Provo • They have won nine-straight games, crept close to a top-50 RPI and held eight of their last nine opponents to fewer than 70 points with slightly better defensive play and a more deliberate pace when they have the ball.
Coach Dave Rose’s 12-2 BYU basketball team has seemingly improved, but the question remains: Just how good are the new-look Cougars with junior Elijah Bryant and sophomore Yoeli Childs having replaced the Lone Peak Three as the club’s rising stars?
Saturday, the answer should come, as West Coast Conference preseason favorite Saint Mary’s, also 12-2, visits the Marriott Center a little less than 10 months after embarrassing the Cougars 81-50 in a WCC tournament semifinal game in Las Vegas.