@UNLV

[SpiffCoug]

I agree with your whole post. I'm not in the camp that expects BYU to win every game, especially on the road against Quality opponents like UNLV.

The only reason I'm disappointed in yesterday's loss is the attitude I saw from BYU to start that game. Instead of coming out and doing whatever they had to, it looked like they were expecting a game from a jr. high team. When they finally turned up their intensity it was way too late. That's all. Still love the team. Still expecting great things. Know they are a lot better than they showed yesterday. And I realize that UNLV had the game of their life, something BYU should have expected.

Agreed. That's what bothered me too. I was very surprised that BYU came out so flat. It's one thing for UNLV to come out on fire, but BYU's troubles really weren't UNLV driven. It wasn't like we were turning the ball over like crazy leading to fast breaks and open shots.

If BYU had come out and hit some of their open shots - and they were getting some - BYU wouldn't have gotten down so big so early. BYU's mental approach was lacking.

[bigbluepuma]

[quote="declocoug

The only reason I'm disappointed in yesterday's loss is the attitude I saw from BYU to start that game. Instead of coming out and doing whatever they had to, it looked like they were expecting a game from a jr. high team. When they finally turned up their intensity it was way too late. That's all. Still love the team. Still expecting great things. Know they are a lot better than they showed yesterday. And I realize that UNLV had the game of their life, something BYU should have expected.[/quote]

Yes they should have, but what they couldn't be expected to foresee was the lights out shooting from all the usually non-three point shooters. I doubt they'll overlook that again.

[BroncoBot]

The only reason I'm disappointed in yesterday's loss is the attitude I saw from BYU to start that game. Instead of coming out and doing whatever they had to, it looked like they were expecting a game from a jr. high team. When they finally turned up their intensity it was way too late. That's all. Still love the team. Still expecting great things. Know they are a lot better than they showed yesterday. And I realize that UNLV had the game of their life, something BYU should have expected.

Yes they should have, but what they couldn't be expected to foresee was the lights out shooting from all the usually non-three point shooters. I doubt they'll overlook that again.

Lesson learned (hopefully)- Everyone will shoot better against BYU. Sometimes it is impossible to tell who is going to go off. We've seen it before unfortunately.

Examples-
Texas A&M
McNamara
UNLV

[CannonCougar85]

I totally agree. Yesterdays game was a fluke loss for BYU. How often does a team shoot over 52%? And UNLV was getting huge numbers from guys that don't usually shoot that well.
Oscar Bellfield shot 3-4 from three yesterday, 75%.
On the season he is a 36% shooter from beyond the arc.
Te'Von Willis shot 4-7 from 3 yesterday, 57%.
On the season he is 29% from beyond the arc.

I'm not saying that BYU couldn't have played better but it is really hard to beat a team that is shooting lights out I don't care who you are.
UNLV could've beaten Kansas yesterday they way they were shooting.

This is why I am not taking this loss as hard as many other people.

[BroncoBot]

I totally agree. Yesterdays game was a fluke loss for BYU. How often does a team shoot over 52%? And UNLV was getting huge numbers from guys that don't usually shoot that well.
Oscar Bellfield shot 3-4 from three yesterday, 75%.
On the season he is a 36% shooter from beyond the arc.
Te'Von Willis shot 4-7 from 3 yesterday, 57%.
On the season he is 29% from beyond the arc.

I'm not saying that BYU couldn't have played better but it is really hard to beat a team that is shooting lights out I don't care who you are.
UNLV could've beaten Kansas yesterday they way they were shooting.

This is why I am not taking this loss as hard as many other people.

We'll see what kind of mood your in if the colts lose.

Go Colts!!!

[CannonCougar85]

I totally agree. Yesterdays game was a fluke loss for BYU. How often does a team shoot over 52%? And UNLV was getting huge numbers from guys that don't usually shoot that well.
Oscar Bellfield shot 3-4 from three yesterday, 75%.
On the season he is a 36% shooter from beyond the arc.
Te'Von Willis shot 4-7 from 3 yesterday, 57%.
On the season he is 29% from beyond the arc.

I'm not saying that BYU couldn't have played better but it is really hard to beat a team that is shooting lights out I don't care who you are.
UNLV could've beaten Kansas yesterday they way they were shooting.

This is why I am not taking this loss as hard as many other people.

We'll see what kind of mood your in if the colts lose.

Go Colts!!!

Don't even say it!!!

The reason I'm on here is because I'm going stir crazy waiting for the game to start. Still another hour...

[Mars]

I'm sorry this took me a little while, but I have the UNLV game scored now.

Usually with 24 points I would finish in last place, but this week it was the best, along with BPcougs' 24. Basically I almost got our final score and shooting percentage dead on, got Jimmer's points and assists correct, and completely missed everything else. No one seemed to have guessed UNLV's 88 points correctly. Nice.

Next game: Saturday January 13th against Air Force. Long enough for this loss to sink in and sting a little bit, sadly.

http://www.cougarcorner.com/bball_predictions.php

[Mars]

Oh, and just a couple small rants before I FULLY move on with my life:

1- Abouo, one of our best on-the-ball defenders, looked like a cardboard cut-out defensively on a couple of possessions. Not sure why, but it was embarrassing.

2- Lots of bad stat lines this game:
Haws: 2-8, 1-3
Hartsock: 3-9, 0-1
Emery: 3-9, 1-6
Fredette: 4-15, 2-7
Miles: 0-0
Morgan: 0-2, 0-1
Loyd: 1-2, 0-1
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball ... 1002060401

That's team-wide terrible. And it always happens against UNLV. It really seemed like we were rushing things, taking bad (too far out, too quick, un-set) shots because we weren't passing nearly enough or moving smoothly on offense (lots of motion to get guys open).

Combine that with giving up more turnovers (11 to their 9) and getting out-rebounded (30 to their 36) and there's no way you can win.

3- I don't even want to try to explain how Willis went 7-of-9 from 3 point range, and how UNLV went 9-of-11 to start the game. Bad perimeter defense? Bad luck? Home town energy? I'll just hope it doesn't happen again.

[Schmoe]

It's something about playing in Vegas, there's this stigma attached to it because we have historically done so poorly there (much like the Jazz @ San Antonio until this year). We've got to get that monkey off our backs and beat UNLV in the Vegas Open at the end of the season.

[nuk13]

I roomed with Dave Hindley while at BYU. He was an all american distance runner for the Y. One time he told me he was not peaking for mid season races but for the end of the season more important ones. That is my concerne with this basketball team and I agree with some who've made similar statements. We've had an excellent season so far but have we peaked too soon? There can be more than one peak so I'm hoping they will peak again when it counts. losses now will be forgotten if we get past the first round of the ncaa tournament.