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*Game: Cougar Tipoff**When: Wednesday, 7 p.m. MDT*
Where: Marriott Center, Provo
Media: BYUtv / ESPN 960
PROVO — Luke Worthington has been around the college basketball grind for two years, so he knows the drill.
First comes the Cougar Tipoff, the annual preseason exhibition scrimmage (this year will be Wednesday at 7 p.m. MDT in the Marriott Center). After that, BYU hosts a pair of lower-division schools, like this season’s bouts against Division II Westminster and Colorado College.
Then comes nonconference play, and finally the meat of the West Coast Conference schedule sometime around Christmas.
This year will be a little bit different, though.
The Cougars will open the exhibition season Friday on the road against former Western Athletic and Mountain West rival New Mexico and the storied Pit. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. MDT, with all proceeds going to support victims of Hurricane Harvey and the ongoing relief efforts in Houston.
“I think it’s sweet. I’m pumped,” said Worthington, who returned from a two-year mission for the LDS Church to Chile in May. “I realize that back in the day, the Pit was real. It’s a good place to play, and Coach knows as well.
“I’m excited to go there, because I know it will be a pretty excited crowd. It will be good to get in front of a team like that and an audience that gets the juices flowing.”
The exhibition game means a little more for BYU coach Dave Rose, who initiated the event and began scouring the country to find road games for the Cougars to play in such a game. College basketball teams around the country have done the same, like Houston playing Baylor for Harvey relief funds, and Missouri and Kansas reigniting “the Border War” in a charity exhibition that raised just shy of $2 million.
When Rose saw the devastation wreaked by Hurricane Harvey in Houston, the former University of Houston shooter who played with stars Clyde Drexler and the former Akeem Olajuwon knew he had to do something. The Cougars’ 17th-year head coach has a brother and sister who still live in the Texas city and several friends and former teammates whose homes have been flooded by up to 10 feet of water in some cases.
After reaching out to a half-dozen contacts, Rose and assistant head coach Tim LaComb found a mutual agreement with New Mexico, and the Lobos agreed to partner for a charity game and donate all proceeds to the Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund, a 501(c)(3) public charity established by Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner.
The Cougars and Lobos were conference rivals from 1950-2011, prior to BYU joining the West Coast Conference. BYU is 77-55 all-time against New Mexico, with the last meeting coming in 2015 during the Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu.
“They’ll put people in there,” Rose said. “When we were in there every year, Lobo fans loved to watch the Lobos play BYU. I played the national championship in there with our team from Houston. Hopefully we can raise a lot of money.”
It’s a change in pace from the annual parade of Division I versus Division II teams during exhibition season. And for some BYU players, it will be a chance to reignite family feelings, like TJ Haws, who watched his older brother Tyler play in the Pit two years before BYU left the Mountain West Conference.
“Hopefully every game we come out and have a similar mentality. But this will be fun,” TJ Haws said. “I remember watching my brother play in the Pit for his freshman year, so I’m excited to get there and see what that is all about.”
Andrus out
Ryan Andrus, a 6-foot-11 forward from American Fork, had been limited in practice with swelling on his knee before Tuesday.
But Rose said circumstances have taken a downturn in the past few days that may sideline Andrus for the beginning of the season.
That means BYU will rely more on three other recently-returned missionaries in Worthington, 3-point marksman Zac Seljaas and forward Dalton Nixon.
“I’m really expecting a lot from those three — from Dalton, from Zac and from Luke,” Rose said. “We’ve got three new guys, and Rylan (Bergersen from Boise) is in the unique spot of being the only guy where this is the first time he is involved in this level.”
The Cougars open the regular season Nov. 11 against Mississippi Valley State before traveling to play Princeton Nov. 15.
No Nick
Nick Emery missed practice Tuesday, the day before Wednesday’s scrimmage, but Rose said there is no cause for concern about the former Lone Peak standout.
“He had a previous commitment, and we couldn’t move practice around for it,” Rose said. “But he’ll be back for the scrimmage tomorrow.”
