Cougars' bounce-back resolve will be tested at San Francisco


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PROVO — The 2015-16 season hasn't been perfect for BYU men's basketball — far from it, at 17-8 on the season and 8-4 in West Coast Conference play.

But every time the Cougars have been knocked down, they've managed to get back up. In all eight losses this season, coach Dave Rose's squad has responded with a win — and often in a big way, averaging 18.4-point margins of victory in their seven previous defeats before last weekend.

That margin will be tested Thursday night at 8 p.m. MT at San Francisco (13-10, 6-6 WCC) after Saturday's stunning 77-72 home loss to Pacific.

"I think we kind of overlooked them. As bad as the record was, they just outplayed us," freshman guard Nick Emery said of the loss to the Tigers. "You can't let those types of games slide by, and we let it slide by. We learned a big lesson — you can't let any game go."

Games against the Dons have traditionally been high-scoring games in the shooter's gym known as The Hilltop. This year's game shouldn't be any different, against a San Francisco team that scored 92 points in a loss in the Marriott Center.

BYU's road resolve could be tested even more, since top scorer Chase Fischer left Tuesday's practice early with a potential shoulder injury.

"This is a really good offensive team," Rose said of the Dons. "It seems like they have gotten better and better, and gone to a four-guard system. They don't look like Golden State personnel-wise, but they sure play a lot like Golden State. They've got a lot of guys who shoot the threes, they're a good rebounding team, really athletic."

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BYU's loss to Pacific was far from perfect — many are calling it the Cougars' worst loss of the year compared with the previous dropped games at Long Beach State, at Utah, at Colorado, against Harvard in Hawaii, at Saint Mary's and at Portland.

"It was definitely one of the tougher games we've lost this year," BYU center Bronson Kaufusi said. "We were starting to find a little bit of ourselves, and then that game just got us.

"It disrupts things. But know we've got to look forward."

There's an argument to be made, with the Tigers' win in Provo being the first for a WCC team at the Marriott Center in 17 attempts, that it was the Cougars' worst loss of the year. The Cougars, then, took a long, introspective look inside themselves after the loss.

"I look back to every game we've lost this year, and there isn't one that has been the same reason why we lost," Emery said. "One game was energy, then we were out-rebounded, then 3-pointers.

"I think we learn from our mistakes really well, and this team continues to battle through it. We're going to be ready for San Francisco on Thursday, I can tell you that."

BYU's hopes for an at-large NCAA Tournament bid are likely dashed; the most important run for the Cougars, then, will come in Las Vegas during the WCC Tournament in a few weeks.

But every game leading up to that is important for confidence.

"In the WCC, every game can be a trap game," Kaufusi said. "Every game is a game that matters; it doesn't matter who it is, but you can lose a lot in every game. Every game, you have to win. I think that's something we learned — you can't underestimate any of them.

"Every game has to be a big game."

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Sean Walker

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