BYU (17-9, 8-5) at San Francisco (18-8, 8-5)
Saturday, 9 p.m. MST War Memorial Gym
TV: ROOT NW
Radio: 1160 AM, 102.7 FM
SAN FRANCISCO — His face etched with frustration, BYU coach Dave Rose candidly evaluated his team’s performance after a 99-83 setback at Pepperdine Thursday night.
It marked the Cougars’ fourth consecutive loss at Firestone Fieldhouse and their fourth road loss in conference play this season.
Rose lamented his players’ lack of composure.
“It’s guys who are really pressing,” said Rose, who pointed out hasty shots, defensive lapses and ill-advised drives that resulted in a flurry of offensive fouls and turnovers. “That’s a sign of a team that’s trying really hard but not executing very well … If we can make those plays, have a little more patience, get a better shot, then we might start to turn this thing. It seems like in a lot of these games we’ve been forcing things.”
And things don’t figure to get any easier Saturday (9 p.m., MST, ROOT NW) when BYU visits San Francisco.
The Cougars and Dons, who have identical 8-5 records in West Coast Conference play, are battling for third place in the standings.
BYU is 5-0 at War Memorial Gym since joining the WCC. But the Cougars 2-4 on the road in league games this season.
BYU started two freshmen and three sophomores against Pepperdine. The Waves started four seniors.
“A lot of it is a mentality of trying to compete in an uncomfortable environment,” Rose said. “When young guys are on the road, it doesn’t feel the same as it feels at home. It’s just a fact. You try not to emphasize it. You try to encourage guys. But their feet are a little bit slower and the response time is a little bit less.”
“We’re a young team and we’re trying to figure this out and it’s going to take time,” said guard Nick Emery. “But I believe in these guys and I believe in the coaches. We’ll figure it out sooner or later.”
Pepperdine shot 58 percent from the field against BYU and Lamond Murray Jr. poured in a game-high 30 points. The Waves knocked down 8 of 15 shots from 3-point range.
Emery called it “an embarrassing effort by us … Offensively, I thought we did great. We scored 80 points. But defensively, it’s not there yet.”
Emery hit 8 of 12 shots from the floor, including three 3-pointers, for a team-high 19 points coming off a week that saw him hampered by illness.
San Francisco had a 25-point lead late in the first half at home Thursday before holding on for a 61-58 victory over Santa Clara. The Dons have won four straight games and seven of their last eight under first-year coach Kyle Smith.
BYU beat USF in Provo, 85-75, on Jan. 12.
“We play a team on Saturday that gave us a really good battle at our place,” Rose said.
For the first time this season Thursday, the Cougars played without senior point guard L.J. Rose, who underwent knee surgery Friday.
“We miss that guy. That dude is a heckuva leader,” Emery said. “He knows what to say. He’s positive. We missed him (Thursday). But that’s part of the season, though. Guys get injured and you’ve got to adjust. It’s tough. I think it took its toll on us. We have L.J.’s back and we know he has ours. We’re praying that he has a full recovery and he gets back.”
“There are times in the games where we get kind of scattered and L.J.’s been a calming influence for us,” said coach Dave Rose. “For the most part, he’s done a good job of assisting the ball and not turning it over. (Thursday), we turned the ball over quite a few times late.”