I could write this one with my eyes closed. UVU, or should I say, BYU West, has 4 ex BYU players on the roster. 2 of which are starters.
Blaze Nleld an Conner Harding.
Blaze leads the team in assists
Harding leads the team in 3s %. In fact, he is well over 50% from deep.
UVU has a 6’11 center, Fardaws Aimaq, that leads the team in scoring @20ppg. Mark Madson is a very good coach, has won ALL 3 of his overtime games this season. crazy stat, 3 OTs in 7 games.
Reason why UVU wins:
they are at home and they will be juiced to take down a rivel at home.
Reasons why BYU wins:
BYU is ranked #12 and we got there by playing some awfully good teams.
Better defense, better athletes,
BYU has Baxter and Foooooooos to slow down Aimaq
We all know Harding needs space to get his shot off. BYU won’t give him space.
Vegas has this as BYU 72-64 UVU
I say I doubt that UVU will score much more then 60 and BYU beats the spread.
These refs have been so bad until the last couple of minutes. But, our game is really a bunch of one on one and turnovers. Baxter hurt his left knee. He’s gone again.
BYU gonna lose the game. Wow, so much for all the hype about how good they are. No, UVU is not going to be a great team this season. They will be lucky to end up average. Blown opportunities, etc. and it is so easy to give a game away.
and that is how you lose to an inferior team… you lose the mental battle, stuff gets up in your head and you stop believing if things don’t go your way. Embarrassing to lose to the team up the hill from BYU…
I missed listening to the game in the first half and I did not hear what happened to Gavin Baxter about his knee I think. Please this is not another season ending injury? Please please please it is not so.
Gideon George something happened to him?
I just hope BYU doesn’t lose anymore in a high school gym! Sick!
All teams have to do is play tough defense on Barcello and we lose. It was more than that. Players shooting air balls when they are open. Pope’s T hurt a lot. But the refs were bad. 31% from the field. Maybe this is a wake up call as we played a lot of one on one ball.
Relax guys it is just one game. It was a bad game. It will probably be their worst of the year. The real worry is the condition of Baxter and George. One bad loss doesn’t ruin a season but losing key players is the bigger worry. BYU wasn’t going to be undefeated this year.
Probably the worst officiating I have ever seen in a D1 game. They also let UVU just maul Barcello and Lucas. If I were Pope, I would never play UVU again, it does nothing for BYU.
And to be honest, #12 was way to high for BYU. We might be 20-25, but 12???really
Shouldn’t have lost to UVU. George was sick. With what who knows. But, UVUs defense was best this year. Even with that, the effort in the first half was pathetic. Never crashed the boards.
Their big guys played hard and scored at will. A guard off their bench scores 24. Ridiculous effort.
The referees were horrible as well. The T cost us the game.
I will say this about Lohner, He is a basket case, won’t even look at the rim. It is all between the ears
We hit the perfect storm out there, Baxter lost for the year. Man, my heart hurts for that dude. His knee just buckled out there running down the floor. It was the oddest injury. and to be minus George, who will take a shot. Don’t have a clue why Akili was out there for OT, Sure hope Foos is OK.
Game ball goes to Spencer Johnson. He was focused, very savvy player.
Barcello is not 100%. He had no gas in overtime.
Shout out to Harding and Aimaq. They will never forget this win.
Harmon off the bench hurt us, not Harding. Almaq is really good. Yes, the refs were bad. But the offense looked like they were back to hero ball and simply didn’t play hard. Never saw an effort to get offensive rebounds in the first half. We weren’t prepared. I think we practiced more for Saturday’s game. The T turned out losing the game at the end of regulation.
I will say that UVUs defense is the best we’ve played so far.
This is why you play the games. Of all sports, in basketball, anyone can beat anyone else on any given day. Especially when the refs have their thumb on the scale, but that’s part of the game, too. You have to deal and adjust to what you have, and sometimes teams who should win on paper lose. That’s part of what makes sports exciting.
I agree that refs are part of the game and you just have to find a way to win. We simply didn’t play like we prepared for them. Shots went up and no one went for the offensive rebounds the entire first half. There was lots of standing around and individuals dribbling all over the place.
Our shooting is getting worse. Johnson is the only one that looks comfortable and confident right now.
Except for his FT shooting. His left foot is too far back.
What was with AB? How can he play pro and get swatted so much. Perhaps if we got into an offense quicker. Although UVUs defense was ready for us and the best we’ve seen this year.
Sometimes you do prepare, but you just have a bad game. My dad and I were at a BYU-ASU basketball game in Tempe years ago, and BYU couldn’t buy a basket. Layups and close range shots kept getting repeatedly blown. This was a good team, too, and ASU wasn’t very good. It just happens sometimes that it isn’t your day, and you can’t buy a basket. It was one of those things, and not lack of preparation or not taking an opponent seriously.
In 24 years of marriage, I finally lost in a game of HORSE against my wife. She has never beaten me, but I couldn’t get any shots to fall, even though I’m a dead shot. That’s just how it goes sometimes.
The shooting is becoming a trend. We have been playing great defense and offensive rebounding was a huge key to our wins. Yet, last night, it was non-existent. Especially in the first half. Shot goes up and all 5 ran back for defense. That means our preparation was either nonexistent or we changed what was working.
The shoots percentages are going backwards as well. Hesitant and feet not under the the shooter. Especially from 3’s.
The offense also disappeared. Too much one on one dribbling and standing around. Now, UVUs defense was excellent. They stopped our movement and we did nothing to change. The T ended up hurting us at the end. But, it was needed because the refs were so bad.
Every sports team on any level has these days. Where for whatever reason, “All” the players have a bad game all on the same day.
I have seen the Lakers back when Magic was on the team lose to the last place team in the conference and I remembered what he said afterwards “Some days are just like this, things don’t fall into place, It happens”.
Why else would a Nationally ranked team in 1985 (year after the NC) lose a game to a lowly UTEP team that ended the season in the bottom of the league that year?
Or as my weird uncle Jay would say “Some days you eat the chicken, and some days the chicken eats you”. Told you he was weird.
That’s just how it goes sometimes.