LAS VEGAS -- A lot has happened since the No. 8 BYU Cougars played the No. 7/6 SDSU Aztecs two weeks ago. After losing forward Brandon Davies, the Cougars lost to New Mexico then lost their No. 3 ranking and found themselves ranked lower than the team they beat the week previous.

Now they have the opportunity to gain back all the respect they lost. They started off on the right foot by defeating the University of New Mexico Lobos 87-76.

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The Legend Leads the Way

The bar has been raised, so high that it is hard to believe these heights will be reached again.

"I was really proud of our players," head coach Dave Rose said. "I thought that from the very first tip to the last rebound we were all playing together and we were playing hard...It's amazing how you can have a team win, as big a team win as this is with one player scoring 52 points.

"The steals by Jackson Emery, the rebounds by Kyle (Collinsworth), the toughness from Noah Hartsock, Charles Abouo, filling up the stat sheet like they did; it's a great team win."

Now that the Cougars had a little bit more time and a few more games to solidify their new starting five, they were able to play with more confidence.

"We knew that we could play better than what we did in Provo," Fredette said. "Our minds weren't quite right and everything. But we felt that if we gave a good effort tonight, we would have a chance to win. It's very satisfying to win and to move forward."

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2011 Tournament Blog

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The Cougars will now face the Aztecs in the Mountain West Conference championship game. Although the Cougars have already beat the Aztecs twice this season, they will have a little bit of a different challenge this time around.

"San Diego State is extremely frontline-oriented where they're going to pound it in," Rose said. "They're going to really rebound the ball. We'll have the similar challenge of trying to defensive rebound the ball as we did tonight against a bigger, stronger, deep, athletic frontline."

The Cougars were surprisingly effective in rebounding the ball against a bigger New Mexico team. To win the game against the Aztecs, they will need a repeat performance.

"San Diego State, we all know about them," Fredette said. "Very athletic, can get rebounds, can shoot the ball. DJ Gay is a great player, really leads that team, but we're looking forward to going out there and competing."

BYU's Jackson Emery has effectively removed DJ Gay from SDSU's game plan when they play against the Cougars. In the two games this season, Gay has averaged 4 points. If Emery can continue to stifle Gay, who hit the game-winner Friday night against UNLV, the Cougars could come away with a win and find themselves back in the discussion for a top seed in the NCAA tournament.

Tipoff is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. inside the Thomas and Mack Center. You can listen to the game on ksl.com and KSL Newsradio 102.7FM/1160AM.

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