Tag: BYU Basketball

Utah State Falls To BYU For The Eighth Straight Time

AGGIES KEEP IT CLOSE BUT FALL TO THE COUGARS Contact/Follow @MWCwire Cougars continue winning streak over Aggies Make it eight straight for the Cougars over the Aggies. BYU came up victorious Saturday night with a 68-64 win in Salt Lake City. Utah …

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AGGIES KEEP IT CLOSE BUT FALL TO THE COUGARS

Contact/Follow  @MWCwire

Cougars continue winning streak over Aggies

Make it eight straight for the Cougars over the Aggies. BYU came up victorious Saturday night with a 68-64 win in Salt Lake City.  Utah State hung with BYU the entire game but could never open up a sizeable lead.  The Aggie faithful showed up in force to cheer on their team.  About 2/3 of the crowd seemed to be Aggie fans.

Yoeli Childs led the way for the Cougars with 20 points and 10 rebounds.  The Senior forward is a force to be reckoned with down low.  Utah State did a pretty good job defensively double-teaming Childs nearly every time he touched the ball.

Senior guard TJ Haws had a big first half for the Cougars helping them take a 7 point lead into the break.  Haws scored 13 of his 16 points in the first half.  After the break Haws cooled down but still did a good job getting his teammates open and finished with 5 assists.

Utah Native, Abel Porter, played arguably his best game in an Aggie uniform.  Porter finished with 13 points to go along with 2 rebounds and 4 assists.  Porter played a whopping 37 out of the possible 40 minutes.

Alphonso Anderson certainly did his part against the Cougars last night. Anderson finished with 14 points and 4 rebounds.  Anderson played a big part in helping the Aggies get back into the game in the second half.  An extremely controversial moment in the game came when Anderson hit a three pointer while standing on the NBA three-point line.  The referees were unable to notice the difference between the college three-point line and the NBA three-point line and awarded the Aggies only two points.

Sam Merrill played his final regular season game against BYU Saturday night.  Merrill finished his career against BYU with a big fat goose egg in the win column.  Growing up in Bountiful, about halfway between Logan and Provo, Merrill is no stranger to the importance of in-state games. Historically Merrill has been extremely underwhelming against the Cougars and last night was no exception.  After the final buzzer rang Merrill finished with 11 points and 8 rebounds.  7 of his 11 points came from the free throw line.  From the field Merrill shot an abysmal 2-10 including 0-4 from behind the arc.

The Aggies had a chance to take the lead with 45 seconds left but missed their chance when Justin Bean and Neemias Queta both missed layups.  The Cougars hit a three on the ensuing possession pushing the lead to 68-64.

Sideline Notes:

Utah State will face BYU in the Spectrum next season.

Utah State will travel to Houston, TX to face USF on  a neutral court and then to Sunrise, FL to face the Florida Gators next week.

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Nevada puts their 5-game winning streak on the line at BYU

Nevada at BYU: Game Preview, Prediction, TV, Radio, Live Stream, Odds, More Wolf Pack look to continue their recent offensive explosion Contact/Follow @andrewdieckhoff & @MWCwire With both teams fielding scorers aplenty, be ready for a shootout in …

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Nevada at BYU: Game Preview, Prediction, TV, Radio, Live Stream, Odds, More

Wolf Pack look to continue their recent offensive explosion

Contact/Follow @andrewdieckhoff & @MWCwire

With both teams fielding scorers aplenty, be ready for a shootout in Provo

GAME DETAILS

WHO: Nevada (7-3, 1-0 MWC) vs. BYU (7-4, 0-0 WCC)

WHEN: Tuesday, December 10 — 7:00 P.M. MT / 6:00 P.M. PT

WHERE: Marriott Center, Provo, UT

WATCH: ESPNU

LISTEN: TuneIn

ALL-TIME RECORD: BYU leads the series, 13-7

ODDS: BYU -7, per KenPom

GAME PREVIEW

If it feels familiar to see BYU taking on a Mountain West foe, fret not. The Cougars really are on a tour through the conference, with tonight’s game against Nevada being the fourth of five total games against the league for Mark Pope’s side.

While the games against Boise State and San Diego State didn’t break the Cougars’ way, BYU looked like the best version of themselves over the weekend as they took down UNLV, 83-50. The win was a righting of the ship, as BYU was coming off an overtime loss to Utah on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Nevada’s offense went out and had themselves a monster week, scoring 98 against Santa Clara and 100 against Air Force.

The Wolf Pack have bounced back beautifully after a disappointing 2-3 start to the year. The season’s low point so far was a 20-point loss to Davidson. That loss looked—at the time—like it might signal a rough first year for new head coach Steve Alford, but Nevada has now won five straight games.

And though it shouldn’t diminish the accomplishment too much, none of those wins came against likely NCAA Tournament participants. Bowling Green is probably the most likely of the five, to give some context.

But they’ve got a chance to reel in a big fish when they travel to Provo.

The Cougars have had their struggles, to be sure. The losses to Boise State and Utah aren’t great. But BYU has also beaten Houston, Virginia Tech, and UCLA on the year, in addition to the haymaker they landed on UNLV.

Long story short, BYU can play.

Thankfully, so can Nevada.

The combination of Jalen Harris, Jazz Johnson, and Lindsey Drew is starting to mesh really well. They’ve demonstrated the ability to take turns carrying the scoring load, with the trio combining for eleven 20-point games so far.

Most recently, it’s been Harris taking the lead. The former Louisiana Tech guard has been lighting it up. He’s averaging 24 points per game over the last three contests, including a 31-point performance against Air Force on Saturday. Harris is making a very strong case for All-MWC honors in the early going—and could even find his way into the POY conversation.

If you’re a fan of high-scoring basketball, look no further. This game pits two effective offenses and against two pedestrian defenses. BYU has gone for 83 or more points in its last three games. Nevada has scored more than 84 in three of its past four.

This could end up being the most exciting games of the evening.

BY THE NUMBERS

On Nevada’s offensive possessions…

Steve Alford should continue to ride the horse that got him to this five-game winning streak, putting the ball in the hands of his guards early and often. The Wolf Pack have been an excellent shooting team and they protect the ball as well as just about anyone in the country. But their shooters are going to have to get it right on the first try, because BYU has been great at limiting second-chance opportunities by opposing offenses. Also, don’t expect Nevada to get much from the line, as the Cougars don’t foul much.

On BYU’s offensive possessions…

The performance against UNLV was exactly what this BYU offense wants to do night in and night out. We know that the Cougars have shooters galore, but having the dominant interior presence of Yoeli Childs back should take their efficiency into uncharted waters. Johncarlos Reyes and KJ Hymes haven’t been terrible in the low post for the Wolf Pack, but Childs might be the best post player they’ll face all year (apologies to Neemias Queta). Aside from contesting his shots, Nevada will also need to limit second-chance points better than they’ve done so far on the season.

DPI PROJECTION: BYU 79.87, NEVADA 79.56

Normally I would round the scores off, but I think it’s important to show just how close these two are. The system is projecting this to be a wildly even game, with less than half a point separating the two teams. In the end, though, the DPI projects that the Cougars will defend their home court. But Nevada has every chance in the world to win this game.

If the Wolf Pack have any hope at an at-large bid—a slim prospect, most likely— they need to seize this opportunity on the road.

Andrew is a current USBWA member, covering college basketball for multiple outlets, including Mountain West Wire of the USA TODAY Sports Media Group and Busting Brackets of the FanSided Network. He also runs the Dieckhoff Power Index, a college basketball analytics system, and provides bracketology predictions throughout the season.

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Boise State Gets An Overtime Win Against BYU At Home

Game Recap: Boise State 72, BYU 68 Great defensive efforts in overtime earn Boise State a win at home. Contact/Follow @HardwoodTalk & @MWCwire Trio of Alston, Jessup and Williams get it done for the Broncos. The Broncos needed a win going into …

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Game Recap: Boise State 72, BYU 68

Great defensive efforts in overtime earn Boise State a win at home.

Contact/Follow @HardwoodTalk & @MWCwire

Trio of Alston, Jessup and Williams get it done for the Broncos.

The Broncos needed a win going into Wednesday night’s game in the Extramile Arena while the Cougars were looking for their third straight. It was a hard fought battle for each team but after sending the game into overtime tied at 58 a piece, the Broncos sealed the win with a clutch performance at the free throw line from Derrick Alston Jr. and a solid defensive performance from Justian Jessup.

Boise State was riding a two game losing streak going into Wednesday night’s game and looked determined to end it against a hot BYU team. It wasn’t a pretty game most of the way, and you can blame that on tough defense combined with consistent effort form both teams throughout. Senior forward RJ Williams is having a great season after coming in from junior college with high expectations last year, and made his impact felt in the paint tallying 18 points and grabbing 7 boards whiling shooting a perfect 6-6 from the field.

But after fouling out in regulation the Bronco’s relied on Derrick Alston Jr. who ended the night with 26 points and 11 rebounds. Although he went 1/6 from deep, he was able to get into the paint get the foul stripe and create opportunities for others. A win might not have been possible if it wasn’t for senior guard Justian Jessup’s defensive efforts at the top of the key. Jessup finished with 4 steals on the night and turned those turnovers into fast break points.

The Cougars have struggled early on this season with senior guard T.J. Haws struggling to find a rhythm in their last three games and they have also missed senior leader Yoeli Childs’ presence down low. Mark Pope’s squad has been led in part by transfer guards Jake Toolson and Alex Barcello. And While Haws continued to struggle shooting from the floor going 5/16 and 0/8 from deep, Toolson kept the Cougars involved with a 19 point performance knocking down shots from inside and out.

The Bronco’s earned their second win of the season but first against a division one opponent. This was a great win at home and should provide momentum going forward with some winnable games on the horizon followed by early conference games.

Up Next: The Broncos take on the Pacific Tigers and former NBA point guard Damon Stoudamire on Saturday at 5:00 PM MT. The Tigers are 5-2 on the season after a four point win on Tuesday against another former NBA guard, Juan Dixon and the Coppin State Eagles.

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