BYU to take on Gonzaga in WCC Tournament Final

LAS VEGAS – BYU men’s basketball will face No. 1 Gonzaga (18-0, 9-0) Tuesday night at the Orleans Arena in the West Coast Conference Tournament Championship Game.

The game will be broadcast on ESPN at 6 p.m. PST. It will also be broadcast live on the BYU Sports Network on BYU Radio – Sirius XM 143/89.1 FM HD2 and KSL 102.7 FM/1160 AM.

BYU Notes (20-5, 10-3 West Coast Conference)

• The Cougars are 20-5, most recently defeating Pepperdine 82-75 in the WCC Tournament semifinals.
• BYU is the No. 2 seed in the WCC Tournament for the second consecutive season.
• BYU has wins over LMU, Portland (twice), Pacific (twice), Pepperdine (twice), San Francisco (twice), Saint Mary’s (twice), Weber State, Texas Southern, No. 18 San Diego State, Utah, Utah State, St. John’s, Utah Valley, New Orleans and Westminster. The four losses were to USC, Boise State, No. 1 Gonzaga (twice) and Pepperdine.
• BYU is led by senior guard Alex Barcello who is averaging 16.0 points, 4.4 assists and 4.6 rebounds per game. 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, three games ago against San Francisco.
• Brandon Averette and Matt Haarms, BYU’s other two senior leaders along with Barcello, are the next behind Barcello in scoring with 11.6 and 11.3 points per game respectively.
• Barcello was named to the WCC First Team. Averette and Haarms were named to the WCC Second Team. Haarms was the WCC Defensive Player of the Year.
• Haarms has 15 blocks in his last four games.
• All-WCC Freshman Team awardee Caleb Lohner has led the team in rebounding all season, averaging 6.9 boards per game. Lohner had a breakout game offensively against Pacific two weeks ago, racking up a career-high 19 points on 6-of-8 shooting, including 5-of-6 from beyond the arc. He followed that up with an 18-point performance against LMU, continuing to shoot lights-out from the field. 
• The Cougars have had seven different players lead them in scoring in the last nine games.
• BYU’s bench production has been big this season, outscoring opponents in 23 of 25 games played.
• BYU has never lost back-to-back games in the Mark Pope era and has the third-longest active streak of games played without consecutive losses at 58. The two teams above them are Houston and Gonzaga.

Head Coach – Mark Pope

• Alma Mater: Kentucky, 1996
• Division I Career Record: 117-68 (6th season)
• Record at BYU: 40-12 (2nd season)

Gonzaga Notes (25-0, 15-0 West Coast Conference)

• Gonzaga is 25-0, most recently defeating Saint Mary's 78-55 in the WCC Tournament semifinals.
• Gonzaga is No. 1 in the WCC standings and No. 1 in the nation. They have been so for all weeks of competition this season.
• The Bulldogs have the nation’s longest active winning streak at 29 games, dating back to last season. Their last loss was in Provo to BYU.
• The Bulldogs have marquee victories this season over four teams who were ranked at the time — No. 3 Iowa, No. 6 Kansas, No. 11 West Virginia, No. 16 Virginia.
• The Bulldogs have four players averaging double digits in scoring — WCC Player of the Year Corey Kispert (19.3), Drew Timme (18.9), Jalen Suggs (14.0), Joel Ayayi (11.9). Kispert and Timme are No. 1 an No. 2 respectively in WCC scoring.

Head Coach – Mark Few

• Alma Mater: Oregon, 1987
• Division I Career Record: 624-124 (22nd Season)
• Record at Gonzaga: 624-124 (22nd Season)

Series Information

• All-Time Series: Gonzaga leads 20-7
• Last Meeting: Gonzaga won 82-71 on Feb. 8 in Provo

Broadcast Information

• TV: ESPN
• TV Talent: Dave Flemming (play-by-play), Sean Farnham (analyst)
• Radio: BYU Sports Network, BYU Radio Sirius XM 143/89.1 FM HD2, KSL 102.7 FM/1160 AM
• Streamed Audio: BYURadio.org, BYUCougars.com/LiveRadio and the BYU Radio, BYUCougars and BYU Gameday apps
• Radio Talent: Greg Wrubell (play-by-play), Mark Durrant (analyst)
• Live Stats: BYUCougars.com