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Provo • Brigham Young University, the third-largest private university in the United States with an enrollment of more than 33,000 and a huge international reach, has been an outlier in terms of student body size since it joined the West Coast Conference before the 2011-12 school year.
No other WCC school has more than 10,000 students, and none plays in an arena that comes close to the capacity of BYU's 19,000-seat Marriott Center.
Oddly, though, the BYU men's basketball team also differs from its WCC peers in the way it utilizes foreign-born players. BYU is the only school in the league without an international player on its roster. Some have as many as seven, and all but Pepperdine has more than one.
Nationally ranked Saint Mary's, for example, will bring no fewer than seven Australians to the Marriott Center on Saturday night for a late-season showdown with the Cougars, who have seven players from the state of Utah who grew up within 30 miles of Provo.
The No. 22-ranked Gaels (23-3, 13-2) walloped Loyola Marymount 81-48 on Thursday and have firm control of second place in the league behind No. 1 Gonzaga. The Cougars (19-9, 10-5) are a game ahead of Santa Clara (15-13, 9-6) in the race for third.
It is the 15th straight year that coach Randy Bennett has had at least one Australian on his roster, a tradition that started in 2001 with Andrew Caporn and blossomed when current NBA regulars Patty Mills and Matthew Dellavedova made their way to Moraga, Calif.
"Whatever it is, a pipeline, a partnership, it's a big part of our program," Bennett said at last year's WCC Tournament. Five of the Gaels' top seven players are from Australia, including leading scorer and rebounder Jock Landale and No. 3 scorer Emmett Naar.
Landale, a 6-foot-11 junior center, had 26 points and nine rebounds on 11-of-13 shooting in the 81-68 win over BYU in Moraga on Jan. 5 to nearly match BYU's homegrown big man Eric Mika, who had 28 and 10.
"I think defensively we have improved since then," BYU coach Dave Rose said Thursday after the Cougars held off San Diego 82-70. "What they do ball screen-wise, we will see if we are better at it. I hope we are. They kinda put on an offensive clinic over there against us. Hopefully our guys are more aware of the challenge with this group at Saint Mary's."
The Cougars have had plenty of foreign-born players throughout the years, but they haven't had international contributors since Charles Abouo (2008-12) and Jonathan Tavernari (2006-10). Abouo is from the Ivory Coast but played at Logan High, and Tavernari is from Brazil but played prep ball in Las Vegas. Both are playing professionally overseas.
Rose said BYU not having a foreign player on its roster is not by design, but he acknowledged it can be a difficult, time-consuming process to identify and land overseas talent. BYU women's coach Jeff Judkins recently said that he spent more time recruiting New Zealander Kalani Purcell than any player in his 16-year tenure.
"I think that recruiting the international player is a real unique [process] in how you get them, and what you have to do to get them, and what's involved," Rose said. "We have had a few international players, but right now I just feel like we are in kind of a cycle with [local guys]."
That includes the famed Lone Peak Three — Mika, Nick Emery and TJ Haws — who served church missions to Italy, Germany and France, respectively.
A lot of the reason for not having at least one international player "had to do with the missionary age change," Rose said. "We are kind of in a period right here where I got three of them coming home [Luke Worthington, Dalton Nixon, Ryan Andrus] and I have got four behind that. It is just kind of hard to fit in the international guy."
Saint Mary's and Gonzaga have done it, however, with impressive results.
Twitter: @drewjay —
Saint Mary's at BYU
P Marriott Center, Provo
Tipoff • 8 p.m. Saturday
TV • ESPN2
Radio • 1160 AM, 102.7 FM, Sirius XM 143
Records • BYU (19-9, 10-5 WCC), Saint Mary's (23-3, 13-2 WCC)
Series history • BYU leads, 12-9
Last meeting • Saint Mary's won 81-68 (Jan. 5, 2017)
About the Gaels • They bounced back from last week's loss to No. 1 Gonzaga with an 81-48 trouncing of Loyola Marymount on Thursday in Moraga, Calif., their 11th straight win over LMU. … Jock Landale leads them in scoring (17.0 ppg.) and rebounding (9.4 rpg.). Forward Calvin Hermanson is the only other Gael averaging in double figures (12.6 ppg.). … They are dead last (351st) in the country in tempo, averaging 59.5 possessions per game.
About the Cougars • They are given a 30 percent change to win the game, according to the basketball analytics site Kenpom.com. … They are coming off an 82-70 win over San Diego in which Nick Emery scored 26 points and was 5 of 7 from 3-point range. … Eric Mika had 15 points and reached double figures for the 29th consecutive game. … Seniors Kyle Davis and L.J. Rose, both injured, will be honored before the game for their contributions to the program.
Saint Mary's Australian players
Player • Position • Year • Hometown
Jordan Hunter • Center • Sophomore • Vaucluse, Australia
Emmett Naar • Guard • Junior • Sydney, Australia
Jock Perry • Center • Freshman • Melbourne, Australia
Tanner Krebs • Guard • Freshman • Hobart, , Australia
Dane Pineau • Forward • Senior • Melbourne, Australia
Kyle Clark • Forward • Sophomore • Wynyard, Australia
Jock Landale • Center • Junior • Malvern, Australia