BYU Takes Care of Pepperdine on Senior Night

Freshman Fousseyni Traore had a career night as BYU beat Pepperdine 77-59 Saturday night in Provo on Senior Night.

Fouss had a career high 25 points to go along with 19 rebounds as he dominated a shorthanded Pepperdine frountcourt the whole night. Gideon George, Te’Jon Lucas, and Alex Barcello all chipped in with double-digit points of their own. BYU as a team shot 46% from the field and won the rebounding battle 45-35.

BYU moves to 21-9 on the season and looks like they will be the 5 seed in the WCC Tournament. BYU will open next Friday in Las Vegas versus the winner of the LMU-Pacific game, where they would face 4 seed San Francisco with a win. That would be a pivotal game for BYU’s NCAA Tournament hopes, as it would give BYU the opportunity for another Quad One win versus a NCAA Tournament team.

Pope has discussed scheduling another non-conference game next week, which would be either Tuesday or Wednesday. A team like Loyola-Chicago may be motivated to play BYU on Tuesday, although it’s appearing more likely BYU could just sit tight until the WCC Tournament.