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San Francisco Thrashes BYU 99-87, Proves Cougars Are No Dons of the WCC

Another uneven contest by the Cougars leaves them 8-4 in conference play, with rematches against Gonzaga and St. Mary's left to go and still devoid of wins against top-100 RPI teams. This is not good, Cougar fans. Not that I like you, anyway.

By greekpadre
William Mancebo

With an embarrassing loss at the Marriott Center, Saturday night, BYU helped prove a point that was written two weeks ago by the Dr. Geeves: The Cougars are nothing but pretenders. After opening up a 9 point lead over San Francisco, BYU allowed 60 points to the Dons in the second half, losing by a 12-point margin, 99-87.

As usual, the Cougars got their points in this one. Brandon Davies, Tyler Haws, and Matt Carlino reached double digits, and Brock Zylstra joined them as the leading scorer with 18. Even Craig Cusick hit double figures. Unfortunately, they had to let San Francisco drop 14 three-pointers on their end of the floor.

The Cougars actually opened the second half on a 6-0 run and led 54-39 (that's 15 points) when the Dons called their first second-half timeout with 18:07 left to play. Tyler Haws' free throws with 11:47 left kept the Cougars' lead at 12 points, 66-54. And then the wheels fell off.

From that point forward, the Dons shot 14-for-15 from the field and hit all six of their three-point attempts. Over that same span, BYU shot 5-for-20 from the field, even when you include the 8-4 mini-run to end the game and make the score look a little nicer.

All in all, over an 11-minute span in the second half - from Haws' aforementioned free throws up through just before that game-ending miniature run - the Cougars were outscored 41-13. This is not tournament basketball.

Five games left, and two of them against Saint Mary's and Gonzaga? Don’t expect the Cougars to get an NCAA bid unless they magically win the conference tournament, something they haven’t done since 2001.

Even if they do go dancing, this isn't Jimmer’s team, it’s Davies’ team, and there aren't enough honor code violations to make this team a legitimate contender. Hell, there’s enough evidence so far in the season that they won’t make it out of the second round.

Those wins against Eastern New Mexico and Virginia Tech are looking very impressive… aren't they Cougar fans?

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