So BYU just wore SDSU out. You could see Billy White on several occasions dogging it up the floor, calling for a sub, settling for a jump shot, or just committing a lazy foul. Malcolm Thomas committed 3 fouls in the second half in VERY FEW minutes actually played because he was a step slow. Kawhi Leonard was slightly under the weather and BYU just ran him out of the gym, so much so that he only saw 24 minutes of action (he averages 31 minutes/game, i.e. a 23% reduction in minutes). BYU made a run late in the first half and then 5 minutes into the second half they just took over the game and dominated the final 15. It was a great strategy, and it helped that Kawhi Leonard was ill. However, BYU was going to win that game whether Kawhi Leonard was healthy or not. The fact is: SDSU is not deep enough to win against a good team at altitude. The MWC Tourney will probably be similar: they aren't deep enough to beat CSU/Utah, then BYU/New Mexico, then UNLV in 3 consecutive days. Unfortunately for them, anything short of winning the tourney probably puts them on the wrong side of the bubble. Beating CSU, then Air Force, then CSU or Utah, followed by a split against 2 of the top 3...they are out of the tournament. They can make a nice run in the NIT, however, especially with home court advantage the first 2 or 3 games.
BYU is really clicking right now in a lot of areas. Davies had a strong showing on Wednesday. Tavernari is dangerous, though his shot selection was a bit sketchy against SDSU. Haws just needs a SHOT to fall that isn't a layup or a free throw. Jimmer is playing well and distributing the ball very well. Miles had some nice plays and has been rebounding the ball very well lately. Jackson Emery has been playing suffocating D, and with his 3-point shot falling, he is going to score, either on the 3, or with a shot fake and easy drive towards the hoop.
Meanwhile, New Mexico is limping in to the game, as much as a team on a 12-game winning streak can be limping. The last 4 games have been against 4 of the 5 worst teams in the conference, with 2 of those games played at home. They have needed overtime to win by 3, a late flurry (and non-foul call on an obvious fall) at home to win by 3, and a bunch of made free throws in the final 2 minutes to win by 6. They are not dominating the lesser competition like they should be. Compare their last two games against to how BYU handled the same competition a week earlier: Air Force (home) a 3-point win and CSU (road) and a 6-point win. BYU: a 43-point win and a 22-point win. I know you can't compare common opponents and determine the winner of a game, but still, that is a monstrous difference in margin of victory, i.e. quality of play against the same competition in the same week.
Of course, throw all of that out going into tomorrow. Who has the better team? Who has the better game plan? Who executes better? Undecided. Undecided. Undecided, though BYU has been executing better of late, as shown in the preceding paragraph. My answers are: BYU, BYU, and BYU. New Mexico has turned it around on the road this season, playing better on the road than they ever have in the history of their program. But in the last decade, they haven't won a single time in the Marriott Center. And they haven't even come close to winning: only one of those games was decided by single digits (9 years ago). Keep in mind, one of those years BYU went 9-21!
BYU 82, New Mexico 71. Anti-climatic for all of the build-up this game has been getting nationally.
UNLV-Air Force: 70-52 for the Rebels.
Wyoming-Utah: 65-57 for Utah. Getting hot just in time to try to steal 5th place away from CSU. Wyoming likes to push tempo. Boylen likes to grind it to a halt. 65 is a relative offensive explosion for Utah and means the game was played too fast for Boylen's liking (and too slow for a lot of his players' liking...).
CSU-TCU: 64-56 to CSU. Big road win needed to stay on track with Utah. Setting up a showdown for 5th place the last game of the season. Loser of that game has to play UNLV in the first round of the UNLV Invitational.
I hope you're right...the last time I saw a game was against UNLV, let's hope they don't repeat their performance in that game.
ReplyDeleteYou only missed one critical factor for BYU. In the last 8 or 9 games they have not shot in the low forties or high thirties from the field only once. Even against SDSU they were in the low forties on the field goals. In that game though their 3 point shooting in the second half was excellent, due mostly to Emery going 6-7 in the game.
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