Dave Rose: 'One guy needs to rise up'


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PROVO — The BYU basketball team loves Thursdays but hates Saturdays.

Three of the Cougars' four conference losses have come on a Saturday following a Thursday victory (including wins at Gonzaga and Saint Mary's).

What made the most recent Saturday loss particularly painful was that it came at home, snapping the Cougars' 17-game home winning streak.

During the weekly "Coach Rose Show" on Tuesday night, Dave Rose lamented, "We just didn't play well enough to win. They beat us, and there were some really disappointed guys in our locker room." Rose was quick to add that this isn't the first time his players have experienced these feelings.

"We've had kind of an interesting season, Rose continued. "The way that it went this past weekend is pretty much how the season has been for us." Rose was referring to the pattern of following big wins with losses.

Like it or not, the Cougars have been guilty of consistent inconsistency.

As Rose watched his players miss layups and even a dunk last Saturday against Pacific, he could see in his players' faces that they were "playing tight." Rose said he thought, "This is a group of guys that, maybe right now, the pressure is starting to get to them."

They weren't able to play loose, and the result was a game Rose categorized as possibly the toughest loss of the season.

The game marked the first time in three years that BYU had zero points from bench players.

Rose noted when the team is playing this way, "One guy needs to rise up and the rest can kind of follow," and that simply didn't happen against Pacific.

As if BYU didn't already have a tough enough road ahead, Chase Fischer, the team's leading scorer, injured his shoulder in practice this week. The injury was said to be a "stinger," but was apparently serious enough for Fischer to see doctors. Rose said he didn't know how many games, if any, Fischer would have to miss.

Fischer will join Zac Seljaas, who is, according to Rose, "not even close to 100 percent" healthy with his nagging shoulder injury. Rose admitted that Seljaas' injury has had a big impact on the team.

Seljaas has been a great asset off the bench this year. Rose described him as "a guy who has helped us find ourselves throughout the season." Rose also said other players have been able to rally around him and get confidence from him.

When asked about how the team will deal with these injuries, Rose replied, "[Some] guys have to miss some time and other guys just have to step up, and that's part of the grind that everybody loves."

Rose said his team had one of the best practices of the season on Monday. "Our guys have a lot of fight in them, they have a lot of resolve."

The bottom line is, the Cougars have to move on. Rose said they'll need to "catch lightning in a bottle" by tallying three wins in the WCC tournament in order to be invited to the Big Dance.

But first, the Cougars will hit the road to face a tough San Francisco squad on Thursday, then take on Santa Clara Saturday.

Since joining the West Coast Conference, the Cougars have never lost on the road against either of these two teams. Rose said that's because they've "always had someone step up and have an unbelievable weekend."

In the midst of setbacks and injuries, which guy will step up en route to the WCC tournament?

We'll find out soon enough. Freddy Woods is a KSL sports radio intern covering BYU basketball. Follow him on Twitter @freddycougar21.

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