Vs Santa Clara

[Qman]

Didn't see a thread for this game. A couple of important things developed in this game.

-Emery accepted the challenge to guard Brownridge. He was relentless in getting over screens and staying attached to his man. The rest of the team helped too but Emery was the key. Emery also toned down his offensive game and deferred to his more efficient teammates.

-Mika had less efficient game mostly caused by the effective physical defense. They couldn't stop Mika but they made him go 7-16 from the field. I hope he can adjust to the more physical play we should expect to see in conference.

-TJ Haws was the 2nd option on offense and he delivered with 17 points (5-6 from the field) and 6 assists. His 5 turnovers were a problem.

-Beo played 24 minutes off the bench and seems to be seizing a bigger role. He had 12 pts and 3 assists with no TO's. I think Beo plays winning basketball. He knows his skill set and how can get under control shots he can hit. He also is a capable ball handler. Defensively he has room for improvement but he isn't terrible.

Other notes:

Shaw gave us some good minutes when Childs got into immediate flow trouble.

Kaufusi looks really fat, but he moved quickly until he got tired. But his post D was rock solid. We will need him against Gonzaga.

Aytes can still score a little but is too small to protect the rim.

We finally had a flurry of 3's go. We also played a little more disciplined in shot selection as a team.

[scott715]

Probably the best game that they have played this year. Hopefully they keep it going.

[frdbtr]

The team is improving. Defense is the key. If they can play solid defense BYU will win a lot of games this year.

[BoiseBYU]

Player of the game goes to Emery for his defense. It was as good a defense from a player as I've seen since maybe a prior Emery. He shut down Brownridge.

[nuk13]

Brownridge is considered one of the best players in the WCC. According to SCU's sight he is averaging 18.4 points/game. Emery kept him to 2 of 8 shooting for 8 points. I'd like to know how many of his 6 misses resulted in points for BYU. All told it was worth more than 10 points. Mika and Haws are said to be most valuable in this game and they did very well, but I agree that it is really Emery. If he can keep this up his defense will be of greater value than his scoring.

[SpiffCoug]

If BYU can continue their current defensive form, they can turn the feelings surrounding this season around.

The last five opponents have a combined field goal percentage of .375, three-point percentage of .290. They have a true shooting percentage of .421, an effective field goal percentage of .435 and have scored just .381 of their possible points. BYU has 45 more rebounds as well.

That's the kind of effort that BYU will need to be competitive w/ Gonzaga and St. Mary's.