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Having lost four straight games for the first time in the Dave Rose era, the BYU hoopsters return to the Marriott Center on Saturday to face San Diego, opening a three-game homestand that will see the Cougars play more home games in eight days than they played in the previous 45 days.
Head coach Dave Rose was asked if his players might already be more comfortable knowing they're home for a while, and he said "I hope that's not the case. I hope they understand the challenge."
"What we need to concentrate on," said Rose after his team's Thursday afternoon practice, "is that this is a real challenge, and we need to execute our game plan. We need to know it, we need to feel free and play, and not so much worry about the comfort of home because we're going to have to go back out on the road again and play."
"We need to be successful in both places."
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Rose said that his team has practiced well this week, and that the gym has served as a sanctuary of sorts for a team that last tasted victory on Dec. 11 versus Prairie View A&M.
"When you get in the basketball world, when you get in the locker room...get into practice, the challenge is the same--you're tying to win the next game," said Rose. "It's outside of that where it's hard, because everybody has questions. Everybody wants to know what's going on, but I think as a group, when we've been together, the guys have been really good."
Rose said "there are a lot of different areas that we need to improve on," but identified three-point shooting, free-throw shooting, defensive assignments and defensive consistency as focal points.
BYU is shooting 27% from the three-point arc and 62% from the free-throw line during the four-game losing streak, while allowing 87 points per game, and being outscored by almost 20 points per game from distance.
"Those are the things that guys want to focus on," said Rose on Thursday. "When we're together as a group and we're all involved in those things, I think guys are going really good and playing really hard."
"When you're in a slump and you're not seeing a lot of success, you have to stay true to the things that are good...but then you've got to make adjustments to make it so things will turn out differently. Obviously, guys want a different result."
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The Toreros of San Diego have beaten BYU in the last two meetings, but have yet to win a game (0-3) at the Marriott Center. USD returns the dynamic guard duo of Johnny Dee and Christopher Anderson, along with newcomer Duda Sanadze providing scoring punch off the bench.
Rose says USD is "pretty similar" to last season's team.
"The two guards are the same," said Rose, "and they've added a guy who can really, really shoot it...(they) can really score and their big guys are very similar (to last season). They're athletic and their schemes are really good. They score in transition, they score in a half-court set, they're a good free-throw shooting team. They execute really well."
"It's a real physical team. It's a team that has good balance; really good outside scoring, good inside scoring, which is what challenges your defense. We have periods of time when we play really well during a game, and we need to kind of capitalize on those things and put more consecutive consistent minutes together."
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Guard Matt Carlino is currently in a shooting slide that has seen him go 13-for-52 from the field during the losing streak, including a 4-for-17 performance from distance. Rose was asked if he was "waiting for a spark, and confidence, and the old Matt" to re-emerge.
"We'll see," said Rose. "Matt is working really hard and I think he wants to play better. The team is really supportive of Matt, but all the guys need to improve. Everybody needs to get better."
Carlino recently was recently moved over to the shooting guard spot to make more room for Kyle Collinsworth at point, and Carlino has since played both positions, but more of the "2" than he ever had previously.
Noting that the transition "has been difficult for me, because I haven't been performing the way I want to," Carlino stated that "I'm a point guard; that's what I am...(Coach Rose) knows I'm uncomfortable there (at the '2'). I think he'll move me back to the '1.'"
"You get thrown into a different role, and it's like, you've got to catch up on the fly...it has just been tough."
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Rose said that football defensive end Bronson Kaufusi, who last season joined the basketball team after the football season, will not reprise his role as a big man on the hardwoods this season.
"Bronson has decided not to play (basketball)," Rose said on Thursday. "He has decided that he really wants to commit himself to the off-season with the football team and be there for spring practice, and I totally 100% support that decision. We had conversations throughout the summer and the fall, but he made that decision a week or two ago."
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You can hear post-practice interviews with Rose, Carlino, Kyle Collinsworth and Tyler Haws, in "Cougar Cuts," above left.
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