Top-ranked Gonzaga to play BYU on Thursday

The top-ranked Gonzaga Bulldogs confirmed on Tuesday that they won't be facing the Santa Clara Broncos on Thursday because of COVID-19 issues within the Broncos. 

Instead, the West Coast Conference shifted schedules to create a showdown between Gonzaga and the BYU Cougars set to occur on Thursday evening. BYU was originally supposed to face the Pacific Tigers on Thursday but couldn't due to COVID-19-related protocols impacting Pacific. 

As Sean Walker noted for KSL.com, BYU previously had three consecutive games postponed because of COVID-19 concerns. The Cougars haven't competed since notching an 87-79 victory over the Weber State Wildcats on Dec. 23. 

Gonzaga, meanwhile, improved to a perfect 10-0 on the season with a win over the San Francisco Dons last Saturday. According to the official BYU website, Gonzaga leads the country in offense and is averaging 96.2 points per game. 

Per Jeff Borzello of ESPN, Gonzaga topped the NCAA's first NET rankings that were released on Monday.