The BYU basketball team doesn't like losing to anyone at anytime, but dropping the regular season finale to archrival Utah - and losing a piece of the WAC crown with it - was particularly painful.
Still, Cougar coach Roger Reid was surprisingly upbeat after Utah's 87-79 win at the Huntsman Center late Saturday night."I proud of our guys. We had a good effort," Reid said. "We played hard."
BYU finished the regular season 22-8 overall and 13-5 in the WAC, good enough for a tie for second place with UTEP. Saturday's setback was the Cougars' third in five games, however.
"We're frustrated and it hurts to lose to Utah," senior forward Mark Durrant said. "Our main goal was to win the WAC championship, but we really lost our chance to do that a couple of weeks ago when we lost to Hawaii and San Diego State."
The Cougars, Utes and Miners were all unbeaten in WAC play at home (9-0), but Utah claimed the league title because it won six WAC road games to BYU and UTEP's four apiece.
"Utah is just playing great basketball right now," said Roger Reid "I've said all year long (Utah is) the best team in the league. I wasn't conning anybody and I think that's been proven."
BYU, which had beaten Utah four straight times dating back to last season, kept the game close behind the sharpshooting of center Kenneth Roberts - who scored a career-high 34 points - and reserve guard Craig Wilcox - who netted a season-best 17.
All-WAC forward Russell Larson, meantime, struggled to get open shots against Utah's defense. Larson, coming off his season-best 34-point game against Fresno State the previous week, scored a season-low four points before fouling out against the Utes. He attempted only four shots in 22 minutes of play, making two.
The starting BYU backcourt of Robbie and Randy Reid had an off night shooting, making a combined 1 for 8 from the field. Robbie, whose 25-foot three-point bomb beat the Utes in the Huntsman Center last season, was 0-7 from the field, but did dish out a game-high seven assists.
"Our effort was there," said Roberts. "We had a few breakdowns at the end and gave up some layups, but effort-wise we did pretty well."
The biggest difference was in rebounding. The young Utes had 15 offensive boards and outrebounded the Cougs by 11 overall.
"Rebounding is just wanting it more, and they obviously must have wanted it more," Durrant said.
Roger Reid added: "Two or three times we had a rebound and they took it away and scored. That comes from being stronger and more physical."
Utah's 6-11 freshman center Mike Doleac, who scored 14 points, earned several rave reviews.
"Doleac's a great player," Roberts said. "He's the strongest 17-year-old I've ever run across. He has a great little jump hook shot and was eating my lunch all night long."
Reid agreed: "Doleac had a good game. He's just too big for us to handle, to be honest with you."
Despite being taunted and booed all night by the Huntsman Center fans, Robbie Reid says he enjoyed playing in front of 15,000-plus Ute boosters. "They have great fans," he said. "I'd kill to have about 20 of them in Provo. They do a great job for their team."
BYU will be the No. 2 seed in this week's WAC Tournament in Albuquerque. The Cougars know they will open the tourney at 3 p.m. Thursday, but they don't know exactly who their opponent will be. They will play the best-seeded team remaining after Wednesday's play-in games (most likely 7th-seeded Colorado State, although No. 8 Fresno State and No. 9 San Diego State are also possibilities).
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
WAC men's basketball tournament
At Albuquerque, N.M. (all times MST)
First-round games
Wednesday, March 8
- Air Force vs. Colorado State, 5 p.m.
- San Diego State vs. Fresno State, 7:30 p.m.
Quarterfinal games
Thursday, March 9
- Texas-El Paso vs. Hawaii, 12:30 p.m.
- Brigham Young vs. higher remaining first-round seed, 3 p.m.
- Utah vs. lower remaining first-round seed, 6:30 p.m.
- Wyoming vs. New Mexico, 9 p.m.
Semifinal games
Friday, March 10
- UTEP-CSU winner vs. BYU/first-round qualifier, 6:30 p.m.
- Wyoming-UNM winner vs. Utah/first-round qualifier, 9 p.m.
Championship game
Saturday, March 11
- Semifinal winners, 7:30 p.m.