they just hung 117 on Pacific, BYU-SMC combined did not get to 100. Knell said it best,“When the shot goes up, you’ve got to be sprinting back,” Knell said. “It’s all about urgency. That’s something that we’re practicing. When a shot goes up, it’s not a backpedal, it’s a turn and sprint. …
BYU is about to play the polar opposite of SMC, the king of possession control. This game will be all about transition baskets and speed. BYU’s deeper bench will help, count on seeing more of Erickson and Atiki tonight. This is going to be horse race, keep up or get run over.
Inside, Advantage Gonzaga. Timme, a 1st rounder pick is averaging 17 and 6 rebs pg will be defended by Foos, 8 ppg, 8 rebs.
possible 1st pick of the draft, 7’ Chet Helgren, averaging 13 and 9 rebs pg will be defended by Lohner, 6 ppg, 6 rebs.
We are talking a whooping 30 ppg vs. 14 ppg difference inside. Interestingly, Gonzaga averages 88 ppg, BYU 73… ESPN has this game as a 15 point thumping , now Isn’t that interesting?
BYU to cover that spread but our big problem is where do the points come from?
BYU cannot afford to start the game behind 20 points as they have in the past 2 contests.
BYU just does not have the fire power to do battle with Gonzaga. So:
Pope will have to rely on defense and holding Gonzaga well under their average.
BYU has to out rebound GU
BYU has to keep TOs to under 10 while getting GU to Turnover on the SMC scale (19).
finally, BYU has to hit around 40% from 3.
Should be a good game but Gonzaga is at home in the Kenel. They don’t lose in the Kenel.
Having seen every Gonzaga game this year, they are getting better as the season moves along. Good call on the defense-it’s the way to defeat the Zags, but easier said than done. BYU matches up well on the guard line, but that’s about it. Gonzaga has a deeper bench. This is a tough game to even stay close in and I see BYU having foul trouble. Ball movement and 3 point shooting will be key on offense. Zags by +14
At half time BYU 41–10 SMC women basketball right now. I am happy for our BYU women team are doing well.
I hope tonight against GU we don’t see like that against BYU in men’s basketball game.
The only time BYU did beat GU in Spokane when Corbin Kafusi Played back then.
GU favored by 14 which I thought would be higher and I am hoping a little less than that. Or a BYU win would be sweet
Kind of classless on Few’s part to leave his starters in for so long and run the score up on BYU. 30 point lead with 6 minutes to go and most of the starters still in there. Then again, maybe he is trying to get his licks in before BYU leaves the WCC. Then Gonzaga can go back to having an easier time of it than they already do.
BYU played a good first half and then, in spite of giving it effort in the second half, the officials call BYU for 4 fouls (mostly marginal) and swing the momentum back to Gonzaga.
I will concede that Gonzaga is a better team and BYU had little chance of winning the game but the favoritism never ends and honestly it is embarrassing to the WCC and the officials doing the game. The nose actually showed some sympathy to BYU when they got down big and called several in their favor. That was weird.
Update - core group of players still in with 30 point lead and 3 minutes before they subbed in scrubs including Few’s kid.
They started great and then the refs got involved to help swing the momentum to Gonzaga quickly. I knew it was over for sure. It was nice to have some hope for a few minutes early on.
I heard enough sometimes 16 minutes left in the game. Lohner is doing great tonight and hopefully he will continue the rest of the season with his good shooting, keep it up.
Why referees continue helping out GU every time we play them which makes no sense. WCC commissioners need to stop allowing to continue like this which again is embarrassing. They need to get rid Some bad referees!
Anyway BYU men’s basketball need to get ready for SF this Saturday.
They aren’t bad referees, just when BYU is involved. The officials can’t help themselves, GU is the darling, the big time program, etc. and they will get the calls until the ncaa tournament comes around and they have to work for it. One of the reasons they got whacked by Baylor last year was that they weren’t used to having to fight through stuff and grind out wins when the officials aren’t giving them everything.
Not focused on the reason we lost. Refs were fine. They didn’t interfere with the flow. We simply had no defense to stop their offense. I was surprised we got down to within 7 points in the 2nd half. But, they kept making shots with a great offense scheme and we weaved our way to getting tired and began missing shots.
yeah, this was expected but SF is a winnable game that BYU needs for its resume…Problem is, SF also needs this win, it will be a war out there.
two take aways from this blow out; BYU shot 44% from 3 tonight, good. Lohner came out of his shell for the 1st time all season and played with confidence. 7-10 from the field and 2 threes.
Their athleticism shows up with controlled shooting technique with perfect balance and control.
Gonzaga offense is a complexed motion offense with well-skilled screening and quick cuts into the lane.
BYU runs around for 20 seconds with a Globetrotter weave 40 feet from the basket and then throws up off balanced tosses at the basket. There 2 point shooting has to be in the low 20’s.
With a weak offensive scheme and off balanced tosses to the basket they and the fans expect to be bailed out by the referees.
Must have been 30 times I saw a player get the ball in the lane for a midrange shot and open and flinch without squaring up, getting their feet under them and shoot the midrange in the paint shot.
Once the game was decided, Lohner decided to just have fun and play ball. So different than the nervous nelly he has been most of the year on offense. He made 3s, posted up to score on turnarounds, went coast to coast, and took big men to the rack. He’s the full package if he will just stop thinking so much and play ball.
Early in the game my friend inside the program was texting for my prediction: I texted this to him about 10 minutes into the game:
“We sag and their guards score 30. We guard the perimeter and Timme scores 30. Just not enough size and talent to match up against this team.”
I don’t think I was too far off…
PS GU is my 2nd favorite team and I love Coach Few, who is a great guy and a great friend of BYU. 100% rooting for GU to win the NC.
A MAJOR key to the game: BYU could have at least had a chance with Baxter, because he’s the only guy on the roster who could even possibly guard Timme 1v1 and we could have limited their 3s in the first half without Timme going off. We are just soooo outmanned…for he$$s bells, we had 6’5" Gideon George guarding Holmgren…mostly admirably, I’d add…Pope said that he made an adjustment at half to try to limit their 3s (yes, there IS a sport at BYU with a coach who will make halftime adjustments), leaving our Timme 1v1…Lohner, nope. Fouss, nope. Atiki, heaven help me he got taken to school.
Well, we did get the score down to
7 in the second half. Then, we missed lots of 2 point shots and GU didn’t. We get in that weave and start passing the ball without squaring to the basket enough. We had open midrange and in shots but passed up the shots. Too hesitant.
Watching Gonzaga play is so much fun. I believe that basketball was meant to be played in that fashion. They have great athletes, that buy into the Gonzaga system and selfishness is done away with for the greater good of the team. Love Few, and love Pope who is trying to do the same thing with BYU