It’s difficult to measure the impact of BYU’s 110-84 loss to No. 2 Gonzaga in Spokane Thursday night.

The task heading in was daunting enough – ESPN had only given the Cougars a 7.7% chance of pulling off the upset – but the Bulldogs were terrifying offensively, scoring in huge bunches and shooting 69% from the field.

The gap between the two teams, at least for one game, was as wide as the Grand Canyon.

How that damage effects the psyche of the BYU team is anybody’s guess.

“We couldn’t stop them, clearly,” Cougar coach Mark Pope said. “They are really good and they were really dialed in. They shot the ball extremely well. We have to be good enough where we have answers to those kinds of problems and we didn’t.”

Against a team as talented and deep as Gonzaga, an opponent has to pick their poison. At least initially, BYU decided to pack in their defense. In response, the ‘Zags rained in 3-pointers in the first half, making 10 of 15 (67%).

“We made a calculated best guess going into this game,” Pope said. “It didn’t work out for us. They made all those 3-pointers and that made life really, really hard for us. When they shoot the ball like they did in the first half, that makes it super difficult.”

Things didn’t get better when the Cougars extended their defense: 6-foot-10 Drew Timme finished with 30 points on 13 of 14 from the field, dominating BYU’s young post players.

“We were never able to find answers to Timme in the pick and roll,” Pope said. “We’ve got to get better. That’s what this game teaches is that you just have to get better.”

Since Gonzaga is near the top of every measurable metric in college basketball, the Cougars NCAA resume didn’t take a terrible blow. But BYU will have to recover quickly and keep winning against other WCC teams for that to continue.

Numbers

Gonzaga has won 23 conference games in a row since losing at BYU in February of 2020. With No. 1 Baylor losing to Texas Tech earlier this week, the ‘Zags have a good chance of reclaiming first place in the AP Top 25 on Monday.

Flexing on offense

BYU sophomore Caleb Lohner had scored only nine points in the past four games on 3 of 15 from the field. He’d also struggled from the 3-point line this season, going into the Gonzaga game just 2 for 24 (8%).

Lohner was aggressive on the offensive end against the ‘Zags, scoring 17 points on 7 of 10 from the field, including 2 of 3 from beyond the arc.

“Coming into this game I had good confidence in myself knowing that it would take everyone’s effort to win,” Lohner said. “I was just going to do everything I could to help this team win. At the end of the day the score didn’t come out the way we wanted it. But there are good takeaways from this game for myself. As a team, we’ve just got to get better.

“I’m just going to keep shooting the ball with confidence. I shoot every single day and I hope that will translate.”

Scouting Report

WCC schedulers put three of the league’s best teams in front of BYU in consecutive games. The Cougars battled past Saint Mary’s and got drubbed by Gonzaga. Next up is San Francisco, in the midst of one of its best seasons in years.

The Dons started 10-0 and opened WCC play with convincing wins against San Diego and Loyola Marymount. Offensively, USF is a top 20 3-point shooting team with two guards – 6-2 Jamaree Bouyea (17.8 points per game) and 6-1 Khalil Shabazz (12.5 ppg) – who have given BYU fits in previous meetings. San Diego transfer Yauhen Massalski (14.4 ppg. 8.2 rebounds per game) gives the Dons some strong interior play. Six different USF players have made at least 17 3-pointers, led by Bouyea with 30. The Dons are also No. 2 in the WCC in points allowed per game (65.2 per game).

“Tonight, we lost the game,” Lohner said on Thursday. “In two days we have another tough game against a very tough team. We have to mentally be able to turn this one off and turn the other one on and take care of what we can take care of.”

Pope added: “It’s not the first time we’ve come up here (Spokane) and suffered a major setback.

It’s super, super humbling. To become the team we want to become, we have a very clear picture of a dozen or so things we need to address and get better and we’ll do that. We have high expectations for ourselves. We’re facing a massive challenge on the road Saturday. San Francisco is a talented team with guards that shoot the ball well from the wings. We’re going to face another high-octane, super powerful offensive team. We need to dig deep and come up with some answers if we want to be competitive.”

Men’s College Basketball

BYU (2-1, 14-4) at San Francisco (2-0, 15-2)

Saturday, 9 p.m. MT

War Memorial Gym, San Francisco

TV: CBS Sports Network

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

Live stats: byucougars.com

The Word: BYU leads the overall series with San Francisco 22-9, but the two teams have split the past six meetings. … Last year, BYU won 72-63 in San Francisco and 79-73 in Provo. … The Dons are atop the WCC standings at 2-0 with wins against San Diego and Loyola Marymount. … BYU lost at No. 2 Gonzaga Thursday night 110-84.

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