Ball movement and team-rebounding won BYU this game over the Loyola-Marymount Lions, 73-65. With the game tied up at HT, BYU took advantage of some nice, easy baskets and did a solid job rebounding as a team when the Lions went ice cold, particularly from downtown.
BYU had 18 assists on 27 made baskets. It isn't BYU's best ratio of the season, but anytime a team assists on 2 out of every 3 baskets, they are doing something right. BYU missed a lot of open looks, particularly early in each half, which would have sent that total a lot higher. Hartsock helped a lot of people out in that regard, draining 9 of 12 shots, by my (totally unofficial) count 7 of them were assisted on. Cusick also came up big with three threes in the second half that were all assists from the Cougar big men going inside-out. Cusick started a BYU run that LMU couldn't overcome.
6 of the 9 BYU Cougars that played had at least 4 rebounds, with Davies leading the way with 10, and all 9 Cougars grabbed at least one board. Abouo and Austin led the charge on the offensive side of the ball, combining for 6 of BYU's 12 offensive boards. The most crucial part was BYU's ability to keep LMU off the glass during an 0-16 stretch for three, with only 3 of those missed bombs during that stretch resulting in LMU boards (again, another very unofficial Mo stat).
The big stories defensively were the Lion three-point shooting percentage being low (a positive for BYU) and easy buckets for LMU at stretches in the second half (a negative). Other than Ireland, who shot 4-6 (30% shooter who I called to make 4 prior to the game!), the Lions were 1-20 from three. LMU's ability to penetrate and confuse the defense was a bit of a concern. BYU was attempting to put the game away and LMU got a few cheap, easy buckets off of dribble penetration. I liked Rogers energy and length, and I felt BYU did a good job getting out on three-point shooters with his help. BYU was helped by LMU's desire to attack the Abouo/Cusick/Carlino side of the zone instead of the Hartsock/Zylstra/Winder side, where I think most teams have found their success.
For the brief time that Stephen Rogers was in the game, BYU played mostly zone, and he's just so long. He affected a couple of shots and made a couple other Lions briefly hesitate. I think, going forward, we'll probably see Rogers and Austin matched up with Hartsock in the zone. It just looks awkward with Davies and Austin playing zone together, I'm not sure Rose will continue with that personnel grouping. It became obvious pretty quickly that BYU wasn't going to be able to play man-to-man and Coach Rose made a wise decision to employ mostly zone. There was a lot more energy and closeout from the outside post players and LMU went cold as a result.
Offensively, BYU can't expect much better than what they did offensively on the road, except for the complete disaster that was their transition/fast break offense. But if they can score in the 70's, they should be happy. That should be enough to win them road games against everyone else on the conference schedule but Gonzaga. Remember, this is only the Cougars fourth road game, and only the first with THIS GROUP of Cougars as Carlino missed the first two and Rogers missed St. Mary's. This team will improve, and did improve tonight. If not for some careless turnovers in a late flurry of activity and full-court pressure by LMU (which BYU must learn from if they hope to win any Tourney, WCC and NCAA, games), this would have been a 15-point win. Good win. Next up, San Francisco on Saturday at the Marriott Center, 4pm. I'll be taking my son with his grandpa, so it should be fun.
I won't have time for a full-blown prediction on that game, however. I can tell you what I know: San Francisco had a disappointing start to conference play, with a double-digit loss at doormat Pepperdine and an OT loss to Loyola Marymount. They rebounded on Tuesday night with a win against 2-9 Morgan State of the MEAC. I think they are a bit overmatched, but I haven't had a chance to watch them yet this season, so I don't know much about their personnel.
A brief look at their stats for the year tells me BYU should not have much problem dispatching them. BYU struggles against teams that share the ball well. It doesn't look like the Dons have done a lot of that. They are also struggling from the 3-point line. If BYU can close out on the 3-point shooters like they did against LMU, they'll outscore San Francisco fairly easily. Michael Williams is their worst three-point shooter at 26%, with 6 attempts/game. So the Dons should probably expect a 5-7 effort out of him on Saturday. I'll go BYU 82, USF 68, Rogers goes for 15 off the bench, Davies gets another double-double, and someone besides Hartsock will go for 20+ (leads the team in 20-point games), I would lean Carlino right now but maybe Zylstra can break out of his 2-week funk. BYU needs SOMETHING out of him in conference play, 12 points in 3 games isn't gonna cut it for a starter on a team averaging 81 points in those three games.
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