Great job Cougars!

77-73!



Way to gut it out! Despite their free throw misses, Mike Loyd, Jr. Noah Hartsock, and JT were big for us in this game. It's good to see us win a tight game without Jimmer being able to do anything (PLEASE get well soon!).

fairly apparent that jimmer and jackson still weren't 100% since missing the ENM game.

congrats JT!!! Way to go LOYD! What an amazing game to watch. I was surprised we won with jimmer sitting out most of the second half. Oh,and I can't forget Hartsock!!

Winning basically without Fredette is a good sign for us cuz when he gets healthy we are going to kick!

I've Just seen the replays and interview with coaches. I get the feeling unlv players get away with lots of cheap plays, perhaps it's prep for the refs to support them in the unlv tourney.



MVP: Hartsock, I guess Lloyd too, but I missed his big play



Hope those rebel fans cry, since most are ute fans pretending to be rebel fans



BYU fans were good today, Refs were absolute crap(the british kind)

James Bates and other Mtn crew keep calling Noah the key player, but they keep saying HartsTock, with a T...my wife kept telling the TV Hartsock, and I was wrong too, just thought it was weird she knew better than me since I've made nearly every home game and watch the roadies and she's telling me off.

ibleedblue wrote:
Winning basically without Fredette is a good sign for us cuz when he gets healthy we are going to kick!

my favorite quote of the night from the announcers was "The conference is going to take notice of this one. Emery, Fredette, and Haws, BYU's top 3 go 6/30 from the field and BYU still manages to win."



I might add that even if it was a home victory AND we outshot them 2:1 in FTs, I think UNLV is a very good team and we did it when we were at our weakest.



MWC...take notice.

Y&Brit wrote:
James Bates and other Mtn crew keep calling Noah the key player, but they keep saying HartsTock, with a T...my wife kept telling the TV Hartsock, and I was wrong too, just thought it was weird she knew better than me since I've made nearly every home game and watch the roadies and she's telling me off.

Funny you should mention that and then this in DesNews after the game:

"This shows we're just going to come out and play hard every night," said Hartstock. "We're all going to chip in and do our best to win."

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705356749/BYU-hoops-team-looks-like-Yankees.html

So guess you're not alone.

Y&Brit wrote:
I've Just seen the replays and interview with coaches. I get the feeling unlv players get away with lots of cheap plays, perhaps it's prep for the refs to support them in the unlv tourney.



MVP: Hartsock, I guess Lloyd too, but I missed his big play



Hope those rebel fans cry, since most are ute fans pretending to be rebel fans



BYU fans were good today, Refs were absolute crap(the british kind)

I didn't think the refs were particularly one-sided in their calls, but they seemed to make the bad calls against BYU at the worst times possible. Very frustrating, especially when UNLV was pushing Jimmer around all night and never got called for it.

Sammich wrote:

I've Just seen the replays and interview with coaches. I get the feeling unlv players get away with lots of cheap plays, perhaps it's prep for the refs to support them in the unlv tourney.



MVP: Hartsock, I guess Lloyd too, but I missed his big play



Hope those rebel fans cry, since most are ute fans pretending to be rebel fans



BYU fans were good today, Refs were absolute crap(the british kind)

I didn't think the refs were particularly one-sided in their calls, but they seemed to make the bad calls against BYU at the worst times possible. Very frustrating, especially when UNLV was pushing Jimmer around all night and never got called for it.

While I don't believe the game was called one-sided, I couldn't believe how physical the refs allowed the game to be, and I believe that favors UNLV. Over the past couple of years, it appears that when the refs allow the game to be really physical, it benefits UNLV and BYU struggles with the game.

And I'll add my apology to JT. I've always thought he disappeared during big games, but he was a critical success factor in BYU's win tonight against a good UNLV team.

What I noticed too, though, in this game particularly later on in the game our guys started getting their hands in the face of UNLV and swiping at the ball a lot more. I like it. UNLV was getting away with it, so we dished it back.

One more thing: Abouo.



That guy shut down #33 when it mattered the most, right at the end. He stuck to that guy like glue and you could tell he was frustrated.



Abouo makes mistakes on the offensive side of the court, but defensively he's Jackson's equal and maybe even his superior with certain matchups.

How great were the last few minutes to watch. BYU finally has some real depth where they could swap Loyd and Abouo in every dead ball and bring an ailing Jimmer in for offensive possession while Loyd and Abouo helped out on D.

Florwood wrote:
And I'll add my apology to JT. I've always thought he disappeared during big games, but he was a critical success factor in BYU's win tonight against a good UNLV team.

The focus that JT gets coming off the bench is something that he couldn't manage as a starter. Dave Rose really gets the most out of him out of this 6th man deal.



Last year, they really had no choice but to start JT as Hartsock wasn't ready (and shoudl have been redshirted) but this year, they really have gotten it right.



They got it right redshirting Lloyd last year. This kid is a real sparkplug and I'm glad that when Jimmer does leave we will have Lloyd to step up.

Sammich wrote:
One more thing: Abouo.



That guy shut down #33 when it mattered the most, right at the end. He stuck to that guy like glue and you could tell he was frustrated.



Abouo makes mistakes on the offensive side of the court, but defensively he's Jackson's equal and maybe even his superior with certain matchups.

True, true. I actually think Abouo is better on D than Emery as Abouo does a better job moving his feet and staying in front.

Gunk wrote:

One more thing: Abouo.



That guy shut down #33 when it mattered the most, right at the end. He stuck to that guy like glue and you could tell he was frustrated.



Abouo makes mistakes on the offensive side of the court, but defensively he's Jackson's equal and maybe even his superior with certain matchups.

True, true. I actually think Abouo is better on D than Emery as Abouo does a better job moving his feet and staying in front.

Abouo is the more talented defender and way too strong for most guards and too quick for most small forwards, but his effort isn't there 100% of the game and he gets lost sometimes on the court.



Emery has a lot of physical talent too, but he's a 100% effort guy and he's the smartest player on the court nearly all the time.



I'm a huge fan of Abouo because he has flashes of brilliance that no one else on this team can replicate. (James Harden wanted nothing to do with Abouo last year when they finally put him on Harden and Ben Uzoh was killing Emery in the Tulsa game til Emery got hurt and Charles shut him out)

But Charles is not there confidence-wise or composure-wise like Jackson, not even close...



Our depth is tremendous and having a guy like Charles on the team only helps with that depth on days where guys like Emery are hurt or need a rest.



If an when Abouos hoops IQ catches up with his physical skills, we'll have a monster at the small forward.

craigoscarson wrote:
Abouo is the more talented defender and way too strong for most guards and too quick for most small forwards, but his effort isn't there 100% of the game and he gets lost sometimes on the court.



Emery has a lot of physical talent too, but he's a 100% effort guy and he's the smartest player on the court nearly all the time.



I'm a huge fan of Abouo because he has flashes of brilliance that no one else on this team can replicate. (James Harden wanted nothing to do with Abouo last year when they finally put him on Harden and Ben Uzoh was killing Emery in the Tulsa game til Emery got hurt and Charles shut him out)

But Charles is not there confidence-wise or composure-wise like Jackson, not even close...



Our depth is tremendous and having a guy like Charles on the team only helps with that depth on days where guys like Emery are hurt or need a rest.



If an when Abouos hoops IQ catches up with his physical skills, we'll have a monster at the small forward.

I wonder if one reason he was so effective late in the game was the constant substitutions by Rose. He only had to concentrate/focus for 30 seconds, then he could come off, get some instruction from a coach and catch his breath and refocus on what he needed to do when he got back in.

Florwood wrote:
And I'll add my apology to JT. I've always thought he disappeared during big games, but he was a critical success factor in BYU's win tonight against a good UNLV team.

He was our best player in the NCAA Tourny last year.



As for Davies and Abouo- Combine Abouo's defensive game with Davies' offensive game and you would have an unstoppable force! Abouo still suffers from turnovers at this level and Davies has trouble guarding his man, but Davies can definitely score and Abouo has become a proven defensive stopper for us in limited minutes...