PC Tangles with BYU Tuesday Night, After Bahamas Nightmare - McMahon
Robert McMahon, Sports Columnist
PC Tangles with BYU Tuesday Night, After Bahamas Nightmare - McMahon
Who would have predicted after that close loss that PC would sleepwalk through its next two games in the tournament and get thoroughly outplayed? Who would have predicted that Oklahoma, after barely escaping the Friars, would win the tournament in a field that included ranked teams Gonzaga, Arizona, and Indiana? The unranked Sooners ended up beating Louisville 69-64 to win it all. Hats off to Coach Peter Moser of Oklahoma for leading the Sooners team to three wins in a row to become the tournament champs.
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For coach English and Friar fans, the losses to Davidson and Indiana were so decisive, that is hard to definitively figure out where to begin to improve this team. My first impression of watching the Friars in the losses to Davidson and Indiana was that this team was not ready to play back-to-back-to-back games because of poor conditioning. They looked and played tired. And it affected their shooting, their movement without the ball, and getting back on defense. The explanation for their poor play may be as simple as teamwide poor conditioning.
Conditioning can be corrected. But one of the major shortcomings of the present Friar lineup is also apparent. In all three games, PC struggled to get points in the paint. After 8 games, Coach English is not able to decide who should be his big man down low. Nobody has risen to the occasion and figured out how to consistently score near the basket. PC is going to have a tough time this year if they depend on their three-point shooting to win games.
The Friars next opponent this Tuesday at home, Brigham Young University, may be PC’s toughest challenge so far. BYU is a Big 12 member (which now has 16 member schools, thanks to the recent dissolution and transformation of traditional college conferences). They are picked to finish 9th in the conference which has some blue-chip basketball schools, such as Kansas, Arizona, Iowa State, and Houston. The PC-BYU matchup is part of the annual Big East-Big 12 showdown this week. Some other notable matchups, include Baylor at UConn, Kansas at Creighton, and Marquette at Iowa State. The Big East luster in this showdown has taken a hit as UConn, Creighton, and PC have each lost 3 games in the last ten days.
The 6-1 BYU Cougars feasted on a menu of cupcake teams in their early wins, before losing 96-85 in overtime to #23 Ole Miss last Thursday. BYU bounced back Friday, however, to dominate NC State, a Final Four team last April, ultimately winning 72-61. The game was not that close.
Here is the likely starting BYU lineup against the Friars.
Cougar Facts
- The Cougars score points, even though they go through scoring droughts for minutes at a time. They average 87.4 pts/game.
- They can shoot, averaging a lofty 48.9% per game.
- They regularly play eight or nine players per game, with a balanced scoring attack.
- They have an unusual lineup, featuring a 6’6” center in senior Fousseyni Traore and a 6’9” point guard in freshman phenom Egor Demin (a 5-star recruit from Russia of all places). I wonder who Coach English will have guarding Demin.
Can Friar fans be hopeful in the matchup against BYU? Here’s some straw grasping: The Friars will be well-rested since arriving home from the Bahamas. BYU will be traveling across the country for this game. The Friars can’t possibly play as poorly as they did in their last two losses. Tis the beginning of the Season of Advent, and the Advent Season is…the season of hope. And the ultimate straw: Maybe Bryce Hopkins will be in the PC lineup.
Tip-off for the PC-BYU game at home on Tuesday night is 8:30 PM. Note the atypical start time for the game. You’ll have extra time for a leisurely meal or extra beer or two downtown before moseying over to the game.