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 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.

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 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.

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.)

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 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.