BYU men’s basketball plays its first regular season home game of the 2011-12 season tonight against BYU-Hawaii in the Marriott Center.
The Cougars return to action after going on the road and losing to in-state rival Utah State Friday, 69-62, in their season opener. As the team prepares for BYU-Hawaii, head coach Dave Rose hopes to see improvement.
“I’d like to see us play 40 minutes of consistent, good basketball on both ends of the floor,” Rose said. “At times we played well, but then there were times where there was a lot of slippage from us both offensively and defensively.”
On the defensive end of the ball, the Cougars will have the challenge of containing BYU-Hawaii’s returning leading scorer, Jet Chang. Chang led the Seasiders in scoring last season with 22.1 points per game and helped guide his team to the NCAA Division II national championship game.
Although the Seasiders lost, Chang was named the NCAA Division II tournament’s most outstanding player.
“I think Jet Chang is one of the best players in the country as far as Division II is concerned so we’ll have our hands full trying to get him stopped,” Rose said.
But Chang isn’t the only member of BYU-Hawaii’s attack the Cougars are worried about. Point-guard Junior Ale has game-winning experience and averaged nearly 10 points per game last season.
One of the Cougars’ top defensive players, Charles Abouo, knows this team isn’t one to take for granted.
“They have a lot of depth and they have a lot of really good players on that program,” Abouo said. “They have some good post players who are physical and can get it done down in the paint and they have one of the best scorers in the nation in Jet Chang, plus a really experienced point guard. It’s going to be a really tough matchup for us and obviously they’re going to come in playing really hard.”
The Cougars faced two other Division II opponents in preseason exhibition games — Dixie State and Midwestern State. In the game against Dixie State, BYU needed a strong comeback and clutch baskets down the stretch to defeat the Division II foe. Rose doesn’t want his team to be caught off guard like that again as it takes on BYU-Hawaii.
“We’ve gotta be ready. These guys will be excited to play and they’re very talented offensively,” he said. “We have a good defensive game plan … and we’re going to have to take care of our preparation.”
Last season the Cougars and Seasiders faced off in an exhibition game in which the Cougars came away victorious, 85-60. This season, the game counts in the teams’ regular-season records, adding more importance to the rematch.
The Cougars will look to defend their previous season’s win over the Seasiders tonight at 7 p.m. The game can be viewed on BYUtv or heard on KSL news radio.
