No. 17 BYU Regular-Season Finale At Pepperdine Close To Sell Out
Feb 28, 2020, 10:50 PM
Brigham Young Cougars guard Connor Harding (44) drives the ball down the court in Provo on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020. BYU defeated the Pepperdine Waves 107-80. (Ivy Ceballo, Deseret News)
(Ivy Ceballo, Deseret News)
MALIBU, California – Riding high from a historic victory over Gonzaga last Saturday, the No. 17 ranked BYU Cougars close out their regular-season schedule on Saturday in beautiful Malibu, California against the Pepperdine Waves.
It’s not common for Pepperdine to host a nationally-ranked team at their home venue of Firestone Fieldhouse and it might be even rarer that the Waves have a sellout in the 3,105-seat gym.
No time to continue indulging in the Gonzaga win, No. 17 #BYU turns their attention to the regular season finale at Pepperdine. #BYUhoops @kslsports
📰: https://t.co/HAnbvN80Bb pic.twitter.com/PLTnmJNzYj
— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) February 29, 2020
The nationally-ranked team is coming in the form of BYU and the sellout at Firestone is almost there as well.
BYU/Pepperdine is close to a sellout
On Pepperdine’s official ticket site, you can count the individual seats that are available for BYU vs. Pepperdine. As of Friday night, 123 seats remained in the cozy Firestone Fieldhouse. Considering the Waves have averaged 1,258 fans per home game this season at home games, it’s fair to assume that BYU fans are likely filling the gap for the additional ticket sales.
Since BYU joined the West Coast Conference in 2011, Cougar fans have been well known to turn road games into pro-BYU atmospheres and Saturday could be much of the same.
One BYU fan named Jacob Flores said he was driving down from Utah to Malibu to see his 17th ranked Cougars potentially finish out the regular season with a ninth consecutive win.
Thanks to the #PopeShow last night my wife and I decided to make the drive (10hr) to Malibu for the regular season finale. Just bought our tickets. @gregwrubell @jaromjordan #BYUbasketball j
— JACOB FLORES (@jflore47) February 26, 2020
“Thanks to the Pope Show last night my wife and I decided to make the drive (10hr) to Malibu for the regular-season finale. Just bought our tickets,” said Flores.
With so much at stake in this regular-season finale, having a crowd that’s potentially pro-BYU will be music to the ears of head coach Mark Pope. BYU is looking to clinch the number two seed in the West Coast Conference Tournament which would give the Cougars a three-round bye to the semifinals. Also, Pepperdine is a quadrant two opponent in a true road venue. Win or lose, Saturday’s game will have an impact on BYU’s NCAA Tournament resume which is trending up after taking down the Zags last week.
Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday from 12-3 pm) on KSL Newsradio. Follow him on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper.
