The BYU men’s basketball team fell to the Colorado Buffaloes 92-83 on Saturday night in Boulder.
The Cougars never led in the game and found themselves trailing by 25 points in the second half. They managed to cut the Buffs’ lead to six points with 22 seconds to play. But it was too little too late for the Cougars.
“The guys fought hard and competed,” BYU head coach Dave Rose said after the game. “We found a combination that worked well, but there was no consistency. We’re still trying to figure out how to be a better team. There’s a lot of fight in these guys and I have a good feeling we will find ourselves. But we don’t have it right now.”
Defensively BYU struggled to slow down the Buffs. The Cougars allowed Colorado to shoot 46 percent in the game and the 92 points they allowed were the most BYU has given up this season.
The Cougars’ veterans struggled offensively on the night too. Seniors Kyle Collinsworth and Chase Fischer combined to score 21 points on just 8-32 shooting.
But two freshmen players stepped up in a big way for BYU.
Zac Seljaas had a break-out performance for the Cougars. The true freshman dropped a career-high 18 points on 7-11 shooting off the bench and freshman Nick Emery led the team with 23 points. This was the third time in eight games this season that Emery’s reached the 20-point mark.
“That was their best road game by far,” Rose said of his freshmen. “41 points and I think they had nine rebounds between the two of them. That’s something that we really need, especially on the road. You look at our record on the road and our inability to execute the way that this team is capable of – that’s a good sign for two young kids to come out and play in a tough spot, execute and play well.”
Junior forward Kyle Davis recorded a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds. It was his fifth double-double of the season.
The Cougars fell to 6-3 on the season and are now 0-3 in true road games. In each they trailed by at least 12 points but managed to lose by single digits.
“We have to play better,” Rose said. “We have to play with more confidence and consistency.”
The Cougars return home to face Central Michigan on Friday, Dec. 18.
