SALT LAKE CITY — Nick Emery was the center of the Utah college basketball universe Wednesday night, but it wasn't just his play at the Huntsman Center.

Yes, he scored 11 points, going 3 of 8 from 3-point range to help the Cougars start a second-half when they trailed by 23 points with a 13-2 run that gave BYU a chance at a comeback.

But he was also the center of a storm after he was caught throwing a punch at Utah point guard Brandon Taylor. Emery received a flagrant 2 foul, was ejected for the game, and BYU took a technical foul with 1:44 left in the game before falling 83-75 in the latest rendition of the rivalry game with the Utes.

"I think we just played harder, and it gave us a chance to even be in the game," said BYU guard Chase Fischer, who finished with a game-high 26 points. "I think we are capable of executing, but we've got to piece it together and find out how this team clicks."

Emery's status for Saturday's neutral-site contest with Weber State at Vivint Arena is unclear, but his head coach didn't seem too sure the freshman guard who starred at Lone Peak before a two-year LDS Church mission will be available to suit up for the weekend.

"When I talked to the official, he told me it was pretty obvious," BYU coach Dave Rose said. "I talked to Nick, and I wanted to make sure he got the entire play. He told me it was textbook stuff, so we sent Nick to the locker room.

"I didn't see the play until after I addressed the team, and it looks like when this is sent to the conference office, there will be more than just what happened here tonight. That's my take."

Whatever it was, Emery's action at the end of the game was as ugly as the Cougars' play on the court during the first half. The Cougars shot just 35.5 percent from the field, trailed the Utes 51-28 going into the locker room, and got just eight total points from players not named Emery or Kyle Collinsworth before the halftime buzzer.

After the break, it was a different story. BYU (4-2) came out on fire, spurred by Emery's 3-pointer on one end and hustling defensive play to draw a foul on Taylor that helped spur a 15-2 run to start the second half and cut BYU's deficit in half, 53-23.

But the hole was too big for the Cougars, despite Fischer's 26 second-half points.

"When you get down like that, it's tough," Collinsworth said. "But we brought the energy and started making plays to dig ourselves out of a hole that was unfortunately too big."

BYU drops to 4-2 in a season when it hasn't faced the stiffest competition, but also hasn't put together consecutive halves of good basketball. Collinsworth scored 12 of his 15 points before the break, and he was saddled with foul trouble by the 9:47 mark of the second half that kept him hobbling toward nine rebounds, five assists and two steals.

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"The first half was a little disheartening," Rose said. "I thought we had a good plan, but they were the aggressor from the very start. We had a hard time guarding the dribble penetration, and when we did bring someone to help, they found an open shooter and shot the ball well."

The Cougars flipped the script on the Utes in the second half, sinking 48.5 percent of their shots while Utah made just 9 of 26 from the field with only one 3-pointer.

But the damage was already done, as Utah post star Jakob Poeltl finished with 26 points, 13 rebounds and five blocks to give the Utes the win.

"Our post guys were manhandled down there," said Rose, whose team was out-rebounded 42-36. "Poeltl was able to catch that thing wherever he wanted. We knew rebounding would be a huge key in the game, and they out-rebounded us and out-scored us the same way."

BYU started against the Utes in a similar way to how it started against Belmont on Saturday: slow, sluggish and unable to hit even the most open of shots.

Utah is not Belmont. But BYU needs to find a way to put together a complete 40 minutes before it sees its season unravel.

"We have got to put together two good halves for us to be good this year," Collinsworth said. "We haven't been able to do that, so we've got to figure out how to do that."

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