BYU vs UNLV Thoughts

Great game!



This was only my third time watching the Cougs this season and they didn't disappoint. I was getting a bit nervous there for a bit but thankfully they pulled it off. Here's what I liked about the game:



1 - Post play. It was great to see so many passes into the post and Noah have such a great game. This was my first time really seeing Davies play and for the most part I liked what I saw. Guy is quick and has some decent moves down low. His defense needs some work and he could some polishing but I'm feeling more relaxed about Center at BYU. I thought the post play opened up the outside shooting later in the game.



2 - Rebounds. Thought we did a great job going after the boards at both ends of the court.



3 - Loyd. Only one tonight that was able to take it to the hole. So quick. He showed up just when we needed him. I hope this game gives him some confidence. I think that's the biggest thing with him. Would like to see him get more playing time.



4 - JT. I love how he's embracing the 6th man role. I honestly think that's the perfect role for him. He loves to be a spark and he's good at it. Very clutch shooting by him. I think I saw him force only one shot.



5 - Rose. He coached a good game. Glad he took out Jimmer for most of the 2nd half. Jimmer was a bit of a liability out there tonight. I noticed Rose pulled Jimmer after Jimmer's third travel violation, which I thought was good.



Here's what I thought could have gone better:



1 - Passing. I thought we were a bit sloppy in this area. UNLV does a very good job of getting their hands into the passing lanes, but still we threw some passes that should not have been thrown. Just poor decision making.



2 - Following shots. We lost a number of offensive boards because shooters weren't following their shots. A few bounced back in the direction of the shooter and if the shooter had only followed their shot a bit they could have had an easy put back.



And that's it...

Attendance: 15,500 Wrubell said they thought it was more than that, and Rose was grateful. That should be BYU's minimum each week. Announced attendance to Utah's last home game: 3,300

Gunk wrote:



2 - Following shots. We lost a number of offensive boards because shooters weren't following their shots. A few bounced back in the direction of the shooter and if the shooter had only followed their shot a bit they could have had an easy put back.



And that's it...

JT had the biggest non-follow up of the night. Yes he played a great game and we wouldn't have won without him tonight, but wow. Had he taken two steps forward instead of running back he would have gotten it.

I would like us to set more screens to get guys open and free guys up especially against UNLV with their tight man defense. I'm not sure why Rose doesn't call for more screens. Other than that I love the team. When you're two best players aren't 100% and you still beat a very good team, then that says a lot about how much of a team you really are.

CougarClaw wrote:

2 - Following shots. We lost a number of offensive boards because shooters weren't following their shots. A few bounced back in the direction of the shooter and if the shooter had only followed their shot a bit they could have had an easy put back.



And that's it...

JT had the biggest non-follow up of the night. Yes he played a great game and we wouldn't have won without him tonight, but wow. Had he taken two steps forward instead of running back he would have gotten it.

I agree. I think though that a lot of times our guards are trying to get back on D so we don't give up an easy fast break, with that being said we did give up some easy rebounds by not following our shot.

I don't want to pick on JT too much because he saved us in that game, but on the shots he missed he really just stood there afterward and seemed to be admiring the beauty of the spin on the ball. I like the confidence that he literally believes every shot he takes is going to go in, but after a release a shooter should be either running towards the basket or down the court to get on D.



Jimmer likes to admire his handy work too...

I didn't see the game but my son in law gave me a nice report. What I liked most was we shot terrible, and Jimmer was sick and not much help--and we still won the game. If everybody is healthy, we win by 15-20. Jimmer will take out his frustration this night, on UNLV in LV later on. BYU will not shoot that pooly very often. If you take away the poor shooting of Jimmer (sick) and Emery (heel), the rest of the guys didn't shoot that bad.

great win for the cougars! It was the first game I got to attend this year. I was suprised with how many Rebel fans were there. I was right behind the UNLV flag they were behaved though. I didnt know if they showed Darger(old UNLV center)was in the house I was just wondering why they never made him sit down. I have been in the Huntsman center and had to sit down.

ByuIcoug wrote:
great win for the cougars! It was the first game I got to attend this year. I was suprised with how many Rebel fans were there. I was right behind the UNLV flag they were behaved though. I didnt know if they showed Darger(old UNLV center)was in the house I was just wondering why they never made him sit down. I have been in the Huntsman center and had to sit down.

Yeah, they showed Darger. It was classic because the camera kept catching shots of him checking out his "guns." Seriously, every 15 sec the guy staring at his biceps.

Gunk wrote:

great win for the cougars! It was the first game I got to attend this year. I was suprised with how many Rebel fans were there. I was right behind the UNLV flag they were behaved though. I didnt know if they showed Darger(old UNLV center)was in the house I was just wondering why they never made him sit down. I have been in the Huntsman center and had to sit down.

Yeah, they showed Darger. It was classic because the camera kept catching shots of him checking out his "guns." Seriously, every 15 sec the guy staring at his biceps.

Was that THE Darger or was that his little bro? The kid looked pretty young.

It was Joe Darger and his whole clan. I'm not sure who it was flexing for the camera.

Ya it was his whole clan. I was wondering if they showed him on T.V.there were some police around him. I just thought it was interesting they didn't do anything, this is coming from someone who stands up the whole game.Great atmosphere for the cougars.