That’s important, especially to get Anson back. It’s good for health reasons and get back to class a little bit. You’ve got to move on to the next one. That’s life, and that’s how it comes. We’ve got to get healthy and refreshed, for sure. – BYU guard Chase Fischer
PROVO — On the one hand, BYU is glad to have Thursday off this week so it can get healed up before visiting San Diego next Saturday.
On the other hand, the layoff means the Cougars have a full week to contemplate their disappointing 82-77 setback at Saint Mary’s last Saturday night.
“It’s going to be tough sitting on this (loss) for a week,” said guard Chase Fischer. “I wish we were playing Thursday.”
Guard Anson Winder missed both games over the weekend, which included a 93-80 victory Thursday at Pacific.
Winder’s knee sprain has coach Dave Rose concerned.
BYU (15-5, 5-3) was hopeful that Winder would be able to play against the Gaels, but “it was pretty painful (Saturday) morning,” Rose said.
Will Winder be ready to go against San Diego?
“You give it a little bit of time and you feel maybe in three or four days he’ll be OK, but it seems like he’s a ways away,” Rose said. “So we’ll see.”
Fischer, who knocked down 10 3-pointers over the weekend, hopes that the week between games will give his team a chance to get healthy.
“That’s important, especially to get Anson back,” Fischer said. “It’s good for health reasons and get back to class a little bit. You’ve got to move on to the next one. That’s life, and that’s how it comes. We’ve got to get healthy and refreshed, for sure.”
Guard Tyler Haws, who poured in a game-high 28 points at Saint Mary’s, said not having Winder is “hard. He’s another one of our big-time players. We need him out on the court. I think he’ll be ready to go this next week.”
The Cougars were outrebounded 41-28 against the Gaels, and allowed Brad Waldow to score 24 points and grab 14 boards. Garrett Jackson chipped in 20 points and collected nine rebounds for Saint Mary’s.
BYU also committed too many turnovers, particularly in the second half.
“It was carelessness,” Fischer said about the turnovers. “I don’t think it’s from a bad place. I think everyone’s trying to make a play. No one’s trying to turn the ball over, just like no one’s trying to miss a shot. We want to make every play. We didn’t, and that’s basketball. That’s something we need to tighten up. Silly turnovers you can’t have on the road versus a good team.”
Rose was frustrated with the turnovers as well.
“In the second half and we weren’t as effective as I thought we could be but we still cut into that lead in the first four or five minutes,” he said. “It got away from us and we turned it over. We missed a couple of shots and we turned it over. … The guys were able to find themselves and not just go away. But we came up a couple plays short at the end.”
Haws said his team needs to play better from start to finish to win games against opponents like Saint Mary’s.
“We’ve got to be consistently ourselves for a longer period of time. We go through little lapses on defense. … We’ve got to find a way to be ourselves and play the right way more consistently.”