BYU Falls to Utah Despite Late Comeback
By James Pigott
Nov 26, 2013; Kansas City, MO, USA; Brigham Young Cougars guard Tyler Haws (3) shoots as Wichita State Shockers guard Nick Wiggins (15) defends during the second half of the game at Sprint Center. Wichita won 75-62. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
Despite playing well defensively towards the end of the game, the BYU Cougars lost a close home contest against their rival Utah 65-61. Tyler Haws led the Cougars with 23 points but did so on just 9/22 shooting. Kyle Collinsworth added 17 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists, but shot just 2/5 from the free throw line. Anson Winder added 10 points, 8 of which were scored consecutively on an 8-3 BYU run that cut the Utah lead from 9 to 4 in during the last five minutes of the game. No other Cougars scored more than one basket, and Chase Fischer continued his trend of alternating good games and bad games with just 3 points on 1/5 shooting tonight. Nate Austin injured his hamstring in the first few minutes of the game and never did return.
Delon Wright led Utah with 18 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks and 2 steals, and no other Ute scored in double figures. Utah used balanced scoring on offense, as seven different players had 5 points or more. Reserve center Dallin Bachynski nailed some key free throws down the stretch that kept BYU at arms distance away. He showed his value over the poor free throw shooting Jakob Poeltl at the end of tight games. Tyler Haws and Kyle Collinsworth both had chances to tie the game from beyond the arc with the Cougars down 64-61, but neither converted. After Collinsworth missed the second of those two looks, Utah’s Dakarai Tucker hit one of two free throws to make it a two possession game and put the game out of reach for the Cougars.
Utah has many athletic wing players that definitely bothered the Cougars, who had never scored less than 85 points this season but only managed 61 tonight. Delon Wright put Utah on his shoulders for much of this game, as he had two steals off of BYU inbounds passes underneath Utah’s basket that resulted in two momentum swing layups from Wright and the Utes.
Stat of the Night
BYU was outrebounded by Utah 43-31, which wasn’t exactly a surprise once Nate Austin went down (and spent most of the game on an exercise bike on the sideline). Part of that statistic comes from the fact that Utah shot 46% from the field while BYU only 37%, so the Utes had more opportunities for defensive rebounds. Anyways, BYU’s four guard lineup, while the best offensive lineup, doesn’t always lead to strong rebounding numbers for the Cougars, and that really showed in the close loss to Utah.
Moving Forward
The Cougars travel to Ogden, Utah to play at Weber State on Saturday. The Wildcats are only 3-4 this season, so the Cougars should have a good chance to get back on track with another road victory.