BYU Game Review

I apologize for the infrequency of my postings; my internet access is limited right now. Right now I'm trying to figure out why my live gameday thread for our win over BYU never posted yesterday.

In any case, there isn't too much to nitpick about when you upset someone in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The Aggies thoroughly dominated the game, the 79-66 score making the game appear closer than it actually was. Consider that the only time BYU led the game was after they made their first shot of the game for a 3-0 lead, and A&M answered with an 11-0 run that gave them the lead for good. Leading by as many as 18 points in the game, the Ags only let BYU bring it to within 8 once before they shut the door on the game.

In my game preview, I said we need to play inside-out with Davis and Elonu inside, and let Carter, Holmes, and Sloan get hot from the outside. BYU opened the game in a man-to-man defense, and we went inside to Bryan Davis immediately. Davis had four of the Aggies eleven points in that 11-0 run to open the first half, along with 1 rebound, 1 block, and 1 assist in that run. BYU switched to a 2-3 zone to try to stop our inside game, and we responded by having Sloan slash inside and kick it out to Holmes and Carter to hit threes. BYU was forced to switch back to their man-to-man defense, which again opened the middle for us.

BYU post Chris Miles was thoroughly intimidated by Davis and Chinemelu Elonu inside, so much so that he was benched for long periods of the first and second half, logging only 18 total minutes of gametime and ending up with 4 points on the day. Much like I suspected, we were a more physical team than BYU, and it showed on the court.  

More after the jump....

Bryan Davis scored a season-high 21 points, to lead 5 Aggies who scored in double figures (Sloan 14, Carter 10, Roland 10, Holmes 10). Josh Carter hit two timely threes to keep the pressure on BYU, and Donald Sloan's driving and dishing (7 assists) helped us tear apart BYU's defense in an efficient manner. Nathan Walkup ended the game with only 4 points, 4 rebounds, and 1 assist, but Walkup gave us some key minutes. Walkup does a lot of things that don't always show up in the boxscore, but as one person pointed out to me, he does the little things that help you extend runs and keep the lead.

Next, we face a ridiculously talented Connecticut team tomorrow. Connecticut is very good, the best team I think we've faced in tournament play in the last four years, so we'll have our work cut out for us.