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PROVO — PROVO--- After a rough two-game losing streak on the road, the BYU men's basketball team have bounced back and are tied for the second-place spot in the West Coast Conference by defeating both Pacific and St. Mary's at the Marriott Center last week.
With these two, huge home victories, the Cougars look to keep their post-season hopes alive and continue their home-court dominance as they prepare to host the Broncos of Santa Clara on Thursday and the Dons of San Francisco on Saturday.
BYU was successful against Santa Clara earlier this year defeating the Broncos 91-81 in the Leavey Center, but coach Rose said that doesn't matter. "The Santa Clara bunch is a very, very good offensive team they've been to Portland and beat Portland, they've been to St. Mary's and beat St. Mary's so we know it's a real team that can cause real issues," said Rose.
Not only are the Cougars riding a two-game winning streak, but they are also riding an all-around offensive surge, lead by junior guard Tyler Haws. Haws averaged 35.5 points last week and provided a spark plug for others to join in on the action including sophomore guard Kyle Collinsworth, who chipped in with 20 points of his own, Saturday.
"That's the way you win games," Rose added. "You win games when you can talk about multiple guys who played well and contributed."
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The Cougar faithful were treated with an additional guest to the night's show as Athletic Director Tom Holmoe stopped by to give his thoughts on the basketball season as well as provide a preview of football's national signing day on Wednesday.
"Balancing this change in [missionary's] age has been a real challenge," Holmoe said, " the numbers are low it's not a big class, but it's going to be a quality class."
As each year of BYU's independence passes, and bigger schools continue to make contracts to play BYU, many have been speculating about what surprises the 2014 football schedule has in store.
"Our schedule is set, but we are working on the days." Holmoe stated with a smile. "With tv, it's a matter of we can be on ESPNU and play on this day or we can be on ESPN and play on this day in the given week."
Holmoe finished off by saying that there could be up to four or five non-Saturday games this season.
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This week's player-guest was freshman center Eric Mika, who has scored a combined 26 points over the past two games and continues to play better as he feels better.
Mika, who was donning the "flowbee" haircut, took a few moments to share some fond experiences of his time and career at Lone Peak High School including a stint as team manager, but quickly transitioned into expressing how he feels his game has improved recently.
"I do feel a lot better. I'm getting back my confidence as my body is getting better," Mika said.
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During the question-and-answer portion of the show, Rose opened up on how he and his family deal with the extensive travel within a basketball season.
"Our family are all big fans I think for my wife, Cheryl, this is all she knows because we got married when I was playing." Rose said. "My family has been really supportive but it is a challenge."
Rose also noted that sophomore guard Kyle Collinsworth has not faced any real set-backs physically since returning from his mission, but his increased confidence in his body has played a huge role in his success as of lately in conference play.
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Brandon Crow is a KSL Newsradio BYU intern.
