defense wins championships...

Something the fast and loose cougars haven't figured out yet. What is disappointing, is that BYU has the ability to play great defense, which they have done in spurts this year. Unfortunately, they only play said defense for about 10-15 minutes a game and appear to go through the motions the rest of the game.



Pepperdine deserved that win. They were more physical, hustled and flat out wanted it more.

We came out so flat it was ridiculous. There was no defense in the first half.



As much as the players talk about playing tough D, they were a half too late. Inexcusable.

yep. BYU flat, sick and slow in 1st half D. Pepp on fire. Pepp really good D.

Umm, BYU's defense was fine last night, especially in the 2nd half. Held Pepperdine to 20 points.



The biggest issue was BYU couldn't get any FTA's.

But as I mentioned, the first half they played at best, less than average defense. Can't take a half off and expect to win.



Mostly I wanted to point out in the OP that a great defensive team (SDSU or Pepperdine) can take a team like BYU out of rhythm (as you pointed out in another thread) and will give themselves a chance to win, even (as you pointed out again) if they are only able to muster 20 point in the second half. IF BYU played defense with as much heart as pepperdine did yesterday, that game (nor any other that I can think of) would have been in doubt this year.

BroncoBot wrote:
But as I mentioned, the first half they played at best, less than average defense. Can't take a half off and expect to win.



Mostly I wanted to point out in the OP that a great defensive team (SDSU or Pepperdine) can take a team like BYU out of rhythm (as you pointed out in another thread) and will give themselves a chance to win, even (as you pointed out again) if they are only able to muster 20 point in the second half. IF BYU played defense with as much heart as pepperdine did yesterday, that game (nor any other that I can think of) would have been in doubt this year.

Play D with heart goes a long ways but having athletic players who play with great effort is different. We play several players who are incapable of effective pressure against athletic teams like Pepperdine. IMO KC and Winder are the only guys on the team capable to play pressure D. I know everyone notices Halford try to pressure guys-but it only works against players who aren't very good. So IMO Rose is trying to maximize he roster's strengths and succeeding.

Qman wrote:

But as I mentioned, the first half they played at best, less than average defense. Can't take a half off and expect to win.



Mostly I wanted to point out in the OP that a great defensive team (SDSU or Pepperdine) can take a team like BYU out of rhythm (as you pointed out in another thread) and will give themselves a chance to win, even (as you pointed out again) if they are only able to muster 20 point in the second half. IF BYU played defense with as much heart as pepperdine did yesterday, that game (nor any other that I can think of) would have been in doubt this year.

Play D with heart goes a long ways but having athletic players who play with great effort is different. We play several players who are incapable of effective pressure against athletic teams like Pepperdine. IMO KC and Winder are the only guys on the team capable to play pressure D. I know everyone notices Halford try to pressure guys-but it only works against players who aren't very good. So IMO Rose is trying to maximize he roster's strengths and succeeding.

You do know where pepperdine stands nationally, right? Having all the athleticism in the world doesn't do much good when you only win half your games. And you did watch the first half where BYU players appeared to be simply going through the motions? I noticed that Rose was less than happy about that.

Pepperdine has athletic players but with little offensive skill. Consequently, they focus on defense and are fairly good at it. There's a reason they lead the league in blocks and rank among the highest in the nation at defending the 3.



Problem is Pepperdine can't shoot the ball. They came out hot, we came out cold and their 10 point run in the first 3 min of the game was enough to seal the win for them.



Any other night and we would have walked away with a win.



Haws and Winder combined for 42 of our 61 points against Pepperdine.