Brigham Young (17-10, 9-3) vs. Loyola Marymount (17-9, 5-7)
Albert Gersten Pavilion, Los Angeles; Saturday, 1 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: Brigham Young looks for its fifth straight conference win against Loyola Marymount. Brigham Young's last WCC loss came against the Gonzaga Bulldogs 93-63 on Jan. 31. Loyola Marymount lost 73-60 loss at home against Gonzaga in its most recent game.
BIG MEN ON CAMPUS: Loyola Marymount's James Batemon has averaged 16.7 points while Mattias Markusson has put up 10.6 points and 6.7 rebounds. For the Cougars, Yoeli Childs has averaged 21.2 points and 9.8 rebounds while TJ Haws has put up 17.7 points and 5.1 assists.
DEFENSIVE IMPROVEMENTS: The Cougars have given up just 71.7 points per game to WCC opponents thus far, an improvement from the 78.8 per game they allowed in non-conference play.
SPARKING THE OFFENSE: Haws has either made or assisted on 46 percent of all Brigham Young field goals over the last three games. The junior guard has accounted for 20 field goals and 17 assists in those games.
ASSIST RATIOS: The Lions have recently used assists to create buckets more often than the Cougars. Loyola Marymount has 45 assists on 73 field goals (61.6 percent) across its previous three outings while Brigham Young has assists on 49 of 81 field goals (60.5 percent) during its past three games.
BALL SECURITY: The diligent Brigham Young offense has turned the ball over on 14.9 percent of its possessions, the 11th-best mark in Division I. 20 percent of all Loyola Marymount possessions have resulted in a turnover (the Lions are ranked 256th, nationally).
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This was generated by Automated Insights, http://www.automatedinsights.com/ap, using data from STATS LLC, https://www.stats.com
