BYU Opens Season Friday With Exhibition Game

PROVO -- The BYU men's basketball team opens its exhibition season Friday when the Cougars host the University of Victoria at 7 p.m. in the Marriott Center. The British Columbia-based team is off to a 7-0 start this season, including five exhibition victories.

Friday's game will be broadcast live on KSL Newsradio, which can be heard on 102.7 FM or 1160 AM. Greg Wrubell and Russell Larson will call the game, which is also available online at KSL.com.

BYU is coming off a competitive blue-white scrimmage Friday at the annual Cougar Tipoff. Junior guard Sam Burgess scored a game-best 21 points during the scrimmage but will not be playing Friday after a decision to redshirt Burgess this season was reached on Monday. Transfer forward Fernando Malaman, a 6-foot-9 junior out of Arizona Western College, added 20 points at the Tipoff, while redshirt freshman David Burgess pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds.

"We saw a lot of good things that tend to make us think we are on the right track," BYU coach Dave Rose said of his team's effort at the Cougar Tipoff. "It was a really competitive game. We hope to keep making progress when we actually play against an opponent on Friday when we face Victoria."

The Vikes' most recent win, an 84-71 victory over Trinity Western, saw all five of their starters score in double figures, led by freshman guard Steve Moore with 16. Forward Jacob Doerksen has scored in double-figures in six of the Vikes' first seven games and is ranked 13th in the Canada West Conference with a 15.3 scoring average. Point guard Chris Trumpy has also played well for Victoria, averaging 14.0 points per game while ranking third in the league with 5.86 assists per game. As a team, the Vikes are scoring 72.7 ppg while holding their opponents to 59.4 ppg.

Victoria is making a three-game swing to the States. After playing BYU, Victoria will face Weber State on Saturday, followed by the University of Colorado on Sunday.

SAM BURGESS TO REDSHIRT

BYU coach Dave Rose announced Monday after practice that junior guard Sam Burgess will redshirt the upcoming season. The 6-foot-3 guard from Alpine, Utah, is one of nine juniors on the roster this year. He joins junior Vuk Ivanovic, who must sit out due to transfer rules, as players who will not use a year of eligibility in 2005-06. Other players could also join them as redshirts.

"As a coach there are guys you love to coach and Sam is that kind of player," Rose explained. "He has a competitive spirit, is a good athlete and plays to win. He also has the mental toughness to use this year the best. He will work hard and improve and still help our team this season (in practice). He is plenty good enough to play this year but with so many players in this class, we needed to address that situation. As a staff, we feel this will help our team in the long run and also be good for Sam. We want to invest in Sam and commit to him another year. In that third year, he's going to be a player who will really help us."

Burgess scored a game-high 21 points at Cougar Tipoff on Friday, the team's annual blue-white scrimmage. He went 7-for-12 from the floor, including 4-for-6 on threes, and was 3-of-4 from the line while adding five rebounds, one assist and one steal in 33 minutes on the floor.