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Mar 10 | 07:00 PM
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Thomas & Mack Center
4505 S Maryland Pkwy Las Vegas NV 89119
Anonymous
| Posted: 10 Mar 2000 | Updated: 8 Nov 2020
LAS VEGAS (March, 10, 2000) -- On the eve of the BYU-Utah Mountain West Conference semifinal matchup, Alex Jensen commented that the BYU men's basketball program could truly be considered "back" when the Cougars beat "us." Us, referring to Jensen's University of Utah squad, which is not only BYU's biggest rival but also the MWC program with the most respect.
If Jensen proves to be a soothsayer, then consider the Cougars to be officially back as of Friday night.
BYU ended a 12-game losing streak to the Utes with a 58-54 win at UNLV's Thomas and Mack Center.
"That wasn't for me," Cleveland said. "There's a lot of people in Provo, Utah, that have really struggled with not having it [the rivalry] be competitive. If anything this says this is going to to be competitive."
"It feels real good. When I go back to school I don't have to listen to everybody on my back saying you can't beat Utah," BYU guard Terrell Lyday said.
Lyday finally had a solid performance against the Utes with 16 points, but for the second night in a row, BYU used punishing defense and a surprise performance from sophomore Eric Nielsen to pull off the upset. This time around, BYU's defense held the Utes to just 31 percent shooting (17-of-55) for the game, while Eric Nielsen backed up his eight-point, 11-rebound game against New Mexico with a career-high 17 points and nine boards.
"He was just phenomenal," Cleveland said.
After missing a slew of free throws down the stretch, the final horn was a welcome relief for the Cougars.
"We didn't need to make it as close as we did, but when it's been ... 12 times in a row, sometimes you wonder if you can do it," Cleveland said.
The scene was typified by Nate Cooper jumping up on a courtside table and pumped his arms toward the small contingent of blue-clad fans. The victory marked the end of seasons of frustration. The last Cougar win over a Utah was in 1995.
"They were playing like they haven't beaten their in-state rival for five years," Jensen said.
The victory was also the 20th of the season for BYU (20-9) and put them in the MWC title game against UNLV. The last time the Cougars hit the 20-win plateau was also 1995.
Although the conference doesn't have an automatic bid, it is believed the winner of Saturday's game will be invited to the NCAA Tournament along with Utah (22-8).
"It just keeps the door open," Cleveland said.
"If we win tomorrow ... it would be hard to deny us," Cooper said.
With BYU's stars Terrell Lyday and Mekeli Wesley struggling in the first half, a trip to the championship game seemed unlikely. But Nielsen single-handedly kept the Cougars within striking distance. Lyday, who went for 14 second-half points, and Wesley had two points apiece at the break with Utah leading 30-26. Nielsen, who entered the tournament averaging just 5.1 points and 3.8 rebounds per outing, had 11.
Lyday finally found a way to score against the Utes in the second half, and despite some suspect free-throw shooting in the closing seconds, made the difference down the stretch.
All season long, the Utes have relied on their defense to bail them out in games when the offense struggled. But it was the Cougars that used this theory on a night when they shot just 40 percent from the field.
"We've always relied on our defense and rebounding and it just wasn't there tonight," Jensen said.
The biggest defensive stand of the evening came midway through the second half. With 11:43 to play Jensen, who finished with just six points, drilled a 3-pointer to knot the game at 40. But Utah managed only three points over next the eight minutes, some of which was by its own doing -- missing three free throws along the way. The BYU defense, however, was also partly responsible for the 1-of-8 shooting by the Utes during the stretch and three turnovers.
The Cougars, meanwhile, mustered only eight points -- six by Lyday -- but it was enough to take a 48-43 lead. After a pair of Nielsen buckets and a Nathan Cooper jumper, the lead was up to 54-46 with time running out for Utah.
But BYU left the door open by missing five of its next eight free throw attempts, including a 2-of-6 performance by Lyday, a 76-percent shooter.
"I just wanted to make the game exciting," Lyday joked.
Two huge shots by Utah star Hanno Mottola and a bucket in the post by Nate Althoff gave the Utes a chance. Mottola's three-point play with 43.2 seconds to play cut the BYU lead to 57-54. The Utes had a chance to tie the game when Wesley fouled out on a charging call with 14.6 on the clock. Mottola took the charge, but put up an air ball on his 3-point attempt at the other end.
BYU kept things interesting, however, when Lyday missed two free throws with just four seconds. Phil Cullen*s inbound pass sailed long and out of bounds on the opposite baseline, giving the ball back to the Cougars.
Todd Christensen hit a free throw with with a fraction of a second on the clock and the celebration of the Cougars' return began.
Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICSBYU vs UTAH
03/10/00 6:07 PM at Las Vegas, Nevada
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VISITORS: BYU 20-9
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
15 WESLEY, Mekeli...... f 2-8 1-2 2-2 1 3 4 5 7 0 2 2 0 29
25 NIELSEN, Eric....... f 7-13 0-0 3-5 2 7 9 2 17 0 0 0 1 39
42 COOPER, Nathan...... f 4-7 1-2 0-0 2 3 5 4 9 2 1 0 0 35
13 VRANES, Michael..... g 0-5 0-2 1-2 0 4 4 4 1 2 1 1 0 28
24 LYDAY, Terrel....... g 6-12 0-3 4-8 1 5 6 2 16 2 0 1 0 37
04 CHRISTENSEN, Todd... 2-5 1-2 2-3 0 0 0 1 7 0 2 0 1 12
10 ALLEN, John......... 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 4 0 0 0 0 0 6
31 MONTAGUE, Matt...... 0-0 0-0 1-2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 4
50 NIELSEN, David...... 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 2 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 10
TEAM................ 3 3 6
Totals.............. 21-52 3-13 13-22 9 28 37 22 58 7 6 4 2 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-30 .333 2nd Half: 11-22 .500 Game: .404 DEADBALL
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-9 .111 2nd Half: 2-4 .500 Game: .231 REBOUNDS
F Throw % 1st Half: 5-7 .714 2nd Half: 8-15 .533 Game: .591 2
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HOME TEAM: UTAH 22-8
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
13 MOTTOLA, Hanno...... f 5-16 2-5 5-5 3 3 6 4 17 3 0 0 1 28
50 JENSEN, Alex........ f 2-8 1-4 1-3 4 6 10 4 6 2 0 0 0 39
52 ALTHOFF, Nate....... c 4-14 0-0 5-9 5 6 11 1 13 0 0 3 0 32
05 HARVEY, Tony........ g 1-4 0-2 0-0 0 2 2 4 2 1 2 0 0 24
32 KILLION, Jeremy..... g 2-5 2-5 0-0 0 1 1 4 6 1 1 0 0 25
03 COLBERT, Gary....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 4 4 3 0 1 2 0 0 14
04 SHARP, Adam......... 0-0 0-0 1-2 0 2 2 0 1 1 0 0 0 3
35 JOHNSEN, Jeff....... 3-4 1-1 0-0 0 3 3 1 7 0 1 1 0 21
40 CULLEN, Phil........ 0-4 0-3 2-4 1 0 1 2 2 0 2 0 0 14
TEAM................ 3 2 5
Totals.............. 17-55 6-20 14-23 16 29 45 23 54 9 8 4 1 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 9-23 .391 2nd Half: 8-32 .250 Game: .309 DEADBALL
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 4-10 .400 2nd Half: 2-10 .200 Game: .300 REBOUNDS
F Throw % 1st Half: 8-12 .667 2nd Half: 6-11 .545 Game: .609 3
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Officials: Scott Thornley, Verne Harris, Randy McCall
Technical fouls: BYU-None. UTAH-None.
Attendance:
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
BYU........................... 26 32 - 58
UTAH.......................... 30 24 - 54
BYU (20-9, 7-7)
UTAH (22-8, 10-4)
Brett Pyne
| Posted: 9 Mar 2000 | Updated: 28 Apr 2011
Brett Pyne
LAS -- BYU, the MWC sixth seed at 7-7 and now 19-9 overall, faces No. 2-seed Utah, 22-7, 10-4, at 6 p.m. in one of two MWC tournament semifinals Friday at the Thomas & Mack Center. The game will be televised by ESPN+Plus (KJZZ, channel 14 in Salt Lake City) and can be heard on KSL Newsradio 1160 AM with Greg Wrubell and Mark Durrant calling the action.
Cougars Defeat Lobos in Opening Round
BYU defeated New Mexico 55-43 Thursday in the conference quarterfinals. BYU has now opened with a tournament upset win in each of the last two seasons. BYU held New Mexico to 43 points, equaling the fewest points allowed by BYU this season (South Carolina State also scored 43). Lyday led BYU with 23 points and Mekeli Wesley added 10. Eric Nielsen had a career-high 11 rebounds while Michael Vranes did a good job containing Lamont Long. The Lobo star had scored 27 and 28 points in the previous two matchups but with Vranes taking the defensive assignment, Long was limited to 13 points, including only two first-half points. BYU shot 37 percent for the game but held the Lobos to 28 percent, including only 1-15 three-pointers, the worst three-point game by a BYU opponent this season.
Game Quick Facts:
BYU (19-9, 7-7) vs. Utah (22-7, 10-4)
Friday, March 10 • Thomas & Mack Center (18,500) • Las Vegas • 6 p.m. Pacific (7 p.m. Mtn)
BYU's Probable Starters:
Pos. # Name Ht. Wt. Yr. PPG RPG F 42 Nathan Cooper 6-5 210 Jr. 5.8 3.2 F 25 Eric Nielsen 6-8 210 So. 5.2 4.1 F 15 Mekeli Wesley 6-9 230 Jr. 17.5 5.9 G 24 Terrell Lyday 6-3 190 Jr. 17.5 4.0
G 13 Michael Vranes 6-3 190 So. 7.9 4.1
Utah's Probable Starters:
Pos. # Name Ht. Wt. Yr. PPG RPG
F 13 Hanno Mottola 6-9 250 Sr. 17.4 4.7
F 50 Alex Jensen 6-7 225 Sr. 13.5 7.5 C 52 Nate Althoff 6-11 260 Jr. 9.9 4.6
G 5 Tony Harvey 6-5 200 Sr. 9.7 2.7
G 32 Jeremy Killion 5-11 190 Sr. 9.5 1.8
BYU Coach: Steve Cleveland
Record at BYU: 40-46 (3rd year)
Overall Div. I record: Same
Utah Coach: Rick Majerus
Record at Utah: 259-71 (11th year)
Overall record: 358-123 (16th year)
Series Record: Utah 114-113
Game Time: 6 p.m. Pacific (7 Mtn)
Broadcast Plans:
Radio:
Network: Cougar Sports Network
Station: KSL Newsradio 1160 AM
Air Time: 5:30 p.m. Pacific (6:30 p.m.Mtn)
Play-by-play: Greg Wrubell
Commentary: Mark Durrant
Television:
Network: ESPN+Plus
Local Station: KJZZ, channel 14
Air Time: 6 p.m. Pacific (7 p.m. Mtn)
Play-by-play: Rich Waltz
Commentary: Irv Brown
Cougars in the Conference Tournament
The Cougars have a 13-13 record in conference tournament games, including a 12-13 record in WAC Tournament games. BYU's win over New Mexico Thursday marks the second straight year the Cougars have upset their opening round opponent. Last year BYU upset TCU in its first-round game, 90-74, before losing to Utah for the third time of the year. Prior to last year's win, BYU's last conference tournament win was a 96-65 win over Utah in 1994 event at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City. BYU went on to defeat Fresno State in the second round, 87-72, before losing to Hawaii, 73-66.
Scouting Utah
Utah is 22-7 overall and tied for first place in the Mountain West Conference with a 10-4 record. As the number 2 seed, Utah defeated Air Force 74-65 in its opening round game Thursday. In non-conference play, the Utes defeated Utah State (77-42), Oregon State (87-77) and nationally ranked Texas (79-73) at home and Washington State (78-66) on the road. Utah lost at Louisville (75-55). The Utes other two non-conference losses were to Kentucky (56-48) in the Preseason NIT and at Weber State (84-72). Common non-conference opponents with BYU are Utah State (home win), Weber State (road loss) and Southern Utah (73-56 home win). BYU defeated Southern Utah and Weber State at home and won at Utah State. Utah returns four starters and eight letterwinners from last year's 28-5 team that went unbeaten in conference play and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The Utes boast two of the best forwards in the country in Mottola (6-9 Sr.) and Alex Jensen (6-7 Sr.). Althoff (6-11 Jr.) fills the center position and Jeremy Killion (5-11 Jr.) the shooting guard slot with and Tony Harvey (6-5 Sr.) playing the point position Mottola and Jensen were named first-team all-conference with Jensen being selected as the league MVP.
Series Notes
This will be the 228th meeting between the two rivals with the series with Utah leading the series 114-113. Utah now leads the series for the first time in the 91 year history of the rivalry. This year the Utes won both meetings with BYU and have won the last 12, their longest win streak in the series.. Utah is BYU's second longest standing opponent (Utah State oldest). The Cougars' last victory was a 64-57 home win in January 1995. Coach Cleveland is 0-7 against the Utes. BYU's biggest win in recent history over the Utes was a 96-65 win at the Delta Center during the 1994 WAC Tournament. BYU is 3-2 against Utah in conference tournament games, including a BYU's 51-49 overtime win in Laramie for the WAC Tournament title in 1990-91.
Last Meetings
SALT LAKE CITY -- BYU lost at No. 20 Utah, 77-62. Played without injured forward Hanno Mottola, Utah's size advantage was still evident as Ute big men Nate Althoff, Alex Jensen and Mike Puzey shot a combined 15-18 from the floor. The Utes hit on 56.3 percent of their attempts -- the best percentage by a BYU opponent all season. The Cougars shot 41 percent and were out rebounded 35-21. BYU took a 19-8 lead on a Todd Christensen jumper at the 13.26 mark, but Utah out scored the Cougars 18-3 over the next seven minutes and entered the break with a 35-30 advantage. Nathan Cooper hit three treys in a second-half run that brought BYU within 56-53 with 8:49 remaining. But like the first meeting when the the Cougars failed to score in the final seven minutes, BYU again suffered a scoring drought, going five minutes without a point and was outscored 21-9 the rest of the way. Alex Jensen scored eight of his 16 points during Utah's run that put the game away. Five Utes reached double figures, led by Jeremy Killion with 18. Wesley and Lyday led BYU with 14 points (but shot a combined 7-22) and Cooper added 11. Wesley had six boards and Cooper and Lyday a team-best four assists.
PROVO -- Utah defeated BYU 56-49 in Provo on Jan. 15 to even the overall series at 113-113. Unable to convert in the final minutes, BYU saw its five-game win streak came to an end before a near-sellout crowd of 22,580 in the Marriott Center. With then No. 24 Utah holding a 51-49 edge with 6:54 left in the game, both the Cougars and Utes went the next six minutes without scoring with BYU missing several opportunities to tie the game, including several missed free throws and a missed layup. Hanno Mottola's jumper with 54 seconds left gave Utah a four-point margin. A Utah steal on BYU's next possession sealed the Cougars' fate. The Utes' size proved an advantage as Mottola led Utah with 18 points and Nate Althoff added 11. Alex Jensen scored nine while making both of his three-point attempts to give the Utes a lift at critical times. Mekeli Wesley scored 21 points, followed by Terell Lyday with 12, to lead BYU. Wesley also had a game-high seven rebounds. The Cougars shot 40 percent for the game compared to Utah's 43 percent.
BYU's record when . . .
BYU leads at half 17-1
Opponent leads at half 1-7
Score tied at half 1-1
BYU leads with 5 minutes left 18-1
Opponent leads with 5 min. left 0-8
BYU leads with 1 minute left 18-0
Opponent leads with 1 min. left 1-9
Score tied with 1 minute left 0-0
Game goes into overtime 1-0
BYU out rebounds opponent 13-0
Opponent out rebounds BYU 6-9
BYU and opponent tie in rebounds 0-0
BYU shoots 50 % or better 11-0
Opponent shoots 50 % or better 0-5
BYU out shoots opponent 18-1
Opponent out shoots BYU 1-8
