This is officially our last big “test” for the season. BYU was a preseason favorite to take the regular season Big 12 crown, but a devastating injury to Richie Saunders has thrown that case completely out of the window. Of course, that doesn’t mean that we’re in the clear. BYU still has a guy on their roster who’s going to be a top-3 pick in the NBA Draft in AJ Dybansta. On the year he’s averaging 25/7/4 and 1 steal a game on 53/67/76 shooting splits. I’d say we have our work cut out for us, but I think I know how this game is going to end.
In a strange turn of events, we actually played well in the first half; phenomenal, even. BYU has recently had to change the way their offense is ran after the Richie Saunders injury, so most of their touches go through AJ Dybantsa. He’s a very underrated playmaker but this game hasn’t been the best showcase of that. He finished the half with 4 points (1/4 FG), 2 rebounds, 1 assist, and 3 turnovers. When our defense is able to make a player like Dybansta’s life difficult, it proves very beneficial as we were able to take advantage of his struggles.
The Good Guys ended the half on a 20-4 run and were able to hold BYU FG-less for the last 8 minutes of the game. We’re up 40-26, and we’re leading in all the team stats that you love to see: FG%, rebounds, assists, steals, points in the paint, and points off turnovers. Ultimately, I think this may be the best half of basketball we’ve played all year.
Somehow AJ Dybansta was able to feel me talking about his poor first half performance because he came to PLAY in the second. I didn’t expect BYU to roll over and die, but I was hoping that we could cruise to a victory in this one after a great first half. Unfortunately, I rarely get what I want.
Dybansta and Robert Wright III combined for 43 points in the game and for a while there it felt like we were going to have ANOTHER late game meltdown. NOT TODAY THOUGH BABY BECAUSE WE WERE ABLE TO SQUEAK THIS ONE OUT.
The biggest story and the main reason we were able to win this game was our ability to crash the offensive glass. We ended this game with 18 (!!) offensive rebounds and that has NOT been our strong suit this year. The Roundball Big 3 of the Game combined for 13 of the 18 offensive rebounds, and they were the reason that we were able to take down the 19th ranked team in the country.
It does bother me a tad that we can’t consistently play this well, or even just rebound this well for that matter. It also bothers me that when we do decide to play this way it comes at the end of the year when our postseason dreams are effectively dead. Beggars can’t be choosers, I suppose. I’ll always take a ranked win even if it didn’t come when I wanted it.
The Roundball Big 3 of the Game:
Brenen Lorient – 18 points 9 rebounds (7 offensive), 3 stocks
DJ Thomas – 13 points, 3 offensive rebounds, 2 steals
Chance Moore -11 points, 3 offensive rebounds
Really solid win today. We’ve got two more games and then the Big 12 Tournament starts. I don’t want to put the cart before the horse, but if we could just get on a roll and win the tournament we could actually go dancing in March. Until then I’m going to hope and pray to the basketball gods that Lady Luck will be on our side. I love you, Dad. I miss you. I’ll see you soon.
Round The Game 
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