By Chad Newswander
The men”s basketball team lost its last three games and still found a way to have a post-season.
The National Invitational Tournament announced Sunday night that the Cougars will host Big West conference regular season champion UC Irvine (21-10) Thursday in the Marriott Center at 7 p.m. Tickets went on sale at the Marriott Center Monday at 8 a.m.
BYU failed to make the NCAA tournament this year even though the team had an RPI ranking of 52. Wyoming, the Mountain West Conference regular-season champion, had an RPI of 63 and still made the tournament. The University of Utah and San Diego State also earned bids for the MWC.
Luckily, BYU (17-11, 7-7) will be playing on its home court, where the Cougars have put up 35 straight home wins. They have not lost on their home court in two years.
BYU will need the intensity of junior guard Travis Hansen to help the team return to its winning ways.
“When we need him on the floor, he has been our go to guy for the last month,” head coach Steve Cleveland said. “He is an emotionally aggressive and hungry young man.”
Hansen has averaged 15 points a game and has shot 44 percent from the field. However, he failed to show up against San Diego State when he scored only 10 points and shot 20 percent from the floor.
BYU will also need to find the glue that binds the team together once again.
“The chemistry that we have really pulls us through in a lot of games,” senior forward Eric Nielsen said.
Steve Cleveland”s team needs to find a way to rebuild after tough loses and discover the unity the Cougars have used in the past to play good basketball.
The Cougars came back against Utah and New Mexico when they found their groove. In the middle of conference play, they had lost three in a row and still found a way to win their next two games.
Senior point guard Matt Montague has been a key player in that chemistry.
He broke Danny Ainge”s all-time BYU assist record and has been the hand to steady the boat.
“I just love feeding the ball to a good shooter,” Montague said.
His assists and level of play have enabled the Cougars to get to the NIT this year.
“The MVP on this team is Matt Montague,” Cleveland said.
The last time Montague and the Cougars were in the NIT was two years ago. They made it to the quarterfinals after beating Bowling Green and Southern Illinois.
They failed to make the semifinals when Notre Dame defeated BYU by 12 points in South Bend, Ind.
This year, the NIT expanded its field from 32 teams to 40. In the MWC, UNLV also received a bid and will host Arizona State Tuesday at 9 p.m.
If the Cougars win, they will play either Memphis or UNC-Greensboro who also play on Thursday.
