BYU Defeats San Diego Behind Halford’s Career Night

Nov 30, 2013; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Utah State Aggies forward/center

(5) and Brigham Young Cougars guard

(23) fight for a loose ball during the first half at EnergySolutions Arena. Mandatory Credit: Chris Nicoll-USA TODAY Sports

The BYU Cougars got back on track after two bad losses to Pepperdine and LMU by beating the San Diego Toreros, 87-53.  Skyler Halford, starting in place of the slumping Matt Carlino and took full advantage, scoring 28 points on 11/16 shooting. Tyler Haws added 17 points for the Cougars, and Kyle Collinsworth stuffed the stat sheet as usual with 12 points, 7 rebounds, and 8 assists. Eric Mika scored 13 points before injuring himself going up for an uncontested fast break dunk.

Chris Sarbaugh was the only Torero player to score in double-figures, leading San Diego with 10 points.  Johnny Dee was held to 8 points on 2/10 shooting, while Duda Sandaze was held to 4 points on 2/12 shooting.  No one else stepped up offensively, and San Diego struggled mightily in the last 30 minutes of the game because of that.

Keys to the Game Revisited

BYU

X – Carlino needs to regain confidence: First, let me say that Carlino by no means had a bad game.  But he also did not have a great game, with 6 points on 2/6 shooting, 4 assists, and 2 turnovers.  It doesn’t help that Skyler Halford had a career high of 28 points, which means that Carlino will come off the bench for the foreseeable future. And even if he does get back in the starting lineup, he will still have to take the point guard spot back from Kyle Collinsworth.  So no, Carlino did not regain confidence at all.

San Diego

X – Get Christopher Anderson out of his slump: That did not happen at all.  Anderson shot 2/11 from the field and 0/3 beyond the arc. If he cannot start shooting the ball better, defenders will sag off him, making points in the paint (already a problem) even harder to come by for the Toreros.

Stat of the Night

San Diego’s guards’ shooting percentage: The primary three guards (Dee, Anderson, Sandaze) shot a combined 6/33 from the field, good 18% from the field.  I think that stat speaks for itself.

The Bottom Line

BYU looked terrific against San Diego and it could not have happened at a better time.  They now have momentum heading into the revenge rematches with Pepperdine and LMU at home next week.

San Diego looks lost offensively, and the Toreros are now 0-3 in league play.  The Toreros also play Pepperdine and LMU at home next week.