No Kalifa, little to no Waterman (did he get hurt? Or was it an adjustment to go more to Saunders?), struggled from 3 in the first half and we come away with a double digit road win in a very tough place to play! They beat Texas, Kansas and Cincy there this year. Great adjustments by Pope, now going inside and outside and driving, plus playing team defense. Learning how to win in tough environments against good competition BEFORE tourney time. Both the team and the coach growing and improving! This is getting fun!
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We did struggle in the beginning. Partly I think because they probably practiced with Khalifa until he got sick and didn’t have a lot of time to prepare if any going back to Fouss and still shooting lots from the outside. We shot 36 3’s which is what we were doing before the Khalifa and Fouss show got going. We shot poorly from both 2’s and 3’s in the first half. But, we upped our game a lot ending with good percentages from both. Free throw shooting went back down.
We only had 8 turnovers which is a real key. And, only 13 fouls as well.
We held our own with rebounding with a team that can get up for rebounds.
I don’t know where Waterman was. Must have been a bit sick today.
Atiki simply wasn’t as good as he has been. He never gets set for the screens. He’s always still moving when the defense gets there.
Sanders was huge today with the 3 point shots and defense as well. Only one foul on him.
Johnson came in with some big plays at needed times. But, he makes some real headscratcher plays. Knell is not playing up to his ability and shooting poorly at 3’s lately.
Robinson looked like he was hesitant a lot. Had some good open looks and didn’t take them. His percentage won’t get better if his confidence doesn’t get better.
Hall was really good today. Took mostly good shots except for a couple rushed ones. But, he is the only point guard we have. Pope doesn’t look like he’s going to play Stewart. I’d like to see him get in the game at Oklahoma because the team will be tired from this one. Hope Khalifa will be good to go.
Traore had a massive and greatly needed game. He got their big man in foul trouble early that made a huge difference. 10-15 from the field and 4-4 from the ft line.
- Waterman was sick.
Khalifa sick and didn’t travel. Not aure of his status for Tuesday. - The difference between this game and earlier conference games is the offense didn’t fold. Big 3s from Saunders, Jaxson and Knell when we needed them.
- Richie Saunders is the real deal. Will continue to prove he’s one of the very best players on this team.
- 12 dimes and only 1 TO for Hall is WLITE level PG play in this league. Well done, Dallin.
- Fouss made it happen—on both ends.
- Every road win in this league is pure gold.
- Finally, every game feels like a March Madness game, and it’s just fun to watch. The Rec League and its empty high school gyms is an affront to basketball compared to what we are watching this year—EVERY SINGLE GAME this year is like when we played Gonzaga in the Rec League.
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Soo much fun to watch this year.
Even took the laptop to Walmart parking lot in middle of nowhere Kansas to watch while others shopped.
Would NEVER have done that the last number of years. That is telling.
Agee with all observations made.
Just saw Baylor beat ISU. There was a problem with the clock manager. So, the refs said there was 1.2 seconds left. I looked at it and should have been 1.6. The pass was made and the shot barely too late for a long 3 that went in. Should have counted had the refs assigned the right amount of time. But, now the league leaders all have 3 losses. And we have 4 losses. We are still in contention for league title. Have to win Tuesday.
Most of the games in this conference are close! ISU must be steaming.
The outcome is easily explained tho
1 ref has an aunt that lives in Des Moines and 2 refs were raised Baptist so 2:1
Waterman woke up Sat. feeling quite sick but toughed it out because the cougs had Khalifa out with injuries and illness (possibly the same bug was just hitting Waterman.)
How a guy with 3 years on BYU’s roster does NOT Get Better, I will never understand. Our one Achillies.
I thought Knell was exceptional out there. Every single player in the big 12 have him circled as a “do not shoot” target and then he floats two laners early in the game.
Dnews is reporting Khalifa is probably out for OK…nursing nagging injury as well as sickness
boy, aint that the truth.
just to add to what all of you have posted.
1 Foos man handed Edwards the entire game. Foos had his best game as a coug. 6 ORs.
2 I thought there was way too much home cooking reffing going on in this game but that switched with 4 minutes to go, can’t explain why, maybe that all changed when Pope got after the ref that was calling the ticky tack stuff on us, somehting to the order of, “This in NOT the Rec league”. .
3 WV does not have the guards that the rest of the Big 12 have. No one to drive and foul out our big guy. I started ranting at about the 13 minute mark with BYU up 17 and Kriisa hits a big 3. He’s the only player that can make a 3 and we get lazy, then he blows up and makes a yawner into a game.
WVU loses to BYU (wsaz.com)
4 as Hopper pointed out, Robinson is not the player he was before his foot injury. slow or lost on D. settleing for 3s rather then drive on O. hopefully he comes alive soon.
5 I thought Halls early shots (too far, too early in the clock) were poor choices, then he “went off”. 12 Assists and 1 TO is all Big 12 stuff. The way he sucked Suemnick into the offensive foul was brilliant.
I can’t decide which play I like most. Saunders Bank 3, Knells off balance 3 “and 1” or Dallin’s dagger 3 when they high picked Edwards (which by the way, BYU was playing the NBA game on those high picks late in the game to iso Edwards outside against a PG, we should be doing that every time.)
6 getting Edwards two early fouls really changed the game. WV was not good when he was out so once he got his 3rd, he was done brutalizing BYU inside.
7 Johnson was tasked with guarding Kriisa when Robinson failed. Johnson may of shot only 3-11 from 3land but his 3 makes got us to 17 pt lead.
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Anyone hear why Stewart isn’t playing? Hall has to get a breather occasionally. Robinson is okay but not a point guard.
Knell has struggled with his 3s since his foot injury and illness. I thought his defense was good.
This illness that is going around with the team is annoying. Waterman should have stayed home as well.
And, what has Haiti Adams?
If Stewart were an offensive threat, he would be playing. Pope likes his 5 threats on the court.
Adams injury has him redshirting so far
Without Hall in there the offense Boggs down. I’d at least try him. Would not hurt.