Mark Pope and No. 23 BYU upset No. 2 Gonzaga, 91-78

Photo via BYU Athletics

The No. 2 Gonzaga Bulldogs fell to the No. 23 BYU Cougars Saturday night, and a former Wildcat helped lead the charge. 1996 National Champion Mark Pope serves as the head coach of the Cougars, and his team came away with a 91-78 win in front of 18,987 of their own fans on senior night. The victory also served as Pope’s 100th career win.

BYU now owns a 23-7 season record and a 12-3 record in the West Coast Conference. Saturday’s victory marks eight wins in a row for the Cougars, who snapped Gonzaga’s 19-game winning streak. Gonzaga hadn’t lost since their November matchup against Michigan. BYU seniors Yoeli Childs (28 points) and Jake Toolson (17 points) led the Cougars’ efforts.

https://twitter.com/BYUbasketball/status/1231457914855903237

BYU had a 14-point lead with 17 minutes left in the game, and the Cougars were able to withstand a predictable comeback attempt by the Zags. Although BYU never trailed in the second half, they did allow Gonzaga to cut the deficit to 70-68 with eight minutes remaining in the game. But Coach Pope and the Cougars didn’t give up, and the team went on to win by 13 points.

After the game, Pope was more than ready to celebrate with his team, saying “this is a new suit… So let’s ruin it!” Watch the locker room celebrations here:

https://twitter.com/BYUbasketball/status/1231461220604989442?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1231461220604989442&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.deseret.com%2Fsports%2F2020%2F2%2F23%2F21148657%2Fbyu-basketball-gonzaga-basketball-mark-pope-jake-toolson-yoeli-childs-tj-haws

It’s BYU’s second win over a ranked team this season; the Cougars defeated No. 22 Houston by one point back in November.

Pope’s big win wrapped up a night of college basketball upsets. The Gonzaga loss came shortly after the formerly-undefeated No. 4 San Diego State fell to an unranked UNLV. No. 1 Baylor also lost to No. 3 Kansas on College GameDay.

Wild scene at the Marriott Center. BYU gets it done! This team can do some serious damage in March. #BYU https://t.co/mswkFuB8kZ pic.twitter.com/nNEunflLK4

— Jeremiah Jensen (@JJSportsBeat) February 23, 2020

“I hope that all 18,000 of us in there and everybody that watched it on TV got to see something they’ll never forget,” Coach Pope said after the game. “Because it’s one of those really special moments in sports, and it’s not going to be our last.”

Welcome to (almost) March.