored in double figures in 12 of 13 WCC games. During WCC play he is averaging 15.4 points, 3.4 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 2.8 steals. His assist to turnover ratio during that time is 2.1 to 1.
• BYU has completed four comebacks after trailing at the half this season. The Cougars trailed Utah and San Francisco by nine at the half and won 61-58 and 80-76. BYU trailed Pepperdine by five at the half at home and came back to win 76-51. The Cougars trailed at Pepperdine 31-20 but bounced back in the second half to win 63-61.
• BYU shot a season-best .596 from the field against Portland on Feb. 16, surpassing the .583 the Cougars shot at home against Santa Clara on Feb. 2. BYU has shot .500 of better 12 times this season and is 11-1 in those games. The Cougars also had 26 assists against the Pilots, one off the season high of 27 set against Eastern New Mexico. BYU did set a season best with a 3.3 to 1 assist to turnover ratio against Portland.
• BYU has been a better shooting team in league games than nonconference games. The Cougars are shooting better from the field (.479 in WCC play to .445 in nonconference games) and from three (.369 to .306). BYU has also shown big improvements in the steals category, increasing its per game average from 8.8 per game in non-league games to 9.4 per game in WCC games. At 9.1 steals per game in all games, the Cougars are on pace to set the program record for steals per game and steals in a season.
• Tyler Haws has shot 100 percent from the line while attempting at least 10 free throws in three games this season, tied with Russell Larson (1993-94) and Ken Roberts (1994-95) for most perfect days from the line (minimum of 10 attempts). Haws has four such games in his career, tied for the most in BYU history with Jimmer Fredette. Danny Ainge, Lee Cummard, Larson and Roberts are tied for second on the career list with three.