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Cougars hoping to end frustration at Utah |
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JaredLloyd | Wednesday, January 31, 2007, 7:00 am
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Jason Franchuk
DAILY HERALD
All the BYU men’s basketball team can do is shrug. The question gets brought up, and there’s not a whole lot of answering to be done.
Or responsibility that can be taken.
Twelve — yes, 12 — consecutive losses on rival Utah’s home court could be a streak that comes crashing down tonight at the Huntsman Center (8 p.m., the mtn.). Or it could continue to grow.
Cougars are being asked frequently about both potential emotions.
Either way, the feeling around the Cougars is that the hurt or joy felt afterward will rest solely with the magnitude of this year’s game — and not carry a whole lot of feeling dating back to 1994.
“I can’t speak for everyone here, but I know I want a (Mountain West Conference) championship,” said BYU senior guard Austin Ainge. “None of us can take (responsibility) for all 12 of those losses, but we can control this year and what a win would mean.”
The easy comparison would be to say this year’s Utah (7-13 overall, 2-5 MWC), is like the 9-21 BYU outfit of 2004-05, which played hard but ultimately stumbled, often due to a lack of talent and experience and many tiny doses of misfortune.
In 2003-04 the Cougars had no true inside presence and lacked a consistent 3-point shooter. The Utes have both, feeding off the inside-outside game of center Luke Nevill and sophomore forward Shaun Green.
The 7-foot-1 Nevill, a sophomore, leads the Utes at 16.8 points per game and 7.9 rebounds.
“Luke Nevill is really skilled in the low post. He has good moves to the basket and causes matchup problems for anybody they play,” said BYU head coach Dave Rose. “The key is to limit his touches and get him further away from the basket when he does get the ball. We’ll do a lot of different things to defend him, but he’s a smart player so if you try to do the same thing all the time, he’ll figure it out.
“Offensively, we want to be able to attack him and get ourselves in a position to play where we want to play.”
Nevill’s skills are enhanced by 6-8 Green, who is averaging 12.2 points and is the nation’s most accurate long-range shooter at 56.4 percent.
The key to Green’s 3-point success, Utah head coach Ray Giacoletti said, “is he just takes good shots.”
It’s been the common theme, Rose said, when the Utes have been winners. And they’ve beaten some tough teams, including Virginia, Air Force (like BYU, at home) and Washington State.
The Cavaliers are in the Atlantic Coast Conference race, hanging around the top tier with Duke, Virginia Tech and North Carolina; the other Cougars, of WSU, rebounded from the first loss of the season Dec. 2 in Salt Lake City into a 17-4 team that has been a surprising front runner — and top-20 team — in the loaded Pac-10.
Asked what’s making his team flow, or fold, Giacoletti points not to his top three options — Nevill, Green and 6-foot junior guard Johnnie Bryant — but rather to his fourth and fifth options. They tend to be guards, Luka Drca and Ricky Johns, who are combining to provide about seven points per game.
When the role players step forward, the Utes can compete just about anywhere, against anyone in the league.
The Cougars (15-6, 5-2) aren’t paying much attention to the fact the Utes have also lost at home to Albany and Southern Utah.
History has some merit here.
“I think our players know how hard it is to get a win at the Huntsman Center,” Rose said. “Our execution will need to be really good to get any kind of a road win in this league this year.”
BYU (15-6, 5-2) at Utah (7-13, 2-5)
8 p.m., Huntsman Center
Radio: KSL 1160 AM (102.7 FM)
TV: The mtn.
Tip-ins: BYU hasn’t won at Utah since 1994. ...This is the last game for both teams in the first round of MWC play. ...This will be the 243rd meeting, with Utah holding a 124-118 lead. ...The Utes have won 10 of the past 14 meetings. BYU is 66-47 at home, but 46-72 on the Hill. |
