By AARON SHILL
After going next door and getting pushed around by WAC bully Utah in its conference opener, the BYU men’s basketball team will try to forget Saturday’s 75-54 loss at the Huntsman Center with two road games at San Diego State and Hawaii.
In dropping their WAC opener, the Cougars slipped to 5-8 and remained winless on the road in six tries. The good news is that BYU is not likely to face a better WAC opponent until Utah visits the Marriott Center on February 6.
“This is the best team in the league,” head coach Steve Cleveland said of Utah after the Utes extended their home winning-streak to 29 games.
And Utah’s Andre Miller made sure the Cougars knew it.
Midway through the first half, the pre-season All-American guard began heaping a pile of points on BYU that the Cougars were never able to fight their way out from under. Miller led his team on a 15-0 run while coming up with a steal, dropping in a fade-away 17 footer and draining a three pointer from the angle. Miller’s offensive outburst gave the Utes a 27-7 advantage that the Cougars were never able to slice into.
“I tried to push the ball a bit and be more aggressive,” said Miller, who finished with a game-high 24 points. “I forced a few shots and they just happened to go in.”
In a game that matched two solid defensive teams, Utah stepped up as the aggressor. The Utes threw up walls in front of the Cougars with solid man-to-man defense. More importantly, Utah pushed BYU out of its game plan with tough physical play.
“They’re so physical,” Cleveland said. “You don’t go through a passing lane without being bumped or pushed.”
The game’s opening minutes were disastrous for the Cougars, who looked frantic and confused on offense. The Utes were quick on defense, denying jumpers to anyone wearing blue while providing help defense to shut down BYU’s post game.
According to Cleveland, the Cougars’ inability to find shot opportunities on both the post and the perimeter kept his team out of the game. BYU’s leading scorer Mark Bigelow was limited to only five shot attempts in the first half, while forward Mekeli Wesley was forced into early jumpers.
“To beat (Utah), you either have to make jump shots or get inside,” the second-year coach said.
After a start that saw the crimson-clad crowd in good spirits, BYU recovered with a better defensive effort in the second half. The Cougars slowed down the Utes on offense with a tough zone. However, offensive rebounds and transition buckets by the Utes in the second half drew a definitive line between the two teams on the scoreboard.
According to Wesley, Utah’s aggressive play took the Cougars by surprise. BYU did recover to establish a physical presence of its own, but not without controversy.
With 13:48 remaining in the second half, Wesley posted up Utah’s Hanno Mottola and caught the 6-foot-10-inch junior with an elbow. Wesley was whistled for a technical foul after a lengthy conference at center court between officials, Cleveland and Utah head coach Rick Majerus.
According to Mottola, who gave the Ute offense a boost with 22 points, the elbow from Wesley was not intentional.
“It was an accident,” he said. “I don’t think (Wesley) did it on purpose.”
Mottola, however, was later caught with another elbow after BYU forward Silester Rivers faced-up on the post and made a move to the basket. But according to Welsey, the incidents were the result of a hard-fought physical contest rather than bad blood.
“I don’t throw any intentional elbows, and I don’t think they threw any intentional elbows,” Wesley said.
