How great was it to watch a game with REAL officials? This crew has worked multiple final fours, and it showed. Each team shot TWO–count em, TWO–foul shots in the entire first half! And both teams were playing hard!!! No team was in the bonus until under 8 minutes to go in the game. BYU only had a big FT lead because of about 6 intentional fouls late in the game. The refs we have had this year have been for the most part a bunch of clowns–insecure guys calling 50 fouls a game to show who is the boss. You could tell tonight that the players respected the refs and appreciated the refs not hijacking the game. I’m not sure I saw a single player from EITHER team complain to the refs the entire game. Thank you Holmoe for scheduling a game on an off night and getting us a real crew.
LJ Rose had 18/9/6–hey, that’s exactly what KC used to do! Yeah, right, but doesn’t it feel a little better when your PG knocks calmly down 10 of 11 from the stripe to ice it. I’ve been saying all year LJ has a strong upper body and a good sense for the ball, and is a really good rebounder for a guard. Not KC, but still really good. LJ doesn’t have to make a lot of shots, but he has to AT LEAST make A FEW. Tonight those few made a big impact.
Yoeli Childs is an AWESOME rebounder. How many balls did he get simply because of his length, leaping, and anticipation? Rose saw tonight who should be starting EVERY game.
HOORAY FOR NO ZONE DEFENSE!!! Oh, until we went into a zone with 3 minutes to go and USU knocked down a wide open trey. Oh yeah, back to man and we get a steal next time down to ice it. WE STINK AT ZONE and it was VERY SMART of Coach Rose to go straight man tonight.
Guinn couldn’t throw it in the ocean tonight (along with Emery and TJ), but his D and rebounding were OUTSTANDING.
So our 3 pt shooting is simply a train wreck, and TJ looks like he’s having a meltdown trying to figure out how to not force things every time he has the ball, and it’s not like we just beat Kentucky or anything, but hey, winning ugly still counts as winning pretty. I’ll take it.
Nice summary of the game. This is a great rebounding team when Childs and Mika are on the floor. Rebounding was the difference in the game (55-31). The USU coach was imploring his players to rebound better but USU didn’t have anyone on its roster that could match the effort aand and athleticism of Mika and Childs. I agree with you about the refs. The last three crews we had would have had Mika and Childs in foul trouble and limited their minutes. Maybe Mika and Childs are learning and adjusting better. All in all, it was a great bounce back from two straight losses.
Nice points but you missed Shaw and his timely put backs. Why no Dastrup out there? Any news on him?
Guinn was a game changer and looked all the part of the lock down defender that BYU lacks. I only wish that Rose would have kept Guinn in the entire time Fro Moore was in the game. What an asset.
LJ Rose had the game of his BYU life. Hit some big 3s and man, talk about some great passes. What a jewel we got from Houston.
Now for the nitty gritty. Why do we keep both Emery and Haws in games when Haws was stinking up things? The easy answer is that both guys can create a shot at any time.
Stat of the game…24 offensive boards, get used to it in the guard heavy WCC, BYU is for real, just too many good big bodies. This is what happens when we get away from hero ball and play the inside/out game.
BYU shot 29% from the field in the 2nd half and still outscored USU by 8
You’re right–I completely missed Shaw! Shaw was great late in the first half after Mika sprained his ankle and our guards were having so much trouble scoring. He is a hustler and seems rangy with good hands and decent athleticism; it will be interesting to see if he develops into more than a role player. He seems to have pretty good touch in traffic around the basket.
I agree with u on Shaw. Question begs as to why the coaches forgot he could play in the second half. Made no sense particularly in light of what he did in the 10 min he played in the first half. Makes me wonder…