WCC Game Recap: Loyola Marymount defeats BYU
By James Pigott
Dec 6, 2013; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Loyola Marymount Lions guard Anthony Ireland (3) dribbles the ball against the Pittsburgh Panthers during the second half at the Petersen Events Center. Pittsburgh won 85-68. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
OVERVIEW
Evan Payne scored 27 points and Anthony Ireland scored 14 points and dished out 9 assists (with only 1 turnover) as Loyola Marymount pulled off an upset of BYU on Saturday afternoon at Gersten Pavilion. BYU was led by Kyle Collinsworth with 18 points and 8 rebounds and Eric Mika with 17 points and 7 rebounds. LMU jumped out to a 10 point lead six minutes into the first half and never looked back. The deficit for BYU was never less than 12 points at all during the second half.
REVISITING KEYS TO THE GAME
Brigham Young
X – Carlino’s turnovers and shot selection: While Matt Carlino did not have a single turnover, he only had one assist and shot 4/13 from the field. Not good enough to get the win for BYU.
X – Mika and Austin’s foul trouble: Both players picked up two fouls early on in the first half, and Austin eventually fouled out in the second half. BYU has little to no interior presence when these two players are not both on the floor.
Loyola Marymount
✓ – Get Ireland going early: While Ireland did not do much offensively early in the game, he did not need to do so as the other four starters carried the load early. However, back-to-back buckets from Ireland did give LMU a 14 point lead 7 minutes into the game. He did what he needed to.
✓ – Scoring outside of Ireland, Dickinson, Levin and Payne: C.J. Blackwell had 11 points and Alex Osborne had 8 points and 8 rebounds for LMU. They were collectively able to make up for the fact that Ben Dickinson only had 4 points coming off the bench.
STAT OF THE NIGHT
Evan Payne shot 12 free throws tonight. Despite only shooting 6/18 from the free throw line, Payne’s aggressiveness allowed him to record his best performance of the season by putting pressure on the BYU guards defensively.
MOVING FORWARD
For Loyola Marymount, this game was a huge confidence booster against the most talented offensive team in the league. The Lions held the Cougars 13 points under their scoring average and got excellent offensive performances from six different players, illustrating the depth they have even without Ayodeji Egbeyemi and Godwin Okonji.
For BYU, their nemesis was defense as it has been all season long. It’s fine that they want to play an up-tempo style but they have to make sure they get back on defense all of the time. This game may have burst their NCAA Tournament bubble and it is still the month of December.