Recap: Gonzaga 83, BYU 63

Photo Credit: AP

*** First and foremost, my apologies for the brief service interruption. I was out of the country for a family funeral and was unable to recap either the Saint Mary's or San Diego games — although considering the outcome of the latter, that may have been for the best. ***

To be honest, that was pretty much what I expected to happen. Not what I hoped for, but pretty much what I expected.

BYU rode a dismal first-half effort to a 19-point halftime deficit from which they never recovered, falling to No. 10 Gonzaga before a raucous crowd at The Kennel, 83-63. Kelly Olynyk didn't miss a single shot all night, pacing the Bulldogs with 26 points on 9-for-9 shooting and 8-for-8 from the stripe.

But while the final result wasn't too far outside my expectations, the way we got there was a bit of a surprise. Gonzaga dominated the game from the opening tip, particularly on the defensive end. BYU simply couldn't figure out how to solve the Zags' tough, physical defense and looked completely out of sorts in the opening frame.

Recap: BYU 82, Santa Clara 64

Photo Credit: Getty

It's only natural for a BYU fan like myself to be cautious in my expectations of BYU Basketball. I had high hopes for this team, but after some ugly losses to the better programs on our non-conference slate, I returned to my status quo pessimism.

So it was no surprise that I was worried about this road contest against the Broncos of Santa Clara. After all, they had played Duke down to the wire in Durham and given Gonzaga all they could handle. Also, BYU has been troubled by teams that shoot well from outside and Santa Clara's Kevin Foster is the WCC's all-time leader in three-pointers made. So factor that with BYU's slow starts in the last two conference games and you have the reasoning behind my worries.

These concerns were replaced with a new-found sense of optimism as the Cougars were able to pull away in the second half and score an 82-64 victory. I came into the game a Debbie Downer and left seeing the glass half-full. What was the reasoning behind my change of heart? It was the reminder that Dave Rose is a very good basketball coach.

Recap: BYU 76, Pepperdine 51

Photo Credit: BYU Photo

On a snowy night in Provo, BYU trailed an inferior Pepperdine team by 5 points at halftime. The Cougars won the game by 25. And that pretty much tells the whole story of Thursday's West Coast Conference matchup at the Marriott Center.

The home team came out flatter than flat in the first half, struggling to solve the Waves' zone defense on one end and failing to play much defense of their own on the other. BYU finished the first half shooting 28 percent from the field overall, including a ghastly 2-for-11 from deep, while Pepperdine shot 50 percent from the floor and a red-hot 5-for-9 from beyond the arc. There was no fire. There was no focus. BYU was just going through the motions. That's not usually a recipe for a great deal of success, and it wasn't on this night either — the Cougars trailed the usually hapless Waves 35-30 at the break.

I don't know what Dave Rose said in the locker room during halftime, but it certainly worked — the team that emerged for the second half was completely different than the one that had entered. This team had energy and it played with a purpose, especially on the defensive end. BYU employed an aggressive half-court trap that Pepperdine was never really able to solve, allowing the Cougars to score 15 points off turnovers alone while holding the Waves to just 16 total in the closing period.

Recap: BYU 80, San Francisco 76

Photo Credit: Daily Herald

During the course of a basketball season, some nights will be good and some nights will be bad. Some nights your shots will fall and some nights you'll draw nothing but iron. Some nights the calls go your way and some nights your best players get mired in foul trouble. The difference between the good teams and the mediocre teams is that the good teams find a way to win when they have bad nights. They figure out how to get it done.

After tonight, it appears that BYU just might have what it takes to be a good team.

The Cougars rebounded from a horrific first half performance to snatch a thrilling 80-76 road victory over San Francisco from the jaws of defeat — but not before giving me about 17 heart attacks. The boys in blue did most of their damage with their best player, Brandon Davis, stuck on the bench with persistent foul trouble, which makes the feat even more impressive in hindsight.

Three-Man Weave: At The Halfway Point

Photo Credit: BYU Photo

BYU opened their West Coast Conference slate with a dominating win over Loyola Marymount last night, getting the final and most crucial portion of their schedule underway with a bang.  The Cougars have just 16 regular season games left and a hefty amount of work left to do to earn themselves an NCAA tournament bid.

As such, we decided this would be as a good a time as any to bring back one of my favorite Post-Jimmer features — the Three-Man Weave, in which three commentators from throughout Cougar Nation will offer their opinions and analysis on three BYU basketball-related issues for your reading pleasure. For today's installment, I am fortunate to be joined by Ben Wagner, sports director for BYU Radio and a Post-Jimmer contributor, and Scott Gower, whom you Twitter-inclined folks may know as @cougaracity.

Now, without further ado...

Recap: BYU 92, Loyola Marymount 51

Photo Credit: BYU Photo

Boy, that escalated quickly. I mean, that really got out of hand fast.

Behind their most impressive all-around performance of the season, BYU repeatedly bludgeoned Loyola Marymount right up until the final buzzer sounded on Thursday night, walking away with a dominating 41-point win in their first game of West Coast Conference play, 92-51.

It all just worked for the Cougars in this one — the offense finally started clicking on all cylinders, shots started falling for once, and the boys in home whites cranked up the defensive heat, holding the Lions to a paltry 30.8 percent from the floor. It was as in-sync and functional as I've seen the team this year, and the performance was made even more special because of the opponent.

Loyola Marymount isn't the Little Sisters of the Poor. This a good program — one that beat BYU by 14 points at the Marriott Center in their last meeting. (Think the Cougars remembered that one?) They were essentially the same team this year, with nearly all of their key personnel returning. So this wasn't the Cougars beating up on yet another cream puff D-II team.

Recap: BYU 97, Virginia Tech 71

Photo Credit: BYU Photo

Somewhere in Salt Lake City, Tyler Haws is probably still hitting jump shots.

The BYU sophomore exploded for a career-high 42 points on Saturday, leading his team to a big 97-71 win over hapless Virginia Tech at EnergySolutions Arena. Haws started fast, dropping 29 points in the first half on 9-for-13 shooting, including six three-pointers. And while he cooled off considerably after halftime, he still found a way to break his father Marty Haws' previous family record of 40 points in a Cougar uniform.

It was a breathtaking offensive display. Haws made virtually everything in that first half — open shots, contested shots, impossible shots. Everything was going in. It was almost enough to make a fan harken back to the days of Jimmer. Almost. But lest we forget, Haws is only a sophomore. He has plenty of time to turn in a few more of these performances and etch his own name in BYU lore.

Recap: BYU 64, Baylor 79

Photo Credit: ESPN

Over the Christmas holiday, the BYU Cougars came out with passion and energy against the Baylor Bears, building a sizable first half cushion. For most of the first half the Cougars looked the stronger side and appeared to be on their way to a quality win for their NCAA tournament resume. But with just a few minutes remaining in the first half, the Bears closed the gap, seizing the momentum which they would never relinquish. Baylor would win the game, a loss which BYU would never totally recover from, making the game a huge turning point in BYU's season.

Also. . . Mommy, please make Brady Heslip stop. *SOBS*

The BYU beatwriters can just copy-and-paste to make their deadlines, as they probably have something similar to this in their columns from the 2011 BYU-Baylor basketball game. The 2012 game wasn't much different.

OK, it was a little different — but the similarities are there.

Recap: BYU 61, Utah 58

Photo Credit: BYU Photo

The rivalry is alive again. Don't say I didn't try to warn you.

BYU edged out a tight 61-58 win over Utah on Saturday night, rallying from a sizable first half deficit to take the lead in the closing minutes. Tyler Haws and Brandon Davies both struggled to find a rhythm against the Utes' physical defense, which left the much maligned Matt Carlino to pick up the slack — and he rose to the occasion in a big way.

Carlino came to play in one of the Cougars' most intense games of the year, finally breaking out of a season-long slump (or, more accurately, a miniature ice age) to rack up 19 points and 5 assists. With Haws and Davies effectively taken out of the play for long stretches at a time, he was the only Cougar player to shoot better than 50 percent from the floor, going 5-for-10 from deep and 7-for-13 overall.

This was the game that the Carlino believers (including yours truly, the president of the Matt Carlino Fan Club) knew the sophomore guard had inside of him. To be sure, he has been terrible at times this season — the weekend in Brooklyn comes readily to mind. But he has also made huge improvements to his all-around game, adjustments that were obscured in the minds of many casual fans by his poor shooting.

Pre-Game Primer: BYU vs. Utah

Marriott Center

Provo, Utah

Time: Saturday, 7:00 p.m. MST

TV: BYUtv

What To Watch For:

Don't Underestimate The Utes. This is not last year's Utah team — and if any Cougar players think of them as such, they do so at their own peril. Last season, the Utes were an embarrassment. They won six games. They got blown out by some horrendous teams. They failed to draw more than a few thousand people for home games. It was terrible. But this is a different year and a different team. They have already matched their win total from 2011-2012, with their only two losses coming to up-and-coming Sacramento State and a Larry Brown-coached Southern Methodist team that looks entirely legit. No, they're not Duke or Indiana, not by a long shot. But they're also not terrible. They may not even be bad. They might actually have climbed all the way to average. These Utes cannot be taken lightly.

Pre-Game Primer: BYU at Iowa State

Hilton Coliseum

Ames, Iowa

Time: Saturday, 12:00 p.m. MST

TV: Cyclones.tv

What To Watch For:

Handling The Pressure. Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg has staged a swift revolution in Ames, turning the once-moribund Cyclones into a tournament team in just two years. One of the keys? Hoiberg's squad loves to pressure their opponents in an effort to create turnovers and score in transition. BYU obviously loves to play at fast pace as well, so they should be well-equipped for an free-flowing offensive contest. However, the Cougar guards have shown a weakness handling ball pressure while initiating the offense, which is a cause for concern. Iowa State will attempt to live inside Craig Cusick and Matt Carlino's jerseys all night long, and the pair will have to respond better than they did against Florida State. But it doesn't end there. Once the point guards break the press, BYU's other perimeter players will also need to be strong with the basketball. Tyler Haws has particularly struggled with this as of late, so his improvement will be important against an aggressive Cyclone defense.

Recap: BYU 85, Montana 60

Photo Credit: BYU Photo

It's amazing what happens when you play a little defense. BYU found that out first-hand Wednesday night, using their first really solid defensive outing of the season to create offensive opportunities on their way to an 85-60 victory over Montana in Salt Lake City.

If the Cougars' main problem so far has been defending the perimeter, they showed great improvement against the Grizzlies. Their closeouts were more under control, leaving them in better position to move laterally to cut off dribble penetration. With a few exceptions, BYU was able to keep Montana's guards almost entirely out of the lane, and the visitors from the north notched just 16 points in the paint on the evening as a result.

Furthermore, because the guards could not penetrate deep into the heart of the defense, the Cougars' back line did not have to rotate over to help protect the basket, allowing them to stay home and successfully challenge perimeter shooters when the ball was inevitably kicked it. Montana still got some looks from three — and even made a few of them — but they simply weren't as high quality as the Grizzlies would have preferred. As such, they shot only 37.5 percent from deep, rather than the 46.5 percent they had been averaging for the year. This was an excellent all-around effort from BYU on the defensive side of the ball.

Recap: BYU 87, Cal State Northridge 75

Photo Credit: KSL

If you weren't aware, Tyler Haws is really good at basketball. The sophomore guard dropped 32 points and grabbed 6 rebounds on Saturday in an 87-75 win over Cal State Northridge.

Haws was doing it from all over the court against the Matadors, shooting 52 percent from the floor and going a perfect 12-for-12 at the charity stripe. He also took over the game when it mattered. When Northridge took the lead with just over three minutes left, the Cougars essentially turned the offense over to Haws, who responded by scoring 10 points in the closing minutes to secure the victory.

But as good as Haws was individually, the win was not without its dark clouds on the periphery. I won't caterwaul about BYU needing a herculean effort at the end of the game to finally put away a team from the Big West. Northridge is a greatly improved squad, and they should have a solid season. There is talent there. Nevertheless, the Cougars again showed a complete inability to consistently get stops on the defensive end, particularly because they cannot stop dribble penetration (as I lamented earlier this week.)

Pre-Game Primer: BYU vs. Notre Dame

Barclays Center

Brooklyn, New York

Time: Saturday, 5:00 p.m. MST

TV: TruTV

What To Watch For:

Mind Games. More than anything else, BYU has to be mentally ready to play. They weren’t prepared to go toe-to-toe with a team like Florida State last night, and the game was over before it even began. The guards looked almost universally terrified of handling the ball for more than a few seconds against the Seminoles’ pressure defense, resulting in several ill-advised quick passes and rushed shots. Similarly, the Cougar bigs were clearly wary of the length of Florida State’s three 7-footers. None of them made confident moves in the post and all shied away from contact, choosing instead to fling wild fadeaway heaves toward the rim’s general direction. They can’t play with that same tentativeness tonight. Let’s be clear — Notre Dame is a very good team, with some very good players. But they are beatable. They have flaws. They were exposed last night by Saint Joseph’s. BYU needs to come in believing that they can do the same — not feeling fortunate just to be in New York, sharing the court with a Top 25 team. Luckily, the Fighting Irish don’t quite play the same high-pressure style that the Seminoles do, which should help the Cougars feel more comfortable and get into an offensive flow more quickly. But before they can do that, they have to feel ready to play. They didn’t last night and it showed. They were scared, so they lost. We should be able to tell if tonight will be any different in the first few minutes.

Recap: Florida State 88, BYU 70

Photo Credit: BYU Photo

After a three-year experiment dividing the game into four 10-minute quarters, in the 1954-1955 season the powers that were in college basketball reverted the structure of the game back to its previous form of two 20-minute halves, a rule that has remained unchanged since that time. Unfortunately this meant that on November 16, 2012, BYU Basketball fans had to endure 38 minutes of meaningless basketball in a game that was over two minutes in.

Once Brandon Davies picked up his second foul just two minutes in to BYU's semifinal matchup of the Coach's vs. Cancer Classic, the game was all but decided. The numbers weren't pretty — without Brandon Davies on the floor, BYU is a borderline incompetent basketball team.

Not that they were world-beaters with him on the floor. BYU's road three-point shooting woes from last season seemed to have carried over, affecting this year's squad. The Cougars were just 6-for-27 from the land of plenty, an icy 22 percent. Meanwhile BYU's opponents, the Florida State Seminoles, were an NBA Jam-esque 11-for-20 (55 percent) from behind the arc. The Seminoles' Devon Bookert continued the time-honored tradition of an unknown guard coming off the bench and setting the nets on fire against BYU. (The freshman scored 15 points, including going 3-for-4 from behind the three-point line). Ian Miller and NBA prospect Michael Snaer were also on fire, each going 3-for-5 from downtown.

Recap: BYU 80, Georgia State 62

Photo Credit: BYU Photo

The good Lord giveth, and the good Lord taketh away.

That is the major takeaway from BYU's 80-62 victory over Georgia State on Tuesday night. The Cougars jumped out to an early 31-2 lead on the strength of some of the hottest shooting Provo has seen since the days of Jimmer. Everything was going in from everywhere on the floor, no matter who was shooting. Tyler Haws may have spontaneously combusted at one point. It was the best 10 minutes of basketball we will see BYU play this year, since I'm not quite sure how they could play any better.

And then, just like that, it was over.

Recap: BYU 81, Tennessee State 66

Photo Credit: BYU Photo

After a frantic start that featured lots of sloppy play from all involved, BYU eventually settled into a groove and pulled away in the second half to beat Tennessee State, 81-66, in their first game of the 2012-2013 season.

This was a classic case of "first game of the season" jitters. Both teams came out fired up and playing way too fast, chucking the ball all over the court and taking a host of ill-advised threes. However, once everyone got over their initial excitement of being back on the floor, the game settled into a nice groove, with BYU increasingly asserting itself as the superior team as the night progressed.

To be sure, this was far from a perfect game. Lots of mistakes were made, and there will be many teaching moments available for coach Dave Rose in tomorrow's film study session. But there were also a lot of positive indicators present that should bode well with further development as the season moves along. Any fan that focuses on the former at the expense of the latter, especially this early in the game, is simply begging to be disappointed.

With that said, let's talk specifics.

Pre-Game Primer: BYU vs. Tennessee State

Marriott Center

Provo, Utah

Time: Friday, 7:00 p.m. MST

TV: BYUtv 

Setting The Tone. This is it. Game one. The beginning of a months-long marathon toward March. It all starts here. Tonight could set the tone for the rest of the season. Many have disregarded Tennessee State as a mere pushover, a lamb being sent to ritual slaughter at the hands of BYU. Let us hope the Cougars are not among those foolish few, because make no mistake, the Tigers are good. No, they're not Kentucky or anything close to it — but they're not a pushover either. This is a team that is returning all but two players from a squad that won 20 games last year and was the only team to beat mid-major juggernaut Murray State during the regular season. This is not Candy Land. BYU should win this game comfortably, but they will have to play well to do it. If they come ready to play, they can make a statement by beating a good team and starting the season off on the right foot. If they come in distracted and lethargic, things could go south quickly. Let's all hope for the former.

Recap: BYU 103, Southeastern Oklahoma State 57

Photo Credit: BYU Photo

Well, that got out of hand quickly — not that we expected anything different. When a Division II team comes to your house for what is essentially a pre-arranged slaughter, good teams take care of business and use the opportunity to get better. BYU did that tonight and, despite the massive scoreboard disparity, there were a number of interesting developments worth noting.

In lieu of a full recap (this is still the preseason after all), I will include some quick thoughts and instant reaction to BYU's 103-57 blowout of Southeastern Oklahoma State after the jump.

Recap: Cougar Tip-Off

Photo Credit: BYU Photo

Man, it's good to be back. Even though it was sloppy at times and defense was clearly a mere afterthought for many players, the Cougar Tip-Off gave me everything I wanted — namely, BYU basketball.

There is nothing quite like a fresh new season — full of limitless possibilities and unsullied by disappointment — to make you feel even better than usual about the greatest game ever invented. Nights like tonight encapsulate that feeling. It may not represent the sport at its highest level, but there's just something fun about rolling the balls out for the first time and letting the fans finally get a glimpse of what lies in store in the months ahead. In the words of the great (fictional) coach Norman Dale, spoken at a similar event, "This is your team."

Since this was just an intra-squad scrimmage, I'll forgo a more comprehensive recap and just share some quick thoughts that popped into my head as I soaked in the action.