BYU vs San Diego

A win is a win, but San Diego had no business being in that game. I hope this wakes up BYU that you have to show up every game no matter what your opponents win/loss record is.

It is good for the team to be pushed like that. It felt like a tournament game.

Phew...



Way too close. I don't know if San Diego just matches up better against us or what, but that was close.



Credit to SD for taking us out of our three point game. They really got out on the perimeter.



Baxter looked a bit better out there, but he needs to get the ball. No one is giving him the ball. I'd like to see him get some touches otherwise teams will learn they can ditch him. Colby Lee brings more offensively than Baxter does right now.

Just the type of game that drives me up a wall. Back and forth lead changes ratchets up the anxiety and makes me wonder why I follow sports in the first place. We came through and that's what bottom line matters.

Yeah, after last night I am real worried about our game against Pepperdine.

Gunk wrote:

Phew...



Way too close. I don't know if San Diego just matches up better against us or what, but that was close.



Credit to SD for taking us out of our three point game. They really got out on the perimeter.



Baxter looked a bit better out there, but he needs to get the ball. No one is giving him the ball. I'd like to see him get some touches otherwise teams will learn they can ditch him. Colby Lee brings more offensively than Baxter does right now.

I am concerned about our 3 point shooting. When they are falling there are few that we can't beat. When they are not teams like San Diego can scare us and may beat us. We can't forget the rest of the game.

Gunk wrote:

Phew...



Way too close. I don't know if San Diego just matches up better against us or what, but that was close.



Credit to SD for taking us out of our three point game. They really got out on the perimeter.



Baxter looked a bit better out there, but he needs to get the ball. No one is giving him the ball. I'd like to see him get some touches otherwise teams will learn they can ditch him. Colby Lee brings more offensively than Baxter does right now.

Wrubell says Lee only played just over 14 minutes but scored 8 points including all 4 of his freethrows. He got 5 rebounds including 3 on the offensiv end. All of them resulted in 2nd chance points. That's half a double double in 14 minutes.



Haws had 17 points and 10 assists for his second career double double.

It was our recovery of our offense in the 2nd half that served us, but the trouble was that USD shot very well in the 2nd half. It was interesting in the post game interview with CBS that Pope said that when he looked at the schedule, this game was one that he had worried about because of San Diego's success against BYU over the years.

Attendance 2,711. Pathetic WCC members to put up high schoolesq type numbers.



Interesting that this was Haw's only 2nd double-double in his career.



Yes, when you look of time played by Lee and Baxter and see the production, Baxter needs to get his offense up, but as noted, he's not getting fed the ball much when he's in. I like his blocked shots.

There will be games when the threes don’t fall as well as we’d want. More disconcerting was our team defense. SD seemed to score at will almost in the second half, ending up 50 percent for the game. They also killed us on the boards. We took Nixon for granted.

Gunk wrote:

Phew...



Way too close. I don't know if San Diego just matches up better against us or what, but that was close.



Credit to SD for taking us out of our three point game. They really got out on the perimeter.



Baxter looked a bit better out there, but he needs to get the ball. No one is giving him the ball. I'd like to see him get some touches otherwise teams will learn they can ditch him. Colby Lee brings more offensively than Baxter does right now.

SD coach said before the game that he was not going to let us shoot the 3. That means that the inside game should have opened up. Mark Durrant predicted that Childs would have 30 points. Getting in fould trouble hurt.



I also noticed that the team almost seems to be intentionally not passing the ball to Baxter. They don't have confidence in his scoring. Heck, Baxter doesn't have confidence in his own scoring. Watch his body language. He's not posting up begging for the ball. When he does get it it's a quick pass to someone else. No attempt to dribble or score for himself. I understand that Baxter was the one begging to play this season but I wish he had just sat it out. He's ok definsively but a huge liability on offense. I also wish the new football redshirt rules applied to basketball, but they do not. One game burns the redshirt.

Well in the past years we've had one of "those" games each season, sometimes multiple, where we have lost to an inferior team (talent wise and based on the numbers we had been producing), but this year, so far, we only had the one (in conference) and on this one we found a way to win it.



I agree, we did take Nixon for granted, but I hope our lack of defense was not all related to him. Pope's been preaching defense all season, so we need to do better and shut down teams like this. For USD, they had great productions offensively off the bench. More than you would ever expect. I mean three (3) guys off the bench in double digits. I don't think we've done that this season. 3 guys! Wow.

EM_Puma wrote:

Well in the past years we've had one of "those" games each season, sometimes multiple, where we have lost to an inferior team (talent wise and based on the numbers we had been producing), but this year, so far, we only had the one (in conference) and on this one we found a way to win it.



I agree, we did take Nixon for granted, but I hope our lack of defense was not all related to him. Pope's been preaching defense all season, so we need to do better and shut down teams like this. For USD, they had great productions offensively off the bench. More than you would ever expect. I mean three (3) guys off the bench in double digits. I don't think we've done that this season. 3 guys! Wow.

I dunno. Up 20 in the 2nd half, we should not have lost to USF.

Nixon out hurts us. Anyone know his ETA?



I get nervous seeing Baxter out there as the only big. I'd rather see Lee in that situation. Baxter is a liability out there right now, even defensively. I'd rather see him out there with Childs or Lee, which alleviates some of the pressure. Let him guard the paint and eat up some fouls that Childs might have otherwise gotten. Put Baxter in solo only during the last 5 min if we have a healthy lead, but that scenario may not happen the rest of the season.



Lee is a more productive player - more rebounds, points, etc.



Hard thing is Seljaas and Nixon provide excellent defense and can shoot. So, if Baxter is in with Childs or Lee, that means we sacrifice a shooter.



Tough call by Pope, but this team is deep now. Probably the deepest we've had. We have Nixon, Seljaas, Harding, and Baxter all coming off the bench. That's almost an entire five man rotation coming off the bench.

BroncoBot wrote:

Well in the past years we've had one of "those" games each season, sometimes multiple, where we have lost to an inferior team (talent wise and based on the numbers we had been producing), but this year, so far, we only had the one (in conference) and on this one we found a way to win it.



I agree, we did take Nixon for granted, but I hope our lack of defense was not all related to him. Pope's been preaching defense all season, so we need to do better and shut down teams like this. For USD, they had great productions offensively off the bench. More than you would ever expect. I mean three (3) guys off the bench in double digits. I don't think we've done that this season. 3 guys! Wow.

I dunno. Up 20 in the 2nd half, we should not have lost to USF.

That was completely avoidable too.

Too early to count Baxter out. Just needs some time and he will be fine.

Gunk wrote:

EM_Puma wrote:

Well in the past years we've had one of "those" games each season, sometimes multiple, where we have lost to an inferior team (talent wise and based on the numbers we had been producing), but this year, so far, we only had the one (in conference) and on this one we found a way to win it.



I agree, we did take Nixon for granted, but I hope our lack of defense was not all related to him. Pope's been preaching defense all season, so we need to do better and shut down teams like this. For USD, they had great productions offensively off the bench. More than you would ever expect. I mean three (3) guys off the bench in double digits. I don't think we've done that this season. 3 guys! Wow.

I dunno. Up 20 in the 2nd half, we should not have lost to USF.

That was completely avoidable too.

Pope took responsibility for the loss and I'd allow him to have it. I believe he learned a lot as a coach and will be mindful to safeguard us against such a demise. We'll see, because like most of our losses this season, it could have and should have been avoided.

BYULV wrote:

Too early to count Baxter out. Just needs some time and he will be fine.

That's what I'm believing and hoping. We had such hopes for him preseason to be playing with Yoeli, but we didn't know that Colby would develop to the level he has either. Personally, I'm shocked, but he has been a real asset and I believe the addition of Baxter will end up being worth the loss of a whole season.

Latest rumor I heard about Nixon is that BYU will be lucky to have him back in time for the NCAA tourney.

hawkwing wrote:

Latest rumor I heard about Nixon is that BYU will be lucky to have him back in time for the NCAA tourney.

Serious! Not good. We need that guy. All the more reason to get Baxter going.