I never thought I’d say this, but Big Nose seemed to be going out of his way to greet the BYU players and coaches before the game and to not glare at them or make smart#$$ remarks to them during the game. You will note he has not worked a BYU in maybe a couple months. He tried hard to be fair the entire game. Almost no fouls on either team in the 1st, then the 2nd opened with 10 fouls on us (vs 1 on UP) in the first 4:30 of the 2nd half. My live take was that the fouls were not because of bad refs but rather bad BYU bigs who were unable to deny post or rebounding position without fouling. But our O turned it up and we ran them outta there. There was ZERO doubt live that SKYLER HALFORD put the team on his back for the middle of the 2nd half. His intensity and enthusiasm and deadeye shooting were awesome. Then Haws was an assassin in the last 2-3 minutes of the game to make sure UP had no hope of a comeback. Finally, huge shout out to FB4, who D’d up LIKE A MAN in that 2nd half. And Halford and KC were GREAT to stay on Wintering without fouling, resulting in 2 FTs for him after he went 15-17 from the line in Provo. A 49-28 2nd half on the road against a decent team is about as well as we could possibly hope to play.
PS Portland’s 2 bigs are good players, and Andrus and Kaufusi combined for 14/8 in 35 minutes (ok, and 9 fouls, of which about 8 looked pretty obvious). Kaufusi needs to learn to stay on his feet on D, and Andrus just simply gets pushed around, but Kaufusi made a couple incredibly athletic plays that bode well for the future, and Andrus had great touch around the rim and looks like he can be a real good player in a couple years.
Thank you Tom
I was hoping for a report and I did notice that BN was one of the officials for the game. I am glad he changed his attitude. Someone must have talked to him about his past actions when doing a BYU game. I’ve ben saying for the last month or more that I cannot get after Halford anymore, no matter that his erratic defense drives me crazy or that his errant passes, bad decisions and turnovers make me want to scream. The guy gives 110% effort and he can shoot and score. What more can you ask from a 6’ pasty white kid who doesn’t look like someone who would ever pick up basketball in his life.
Props to him as he has maximized his JC talent into a legitimate D-1 player.
I will be watching the GU game tomorrow night intently, I missed last night’s game because SCE (Edison) decided to schedule a maintenance period and our electricity was out between 8 pm and 4 am. A good thing because it gave us a chance to do a dry practice run for an emergency.
I am ready for the apocalypse… 
So, do you have ROOT TV? I couldn’t get the game because that’s what it was on.
Ya, Halford has turned it around. He still does some MC passing. But, he seems to have better shooting skills than MC did. MC gave it 110% on the court too. His passing was very good too. But, his shooting was more erratic than Halford’s has been in the second half of the season. Let’s see how he does against Gonzaga…
They had a couple of their starters back that they didn’t have in the last game. They have been winning since they have them back. They are a good team and dangerous in the WCC tournament.
In the San Diego game near the end, Rose had Fischer in the game instead of Halford. I didn’t get that at all. Fischer was shooting poorly and he’s not a great free throw shooter. I think Halford has proved that he needs to be playing at end of tight games.
Haws was saying to day on Cougar Nation that defense is what wins games for them. The offense is pretty much there every game. But, when they bring intensity, that’s when they can get the rebounds and steals they need to win. He said Rose went off on them during half-time for not playing aggressive defense. That is why there were more fouls being committed because they were more aggressive. But, it’s what eventually won the game for BYU Haws said.
We need a thumbs down for any officiating complaining posts.
Thanks Tom for the information. I was unable to watch the game since I had worked late last night. Good to know that the officials appeared to call things fairly.
How about a thumbs down for Apostle and Prophet complaining… 
Congrats BYU-Defense and timely shooting turned that game around. BYU came out aggressive in the 2nd half after a deflating end to the first half. Gonzaga on the other hand looked terrible for the first 30 minutes and then found themselves- much like in the St Marys game. This, perhaps, is a good time to be playing the Zags. I, for one don’t think this next game is a kill for the NCAA’s if we don’t win because I believe we will most likely meet SM in the tourney semi’s and that game will be the decider.
I think that because of BYU’s shaky wcc record they are shaky for the ncaa tournament, unless they can win it of course. If BYU somehow pulled an upset vs. Gonzaga (lots to overcome in that game) tomorrow night then their chances to make it shoot through the roof and they are likely a sure thing.
Gonzaga has not been real impressive (Wiltjer and Pangos had a terrible game vs. USD) but it doesn’t matter in the wcc. I am concerned that those two will show up big vs. BYU (as they did in Provo) and if the Cougs get down double digits in the first 5 minutes (as they did in Provo) the game will be over before it gets started.
I don’t think BYU is a sure thing if they make it to the final of the wcc tourney because their season record isn’t that impressive and they have some bad losses.
The official Tom is talking about recognized how bad his bias in previous BYU games was and I’m guessing he was called out by a superior about it.
He was given a chance to redeem himself by doing what every official should do, officiate the game with objectivity and bias free. Apparently that is what he did. BYU was down 8 at halftime and he certainly could have influenced the outcome if he had chosen to, like several times in the past, but he didn’t.
Good for him, it shows us all that people can change.
We are in violent agreement on Halford
I was able to get the game on “TheW.” Apparently it was a feed from Root TV. The quality was terrible and I lost sound just before the half. I had worked at moving houses all day and it was 11pm so I gave it up and missed the 2nd half. Now I am sorry I did not stick it out.
Anywho, I have got The W a couple of times and was able to use an iPad and connect it to my TV to watch the game. It is not great but better than nothing.
Link for this information?