Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, Creighton was missing 7 foot 1 RYAN KALKBRENNER. Without him patrolling the middle, BYU was able to play. That is a 20 point swing no matter how you cut it.
Creighton is in the same boat as BYU football. I think we shot up to #8 after the Baylor game, then came October. Creighton has lost 4 straight after being ranked #7, they will fall well below 40 after tonight. They could only muster 53, shooting a paltry 30% against the lowly Nebraska. So for BYU to beat them means little (they shot 38% in our game)
Sure it stops the bleeding but this is certainly a false hope after those 2 beatdowns from UVU and So. Dakota. Happy for the win
Game ball to Rudi Williams, scores 26 and 4 assists. Still had 6 TOs, but its a Big East team that was considered the front runner and those are real points.
2nd Game true Fr. Hall gets the game winner. Fun watching him grow. 5 assists to 3 TOs, not bad.
Curious George fouls out for 2nd time in 2 games. He is a senior and can’t figure it out.
Foos is just a work horse. quietly gets his double double. Stud.
The stat of the night is 48 rebounds (14 O boards), Foos 12, Waterman 8, George 6. Fr. Richie Saunders 6 (this kid is as good as predicted). Creighton 29 total. That is a butt kickin
This win does wonders for players psyche so lets hope we can slingshot off of a big win.
Not sure if you saw the game. Up until the mess at the end with poor coaching with breaking the press we played the best game of the season. Except for George. He needs to get a grip. With or without their center, best game with the young players stepping up.
Why did Pope not put Fousse back in for the press and stick him at the center circle? Terrible press break offense.
Pretty soon we will have both Johnson and Knell back. This one was really nice win yesterday. Yes Mark Pope And BYU players still need to work harder to get better.
"Of course, part of the reason why the Cougars had such a lopsided edge in that area was because the Bluejays’ star 7-foot-1 center, Ryan Kalkbrenner, who averages a team-high 15.9 points, 7.6 rebounds 76.3% shooting from the field, was sidelined due to an illness.
That required significant adjustments on both sides "Them missing their big man inside changed everything for everybody. He was the entire, 100% focus of our game plan,” Pope said. “He’s such a dominating force offensively and defensively. In the two hours before the game, we were re-thinking everything that we had prepped the last couple of days. And I’m sure Creighton was the same, trying to do that.”
“We’re No. 1 in the country in defensive rebounding percentage. I have a hard time believing that’s all Ryan Kalkbrenner,” said McDermott, who explained he learned after Thursday’s practice that Kalkbrenner would be out. “But tonight, it would lead you to believe it was all Ryan Kalkbrenner because we were just dominated on the glass.”
Also, the Cougars, who found out just a couple of hours before the game that Kalkbrenner wouldn’t play, outscored Creighton in the paint, 42-24.
With Kalkbrenner unavailable, Arthur Kaluma scored 27 points for the Bluejays. The Cougars struggled to contain him — until Kaluma fouled out with six minutes remaining in the game."
With Johnson, BYU would have won the two before but still be ranked net #80-90, Not good enough to dance
Great win. 37 minutes of legitimately solid basketball. Seriously–I think we can all agree that BYU is a pretty bad basketball team right now, and to beat a quality, ranked team–even without its best player (to be fair, BYU was also without its best player)–is a GREAT win for a mediocre team like BYU.
Still shaking my head at how ANY D1 team vs ANY opponent could be so lacking in composure that it makes 6 turnovers in 2:02 of game time–think about it–that is such a statistical anomaly that it may never have happened in the history of basketball.
Here are our last NINE possessions before Hall’s game winning putback:
3:25 missed FT
3:14 TO
2:45 missed front end of 1 and 1
2:26 TO
2:07 TO
1:54 TO
1:35 TO
1:12 TO
1:01 missed front end of 1 and 1
I had never ever witnessed a meltdown like this in all my life. We were VERY VERY lucky to win, because Creighton had some good looks and could have won this game.
Kudos to Trey Stewart for some just outlandish athleticism on the defensive end down the stretch.
This is the worst shooting team I’ve ever seen. If 67% FT and 31% from deep doesn’t get better, we will be lucky to be .500 in the Rec League.
Turnovers like this will happen again if someone doesn’t remind Pope of break the press High School 101. As Jim Hawks said last night at our Stake’s Christmas Program, stick Fousse at the half court circle. Then, teach how to pass the ball properly.
Creighton Coach: We found out hours before the game that Kalkbrenner couldn’t go, We built our offense around him so we knew we would struggle and BYU would exploint the middle.
Pope deserves some recognition He did not allow the young cougs to gun away but instead, drive and work near the basket.
Rudi definitely had a come to Jesus moment because he was relentless. If he can keep that up and we see Hall grow with each game, get Johnson back, BYU will win more then they lose in the Rec league.
The thing is, that one player for Creighton, #24, scored 27 points and filled in plenty for their big guy. So, maybe they win or maybe they still wouldn’t have. All I know is that was the best game of the year except for the TO’s and missed free throws at the end of the game.
I thought besides Rudi, Saunders had a great game. He and Hall will be bonafide really good players and they will probably stick around also. Not sure how much more BYU basketball I can watch this year. The last 2 minutes got me so upset I could barely sleep. O well, does anyone know when Knell comes back?
Knell MIGHT play in January…
Pope knows as well as we do that this is not an NCAA tournament team. So he is doing the smart thing by giving Hall, Saunders, and Robinson–guys who could be around 3 more years–legitimate minutes. Saunders looks like a really good athlete to me; he is listed at 6’5" but rebounds like a big man. And like most of the team, Saunders has sucked from deep, but when he makes one you can see that it looks pure, like a guy who will make a lot of them. He is also willing to score from midrange, which is in short supply. Hall has been just an absolute BRICKLAYER so far (a PG shooting 34.8/28.6/60.0 is a felony in some states), but it’s pretty obvious that he has a really high ceiling. Robinson is a true one-trick pony (82% of his shot attempts are 3s), but he’s proving to be one of the better 3 point shooters on a team that desperately needs one, and he plays really good on the ball defense…so anyway, I like that Pope is willing to ride or die with the young guys because this is TRULY a “rebuilding” year for BYU hoops.
agreed. Peev, Robinson and Waterman are entirely 3 point specialists. Two of our bigger men insist on living outside. Can’t wait to see Johnson back because he is very good at a mid range shot.
Every time I read one of his articles–which is not often–I am seriously underwhelmed. He points out that BYU’s worst non conference record was 12-4 but then “rallied” to finish 24-8. I’m pretty sure that means BYU was 12-4 in conference, which is not exactly “rallying” from a 12-4 start…
His articles always seem to just end out of thin air, like he’s reached his word limit but never got around to making his point…
One issue I have with Kinahan’s opinion is that he says there is no guarantee that Robinson won’t transfer after this season. That may be true but the same holds for every player during this time of the transfer portal. Caleb Lohner, for example. A player who was supposed to be an integral part of BYU’s future waved bye bye.
I would not want to be a coach in this era. They can’t build a team in the traditional way of signing a top class of high school players and keep them together 4 years. You can’t sign a really good player and have much hope of keeping them 4 years. Even guys who are starters will jump ship. The problem is money and there is the ego of a prima donna 18-21 year old jock. There are way too many options for players now days and they now have the upper hand and coaches have to live with the uncertainty year after year.
The only coaches who have it good are those at elite programs that load up on one and done blue chip players year after year and can just reload with NBA talent.