BYU and Saint Mary’s: An Underrated Rivalry
It’s not BYU vs. Utah or Saint Mary’s vs. Gonzaga. It doesn’t have the history of the former or the buzz of the latter. Cougar fans might not even put it on the level of BYU vs. San Diego State, while Gael fans can choose between a handful of Bay Area teams they’d put ahead of this one.
But BYU vs. Saint Mary’s is a good rivalry, a really good one. One that has been almost criminally overlooked and undervalued.
It’s a rivalry that developed naturally on the court and has seeped into the psyche of fans off of it — even if these two programs aren’t each other’s arch-rivals, and even if fans would cringe at the thought of calling the other team a rival at all, there is certainly no love lost between the two fan bases, especially on the BYU side.
It’s two programs that have fielded teams of comparable talent, and that have achieved comparable success over the decade-plus that they’ve been conference foes. As a result, the times these two have faced off have almost always been games of outsize importance — tonight’s meeting, for example, will be just BYU’s fourth Quad 1 opportunity of the season.
It’s also been competitive. More competitive than any series the Cougars have been a part of during their time in the WCC. Same can be said for the Gaels.
All good things must come to an end, and the era of these two teams facing off twice or more every season is just around the corner. When BYU hosts Saint Mary’s tonight it will be the penultimate game of the series as league foes and the Gaels’ final conference trip to Provo. (Please don’t let this rivalry die in the name of realignment, basketball gods.)
That said, let’s take a stroll down memory lane, shall we? A look back at what has been for my money the best rivalry in the West Coast Conference over the past 12 seasons.
December 29, 2011 in Moraga
This wasn’t just BYU’s first league game against Saint Mary’s as a member of the WCC, it was BYU’s first league game period as a member of the WCC. And it was a bit of a rude awakening.
The Cougars came in 11–3 while the Gaels sat at 10–2. Both teams were putting together what would become at-large worthy tournament resumes, which is another way of saying both teams were pretty good that year.
Flying high off of Jimmermania, many in Cougar Nation felt that BYU would run roughshod through the tiny gyms of the West Coast Conference for as long as their football program was experimenting with independence. Perhaps Gonzaga was respected (though the Cougars did end Gonzaga’s season in the Round of 32 that past March, so maybe not), but Saint Mary’s? The Gaels were still an upstart, having made just three NCAA Tournaments over ten years under Randy Bennett. Surely BYU would get the better of this plucky mid-major.
Saint Mary’s 98, BYU 82
January 16, 2013 in Provo
Saint Mary’s swept BYU in the Cougars’ first season in the WCC, but BYU opened its second season with a 4–0 start to league play. The Cougars and Gaels were both four loss teams overall, with each having some work to do in order to make the NCAA Tournament. Like I said above, when these two teams meet the result is often of outsize importance for their season and tournament resume. This was no different. The winning team made the NCAA Tournament, the losing team did not, and BYU was 2.5 seconds from the win.
Dagger.
Saint Mary’s 70, BYU 69
February 15, 2014 in Moraga
Two weeks to the day after the Cougars snapped their four-game losing streak to Saint Mary’s with an 84–71 win in Provo, BYU’s first win against the Gaels in the WCC, they got their second win against Saint Mary’s and it was even sweeter than the first.
Matthew Dellavedova had graduated and was off to the NBA at this point, but that didn’t stop the Gaels from trying to use his presence to hurt the Cougars on the hardwood. See, February 15, 2014 was a celebration in Moraga. A celebration of Delly. It was the night his jersey was retired. An honor only one other Gael had been given to that point, and Delly got it less than a year after he left campus.
The Gaels led by ten at halftime and it looked like the mouthpiece would menace the Cougars yet again. But BYU stormed back behind 18 points from Tyler Haws and 14 from Kyle Collinsworth. The game came down to the wire. Big man Nate Austin hit a free throw with 60 seconds left to give BYU a one point lead, which Matt Carlino then extended at the stripe with 5.1 to play.
Not exactly the homecoming Delly was hoping for.
Oh, and it was aired on ESPN as part of their “Rivalry Week” package. I told you this was a rivalry.
BYU 60, Saint Mary’s 57
January 5, 2017 in Moraga
BYU fans, I’m sorry you had to deal with Nick Emery. He was a lot of fun to watch though, in a “man, this guy is an idiot, when will he ever learn?” sort of way.
Turns out he still hasn’t learned, but luckily he’s now just yelling into the void on Twitter where he can be deservedly ignored.
Flash back to the good old days, before he alienated himself from the fan base with a series of strange, unsubstantiated attacks on the BYU athletic department, before he killed his own basketball career (twice), but not so far back that you get to the sucker punching an opponent part of his career. No, just far enough that you land in the Goldilocks zone of the Emery Experience. When despite playing on what would go down as arguably the worst non-Steve Cleveland BYU team of the century, Emery still felt the need to run his mouth.
At shootaround in Moraga the day before the game, Emery took to Instagram to give his thoughts on McKeon Pavilion.
You’d think a college player could win in a high school gym, right?
Saint Mary’s 81, BYU 68
March 5, 2018 in Vegas
The 2017–18 season was forgettable for BYU. The Cougars got off to a 12–2 start, but the only thing notable on their resume was a shocking home loss to UT Arlington. They had the record, but not much else, and that showed as they entered league play. The Cougars stumbled to an 11–7 WCC record, their worst by percentage until this past season went off the rails.
Saint Mary’s had swept the Cougars in the regular season, and the two teams found themselves on a collision course in the WCC Tournament. They’d meet in the semis, if the Cougars could get there.
By the time the league migrated to Vegas for the tournament, the Cougars were firmly in win or go home mode. Not just for the NCAA Tournament — the Cougars had no shot short of winning the WCC’s auto-bid — but the NIT as well. An early exit in the WCC Tournament would’ve likely meant an early end to the Cougars’ season.
The Cougars beat San Diego by six in their opener and advanced to face Saint Mary’s. Would simply making the semis be enough to push the Cougars onto the right side of the NIT bubble? We’ll never know, because they didn’t leave that to chance. Considering they snuck in as a six seed, feels safe to say San Diego alone wasn’t enough to get them in.
Not only did this result likely push BYU into the NIT, it almost certainly pushed Saint Mary’s out of the NCAA Tournament as well. Brutal.
BYU 85, Saint Mary’s 72
The Entire 2020 Season
The Cougars and Gaels split their regular season series in 2020 before meeting for a third time in the WCC Tournament semis. These three games were decided by a grand total of seven points, with the one that went to overtime ending up as the most lopsided of the bunch.
January 9, 2020 in Moraga
The Gaels won 14 of their first 16 games before dropping a quadruple overtime thriller to Pacific in their game immediately prior to this one. They must have really enjoyed playing basketball back then, because they didn’t let this game end in 40 minutes, either. Saint Mary’s outscored BYU 10–7 in the extra period to claim the win.
Saint Mary’s 87, BYU 84 (OT)
February 1, 2020 in Provo
BYU had gotten off to a rocky start in league, losing three of their first seven games. But this BYU team turned it on down the stretch and surged into the AP Poll before the season abruptly came to an end. That surge began two days prior to this game, when the Cougars moved to 5–3 in league after a 27 point drubbing of Pepperdine. No offense, but Pepperdine’s Pepperdine. The Cougars proved their potential on this Saturday against Saint Mary’s.
BYU 81, Saint Mary’s 79
March 9, 2020 in Vegas
BYU was ranked №14 in the AP Poll. It was the only league game in the series in which the Cougars were ranked. Saint Mary’s didn’t care. The Gaels slowed the Cougars to a crawl, putting on a classic Saint Mary’s performance, and advanced to the tournament final.
Saint Mary’s 51, BYU 50
BYU, Saint Mary’s, please don’t let this rivalry die. Keep it alive in the non-conference. Keep playing. Play every single year. Please. It’s good for both teams involved, the fans and the sport in general. Don’t let realignment ruin another great rivalry. It’s entirely up to you to do what’s right. You have the power. No excuses.
