PROVO, Utah (ABC 4 Sports) - The BYU basketball team has made the NCAA Tournament the last five years in a row. But after losses to Loyola Marymount and St. Mary's, that streak is now in serious jeopardy.
Enter 24th-ranked Gonzaga, and the Cougars (18-6) have a chance at a marquee win that would impress the selection committee come March.
"Ya, it's huge," said point guard Matt Carlino. "Every game is huge from now on. We have to win them all now."
"With every loss, there's a kind of renewed urgency," said head coach Dave Rose.
Do or die urgency?
"I don't know if it's do or die, but they're important," Rose said with a smile. "Every game is important."
"We're kind of on that bubble," said senior forward Noah Hartsock. "We just got to take care of our own business. We have a lot of opportunities in these next few weeks before the West Coast Conference Tournament to get back to the way we have been."
Gonzaga comes with with a gaudy 17-3 record, having won 12 of its last 13 games. The Bulldogs will also have revenge on their minds when they enter the Marriott Center after losing to BYU in the second round of the NCAA Tournament a year ago.
"It's a big deal, not only because they're a big name team," said junior center Brandon Davies. "But, because we're coming off a loss, and we don't lose two in a row very often."
In fact, if BYU loses Thursday they will have their first 3-game home losing streak in seven years, and their chance for an at-large bid to the Big Dance could be on life support.
"I think our fans feel the same way we do," said senior forward Charles Abouo. "We've got to get back on track. We have some great fans and I know they're eager to see us how we usually play at home."
The Cougars have played extremely well in the month of February under Dave Rose, going 36-6. However, BYU has struggled offensively of late. IN their last four games, the Cougars are shooting just 39 percent from the floor, and just 15 percent (11 for 73) from 3-point range.
"Right now, we're not shooting the ball as well as we have at other times during the year," said Rose. "It's not just one guy. It's several guys. What we need to do is get back on top of that and get confident."
"It's funny, because in practice, we make all the shots," said Abouo. "But, we just got to do a better job of carrying that into the game."
"We're just one of those teams," said Hartsock, "that if we can continue to get better, I think we can be really good down the stretch."
Well, the stretch starts now.
