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Provo – The encouragement to “leave it all out there on the court” are obviously words of advice not fully implemented by players from either team of the Marriott Center’s Thursday matchup of BYU against Loyola Marymount University.
With the Brigham Young and Loyala Marymount teams still suffering from injuries due to physical contests, game planning for both will be particularly hard this time around as there are so many question marks across the rosters.
After Tuesday’s practice, BYU head coach Dave Rose said his players are “kind of banged up” because “it was a pretty physical game (against San Diego).”
Five weeks ago Stephen Rogers had surgery on his knee that he injured in practice — a torn meniscus. During the three games leading up to the San Diego game, Rogers had steadily increased his minutes on the court (seven, eight and twelve). In the SDU game however, Rogers’ awkward fall after a made jumper led to a forced timeout by the Cougars to assist the limping forward off the court.
“(Rogers has) got some of the same, similar, pain that he had before he actually really hurt it the first time in practice,” Rose said. "It’s got a little bit of swelling in there.”
With Rogers’ availibility an uncertainty, Rose is looking down the bench to see who can fill the spot at wing if needed Thursday night.
“Craig has done a terrific job … playing point guard and … wing positions,” Rose said. “Anson (Winder) and Damarcus (Harrison) are the next group of guys that we’ll go to. We’ll just see how the pace and how the game is going. We have a lot of confidence in our guys and what it means (to have Rogers unable to play) is that another guy will get a chance. We’ll see who it is.”
In addition to the obvious physical pains of Rogers, Rose also mentioned that on Tuesday Noah Hartsock, Matt Carlino and Brock Zylstra were still a little “banged up” from the last game.
Regarding Hartsock’s oft damaged nose, Rose simply said he didn’t “really know what kind of comment to make about his nose.”
“It’s been relocated, or dislocated, or broken so many times,” Rose said. “He got it hit again (on Monday against San Diego) so he had it put back together again. But he’ll be back, he’s a tough kid.”
The Lions’ difficulty of knowing whether to game plan for Rogers and a possible edge of facing sore opponents, pretty much evens out with the Cougars not knowing whether to game plan for certain LMU players and also seeing the Lions with sore players.
Rose noted that one of LMU’s top guards, Jarred DuBois, has “been out the last two games” from a concussion, leaving the Cougars wondering about matchups on the court.
Rose said he believes DuBois will “probably miss this game.”
With DuBois normally consuming a significant amount of game time, BYU will have to concentrate its film study on the last few games to understand players, such as Ashley Hamilton, who are finding themselves with increasing minutes on the court.
“I think (Drew) Viney will play the three and Hamilton will play the four,” Rose said. “So we’ll have to adjust and see the Gonzaga game, the San Diego game when Ashley Hamilton actually played major minutes to try to get his tendencies and see what he likes to do.”
With both sides walking out of the tunnel a little slower and with a few less players suited up for Thursday’s game — the game could go either way.
“You never get the same game,” Rose said. “You never get the same team — even when you play them a second time, but this will be a little bit different.”
