BYU wrapped up their 3rd straight game against a top 25 team last night, going 1-2. We talked about the win against Iowa St, which was amazing, and seemed like BYU might be turning the corner on their season. But then they played #25 Texas Tech and #4 Houston and looked like their old selves from earlier in conference play. These last two games were absolute heartbreakers. HEARTBREAKERS, people. If youre still living after watching these last games, congratulations, you made it, but im sure your morale isnt as high as it was.

Game Recap vs #25 Texas Tech

BYU entered the game on Satuday night vs #25 Texas Tech as the #20 ranked team in the country. They headed to Lubbock in one of the most hostile venues in the country. BYU played, quite possibly, their best half all season in the first half. They scored 48 points and jumped out to a 16 point lead at halftime. But, its the same old story so far this season, BYU lost it in the second half. Pop Isaacs, for Texas Tech, scored 32 points and could not be stopped. He was the go to guy for Texas Tech and BYU seemed to not be able to stop him, although, they didnt seem to try too hard either.

BYU stopped doing what got them the lead. They stopped being aggressive, moving the ball on offense, and cutting. It became ISO ball and because of it BYU wasnt getting good shots. BYU also stopped helping on defense. Guys were getting past the initial defense and no one would step up to help. They also stopped pressuring when a person had the ball. It was not fun.

Game Stats

Overall, BYU shot 44%, which isnt too bad of a shooting night. But they shot 33% from 3, which is a little low, and 60% from the FT line. They only shot 5 total FTs, making 3. 5!! Compared to 18 for Texas Tech, who made 17 of them. BYU also turned the ball over a good amount, with 12 total turnovers compared to only 6 for Texas Tech. The killer, though, was Texas Tech had 22 points off BYU turnovers while BYU only had 4 points off turnovers. BYU also could not get out in the fast break like they usually like to with only 2 total fast break points.

BYU Points Leaders

Khalifa led the way for BYU and seemed to be the only player awake and ready to play in the second half. He had 21 points, close to his career high of 27. Saunders had 16 and Hall had 12.

Game Recap vs #4 Houston

BYU came home to take on #4 Houston in the Marriott Center and oh man was there a lot of hype for this game. When a top 5 team in the nation comes to your place, you definitely are awake and ready to go.

BYU was hanging with Houston to begin the game. BYU had a little bit of a bad end to the first half as they couldnt make any shots and had some bad turnovers so Houston took a 7 point lead to halftime. All things considered though, not too bad.

Houston pushed their lead to 13 at one point in the second half with about 11 minutes left. To be honest, I thought this game was over, but BYU proved me wrong. They stormed back. Waterman hit a 3, and then an and 1. Knell hit a jumper, Fouss had a nice putback layup, and Robinson got a nice rebound and layup to cut the lead to 3 in a matter of about 4 minutes.

After a couple of plays, BYU was down 5 with 4 minutes left to play. Fouss had a nice layup and then Waterman hit a huge 3 pointer in transition to tie the game with 2 minutes left. I thought I was going to lose my mind. We were finally hitting shots in crunch time. But after that shot, BYU would not make another point, and looked like beginning of conference play BYU, failing to convert in crunch time.

BYU had a couple of chances to take the lead or tie the game in the final 2 minutes. The first chance was with 1:30 left, the game was still tied at 68, BYU got a steal, and Fouss shot a little floater, that was a good shot that he usually makes, and he missed.

The second chance was after Houston split a pair of FTs to put them up by 1, Fouss got the ball in the post and Houston double teamed him and so he kicked it out to Knell who had a WIDE open 3 at the top of the key. Im talking the closest guy to him was in the middle of the paint, thats how open he was, and he missed. A 45% 3 point shooter on the season and 40% in his career, missed a wide open 3 to put BYU up 2 with 48 seconds left.

But the game wasnt over. Houston was only up 1 at the time. The third chance was after BYU fouled and Houston made both of their FTs. BYU had a chance to tie the game with 30 seconds left. BYU drew up a pretty good play. Hall drove the ball into the paint and kicked it out to Saunders who had a pretty good look from 3, and he missed. Not the best guy to take a 3 point shot, but everyone else was covered and he had a pretty good look. After that, BYU just fouled and Houston made their FTs and the game was over. Houston won, 75-68.

Game Analysis

Am I disappointed that BYU couldnt close the deal at home? Totally. Did I expect them to win? No. But when youre that close and at home, you kinda hope that they pull it out.

When looking at the Houston game, BYU got screwed when it came to the refs on a couple of plays. Fouss got called for an offensive foul, he pushed a guy in the back, with BYU down 3 with 2 minutes to go, before Waterman hit the 3. That was a big call. Yes, Waterman hit the 3 after BYU got a stop, but it still was a bad call. If BYU scored on that possession and then Waterman hit the 3 on the next possession, BYU would have had the lead.

The other awful call was on Knell after he missed his wide open 3. Houston was inbounding the ball and one of their guys grabbed Knells arm and brought him down making it look like Knell was taking him out. The refs even reviewed it and still called a foul on Knell. It was horrible. Of course, BYU had their chances, but they also didnt get the favor of the refs either.

Game Stats

BYU did not shoot great. They shot 42% overall and 29% from 3. Not a great shooting night. Robinson chucked a lot of not so high percentage shots from 3 and Knell was off as well. Hall, Knell, and Robinson combined to go 3-21 from 3. Thats not good.

On the other hand, Houston shot 41% overall and 44% from 3. They arent really a good shooting team but for them to shoot 44% from 3, thats what won them the game. They had a ton of offensive rebounds that were kicked out to wide open 3s. BYU also had 13 turnovers. After not getting into the double digits for a while, BYU has had double digit turnovers in every game so far in the Big 12.

The other thing to take away from this game is that BYU inserted Fouss into the game with about 10 minutes left. He hadnt played at all in the first half. When Fouss came into the game, the whole game changed. BYU was feeding the ball inside, and kicking it out, and it was working to perfection. Houston had to focus on Fouss inside but also had to worry about the 3 point shooting. BYU was down 8 when he came in and in those last 10 minutes were able to close the gap and tie it with 2 minutes left. I wish that BYU put him in earlier, but you can see how much of a difference it made.

The fact that BYU was tied with #4 Houston, a possible and highly likely final four team with 2 minutes left, is encouraging. Yes, I know the game was in Provo, which gives BYU an advantage, but we have known this for a long time, BYU is close. But they cant seem to get it right and working when it really counts, down the stretch and in crunch time.

BYU Schedule News

In my opinion, BYU is close to tinkering now with making the NCAA Tournament. Most people have them in the 7 seed range right now which means they arent in danger of missing the tournament but this is the Big 12 and more losses (and hopefully more wins) will happen. Joe Lunardi from ESPN updates his Bracketology every Tuesday so this link isnt updated but before yesterdays game, he had BYU as a 5 seed. I said that BYU will go 10-8 in the Big 12. They are currently 2-4. I think BYU needs to get 9 wins in the Big 12 to make the Tournament. 10 wins, would be great.

The schedule does get a little easier after the game on Saturday against Texas. We dont have a game next Tuesday and then have West Virginia who is also 2-4, #11 Oklahoma which will be tough, Kansas St who is tough, and then UCF who we have beat before and Oklahoma St who has yet to win a game in the Big 12. So there is some hope.

This is how I see it playing out to reach 9-9 in the Big 12, meaning BYU has to go 7-5. I could see BYU winning the game against Baylor at home to push us to 10-8 overall and maybe winning the game against Iowa St in Iowa as well, but this is AT LEAST what I want to see. Obviously the game against Texas this Saturday could go either way as well.

• vs Texas: W
• @ West Virginia: W
• @ #11 Oklahoma: L
• vs Kansas St: W
• vs UCF: W
• @ Oklahoma St: W
• vs # 15 Baylor: L
• @ Kansas St: L
• @ #7 Kansas: L
• vs TCU: W
• @ #23 Iowa St: L
• vs Oklahoma St: W

Game Preview vs Texas

BYU has a game this Saturday against Texas, in Provo, at the Marriott Center. Shockingly, last nights game against #4 Houston wasnt sold out. (Probably because the game was on a Tuesday night.) But the game versus Texas on Saturday IS SOLD OUT. Its going to be rocking.

Texas played last night, as well, against #11 Oklahoma in Norman, and came away with a huge win, dismantling the Sooners, 75-60. That game didnt give me a whole lot of confidence that BYU could win the game on Saturday as Texas looked really good. They shot 50% from the field and 44% from 3. They outrebounded Oklahoma by 16 and controlled the whole game.

Player Preview

One of the stars for Texas is 6’9 forward, Dylan Disu. He honestly doesnt look 6’9 and has the longest wingspan you have ever seen. Its at 7 feet in case you were wondering. He can score around the basket so effortlessly. Khalifa is going to have his hands full guarding him. He can also knock down the occasional 3. He had 2 against Oklahoma. But he is so silky smooth around the basket. I almost think someone like Fouss or Atiki may be a better defender than Khalifa on him.

The other main star for Texas is Max Abmas. He is a smaller guard at 6 foot, but he can shoot the lights out. I saw him pull up from almost the logo in the game against Oklahoma and he drained it. He is in his first year with Texas after spending 3 with Oral Roberts, but hes been really good and fits right in. He had 22 points against Oklahoma and made 4 3s. BYU will have to stop him meaning Hall will have to play great, sound defense against him. Texas sets A LOT of screens with Disu and Abmas. There is going to have to be a lot of communication between whosever guarding them.

Prediction

I dont know how to really call this game. Before the game against Oklahoma, the Longhorns were right on the bubble for the tournament and now with that win, it should definitely help. They do have some losses against UCF and West Virginia that are pretty confusing, though. Texas was also ranked #12 in the nation at one point this year, so this team is no fluke.

They have just had some bad losses. In those bad losses they have been outrebounded, had a lot of turnovers, and a lot of fouls. BYU needs to rebound and force turnovers. If they can do that, BYU will win. I think with BYU playing at home, BYU forces a lot of turnovers and the Longhorns are out of sync, giving BYU the win, 77-71. BYU NEEDS this game.

There is no game on Tuesday, so we only have this one game to look forward to till we talk again.

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