BYU shored up its weaknesses and relied on its strengths to defeat Weber State, 92-79, Tuesday night in the Marriott Center.
Cougar coach Roger Reid came into the game concerned about his team's tendency to give up three-pointers and get outrebounded, but his team outboarded the Wildcats, 44-32, and only allowed them to make five of 27 three-point shots.For that matter, the 'Cats didn't shoot well from any range, connecting on just 38.9 percent. Forwards Kirk Smith and Jimmy DeGraffenreid combined to make three of 17.
Weber coach Ron Abegglen, however, was more unhappy with his team's defensive effort than its shooting.
"We didn't guard anybody," he said. "My guys can't spell defense."
The Cougars deserve some credit for good shooting. It's hard to shoot 71 percent from the field in pregame warmups, but that's what BYU shot in the first half. They cooled off in the second period and still finished at 56.9 percent for the game.
This time, BYU relied primarily on the two-man, inside-outside combination of forward Russell Larson and guard Randy Reid, who each scored 24 points. Larson hit nine of 18 shots and grabbed 11 rebounds, Reid made eight of 11 shots and had four assists.
Abegglen said he was expecting Larson to score, but that it was Reid that hurt them.
"We can't let Randy get off on us," he said.
Reid's recent emergence as a scoring threat makes this BYU team a lot better. He averaged 12.7 points in BYU's first six games, but has scored 50 in the last two, against good competition.
"It's just a natural evolution," Randy Reid said. "It's really nothing I'm doing differently, except looking to shoot a little more."
Abegglen had nice things to say about Randy and his freshman brother, Robbie. With starter Kurt Christensen in foul trouble most of the night and limited to 17 minutes, Robbie picked up the ballhandling slack.
"I thought the Reid brothers just did a great job," Abegglen said. "They were all over the court. We had a hard time keeping up with them."
Asked if sometimes it was hard for defenders to tell the Reids apart, Abegglen said, "Yeah, we can use that as an excuse. I like that. We couldn't tell which blond to guard."
Abegglen sounded jocular in his postgame comments, except when he discussed the officiating. He was particularly irate with official Lonnie Dixon, who hit the coach with a technical foul in the second half. That wasn't Abegglen's first blowup, however. With 3:15 left in the first half and BYU up 37-33, Ruben Nemhard was called for a foul on Randy Reid, and Abegglen responded by ripping off his sportcoat and plopping into a chair on the end of the Wildcat bench. From that point, the Cougars outscored the Wildcats 15-6, giving them a 52-39 lead at halftime.
In the second half, the teams played run-and-shoot and traded baskets for the first couple of minutes, until BYU missed a couple of shots and the Wildcats tore off seven straight points, cutting the Cougar lead to 58-51. Coach Reid quickly called timeout and told his team to slow it down.
"We wanted to make sure we made them play some defense," the coach said. "We did a nice job dictating the tempo."
Using their slowdown tactic, the Cougs soon upped the lead back to 13, at 66-53. During that stretch, Abegglen got his technical when he doffed his jacket again and pitched it toward the bench. Almost simultaneously, BYU's Mark Durrant was getting a technical foul from another official for throwing an elbow.
And almost immediately after that, Weber center Johnnie Moore received his fourth foul, except that Abegglen swears the foul should have been on Smith instead.
"How many times did they (the officials) screw up on who the foul was on?" he asked, rhetorically. "You don't have to be a math major to figure out who the foul's on."
The surprising thing was that Abegglen chose to keep Moore in the game after that fourth foul, with 11:21 left to play.
"Maybe I should have taken him out," he said. "I was just stubborn about it."
Less than two minutes later, Moore was gone, fouled out for whacking Ken Roberts from behind.
With 4:23 left and down 80-68, Abegglen called a timeout and ordered his team into a full-court trap, figuring his quicker players might be able to harass the Cougs into turnovers. The 'Cats got to within eight, at 82-74, but then BYU settled down and put it away with a couple easy layups and free-throw shooting.
Besides Reid and Larson, the only other Cougar to score in double figures was Mark Durrant, with 11. Roberts had nine rebounds.
For Weber, Johnson was the leading scorer, with 19. Nemhard chipped in 17, Moore had 13 and Elroy Miller 12.
The Cougars take a few days off now and get together again to play Western Washington in the Marriott Center next Tuesday. Weber State next plays Purdue a week from Thursday in Ogden.