Next up for the Brigham Young University Cougars is No. 1-ranked Duke University.
Roger Reid's club overcame a 37-point effort by Anfernee Hardaway to defeat Memphis State 73-67 in overtime in a semifinal game of the Maui Invitational Tuesday night.Two-time defending national champion Duke hammered LSU, 96-67, in the other semifinal contest.
So, after defeating a bunch of roadrunners from Oklahoma, 76-75, on a last-second basket by Kevin Nixon Monday, and a team with a superstar Tuesday (Nixon again had the critical bucket - a 3-pointer with 50 seconds left in overtime to give BYU the lead), Reid and his 7-1 Cougars get to measure themselves against the ultimate college basketball machine in the 7:30 p.m. ESPN contest.
Reid says the Cougars will play BYU basketball and see what happens.
Duke is led by senior point guard Bobby Hurley who drew raves for his play against the Dream Team during pre-Olympic exhibition contests.
He will be matched against freshman Randy Reid. But they're the same age. Reid red-shirted a year and went on an LDS mission.
"I've thought about playing against him for a long time. I played against Bobby Hurley at the Nike Camp in New Jersey. I played against him in the Dapper Dan game," Reid said, referring to high school all-star events.
It didn't appear toward the end of regulation and early in the overtime that Reid and his mates were going to get to play Duke.
It was almost the Oklahoma game in reverse. This time the opponent - Memphis State - battled back from big first- and second-half deficits to seemingly gain control of the game.
The catalyst was the amazing Hardaway. After being limited to eight points in the first half, he took control for the Tigers in the second, scoring 26 of Memphis State's 35 second-half points.
Hardaway's barrages, plus a zone defense that created a series of turnovers by BYU, were the keys as Memphis State chipped away at an 11-point lead BYU held with 10:27 to play. When the 6-7 guard-foward buried a 3-point jump shot with 3:56 to play, the Tigers took the lead at 58-57. They were up by three when Mr. Clutch, Nixon, nailed a 3-pointer to tie the game at 63 with 1:09 to play. Neither team scored in the remaining time in regulation - Hardaway missed a jumper, and after BYU got the ball on a Hardaway turnover with seven seconds left, Nick Sanderson missed a last-second shot.
Hardaway scored his final points in the first five seconds of overtime on a jam off an alley-oop pass and a free throw off a foul on the same play. A free throw by Rodney Newsome made it 67-63, Memphis State, with 3:31 left. Those were to be the last points Memphis State scored.
With 1:59 to play Sanderson hit a three to cut the lead to 67-66. After a pass by Hardaway deflected off a teammate's foot out of bounds, Reid found Nixon near the right corner and Nixon swished a three to give BYU a 69-67 lead, the basket that would prove to be the game winner.
Sanderson then stole the ball from Hardaway for a break-away layup and Russell Larson added a dunk at the end of the game.
Gary Trost, who keyed BYU's early second-half spurt, led the Cougars with 16 points. Sanderson, who had only three points against Oklahoma, had 15, including four 3-pointers. Nixon added 14 and Larson 11. Reid had nine assists. Ryan Cuff, in limited action, had five assists.
Only one other player besides Hardaway scored in double figures for Memphis State - Newsome had 12 points.
In other Maui Invitational action:
No. 1 Duke 96, Louisiana St. 67
The Blue Devils (6-0) took control early and cruised to their 19th consecutive victory. Thomas Hill led Duke with 25 points and eight rebounds, shooting 10 for 12 from the field. Bobby Hurley had 15 points and seven assists, and Grant Hill had 14 points on 6-for-9 shooting.
Consolation Bracket
No. 9 Oklahoma 105, Chaminade 88
The Sooners (6-1) bounced back from the devastating final-shot loss to BYU, but they didn't open things up until a 23-3 run early in the second half.
DePaul 76, Stanford 67
Brandon Cole had a career-high 25 points as the Blue Demons (5-3) dominated the boards in holding off the Cardinal (3-4).