Really.

Pope is the first one to say that his BYU men’s basketball team has taken on a huge challenge with the type of schedule he and his coaching staff have put together for the 2021-22 season.

After a 6-0 start – rising as high as No. 12 in the AP poll – the Cougars have gone 2-2 the past couple of weeks, dealing with illness, injuries and adjustments.

Pope believes the difficult schedule will pay off later on.

Right now, though, it’s a struggle.

Saturday’s blowout loss to Creighton in South Dakota dropped BYU out of the Top 25 just in time to focus on … finals.

“Guys are going hard,” Pope said during his coach’s show on BYUtv. “Atiki (Ally Atiki) and Fous (Fousseyni Traore) walked into my office yesterday at 6 o’clock just out of their minds and excited. Fous got a 99 percent on his religion final and Atiki has also done well. We’re getting scores back every day.”

Finals brings the Cougars a bit of a break in the schedule. After playing a couple of games a week since early November, BYU has just one game this week: Saturday at Weber State.

“It’s kind of a dual proposal for us,” Pope said. “It was time for us to take a breath. It’s serving as finals and a day and a half hiatus. We’ll hit it hard Thursday and Friday and then go up to Ogden Friday night.”

BYU lost Gavin Baxter for the season with an ACL injury on Dec. 1 and Richard Harward announced on Tuesday he will miss the remainder of the year due to a cardiovascular issue.

“It’s super tough for Rich and super tough for the team,” Pope said. “He had another battery of tests last Friday and didn’t get back super positive news. He’ll be recovering for the next month or two. He’s an unbelievable young man with an incredible, loving heart. He has a great career path ahead of him, but in terms of basketball, we just don’t know.”

Since Pope took over for the 2019-20 season, the Cougars have yet to lose back-to-back regular season games.

“One of the things we talk about all the time is how this game just asks us every day how we’re going to respond,” Pope said. “The game doesn’t care what happens, it just asks that question. Good and bad things happen to us every day. We’re blessed with a great locker room where a vast majority of the time, our guys respond.”

BYU’s first ten opponents have compiled a 68-36 (65%) record and nine of those ten opponents have a winning record. The team that doesn’t, Texas Southern, is 2-7 but one of those victories was an upset of a ranked Florida team in Gainesville.

“Of the top 100 ranked teams in the country, we’ve played the fourth-hardest schedule,” Pope said. “Losing is the worst, but you know what losing does? My staff and I have not slept in four days. We’ve been spending countless hours retooling things. Losing is an unbelievable motivator. It gets the guy’s attention. It refocuses you. That’s why we play these games. We don’t play them to have an unblemished schedule. We’re playing games like this so we can get better. If we do this right, this Creighton game, as painful as it was, will help us get better.”

Scouting Report

Weber State won its first eight games this season before losing 94-60 at Washington State. On Wednesday, the Wildcats fell to a hot-shooting Utah State team 95-80 in Ogden. Former Lone Peak standout Steven Ashworth was 7 of 11 from the 3-point line and scored a career-high 27 points for the Aggies.

BYU has recently dominated Weber State and leads the overall series 33-11. Last year, the Cougars outscored the Wildcats 87-79 at Vivint SmartHome Arena in Salt Lake City. BYU shot 52% from the field and placed five players in double figures, led by Matt Haarms with 15. Of those five players who scored 10 or more points, three of them – Haarms, Brandon Averette and Harward – won’t be in uniform on Saturday.

Weber State coach Randy Rahe won his 300th career game earlier this season. Former Utah State standout Koby McEwen transferred to Logan from Marquette and had 26 points against his old team on Wednesday. Former Utah Valley University standout JJ Overton averages 12 points per game for the Wildcats and former Loyola Marymount transfer Seikou Sisoho Jawara (12.2 ppg) gives Weber State a potent guard line.

BYU is led by senior guard Alex Barcello, who is averaging 19.4 points per game and scored a season-high 28 last Saturday in the loss to Creighton.

Next week, the Cougars fly to Hawaii for the Diamond Head Classic.

Men’s College Basketball

BYU (8-2) at Weber State (9-2)

Saturday, 6 p.m. MT

Dee Events Center, Ogden

TV: KJZZ/ESPN+

Radio: BYU Radio, Sirius XM 143/BYU radio app, KSL 1160 AM/102.7 FM

Live stats: byucougars.com

The Word: BYU leads the overall series with Weber State 33-11. … Last year, the Cougars defeated the Wildcats 87-79 at Vivint Smart Home Arena in Salt Lake City. … Weber State’s last win the series came in 2018, a 113-103 victory in Ogden. … The Wildcats are coming off a 95-80 home loss to Utah State.