Game 3 - BYU Hosts SUU Saturday at 7 p.m.

BYU returns to Provo to host in-state foe Southern Utah on Saturday at 7 p.m. in the Marriott Center. The Cougars and Thunderbirds will meet for the eighth time, with BYU holding an 8-0 all-time series advantage. The game will be broadcast live on KSL Newsradio, which can be heard on 102.7 FM or 1160 AM. Greg Wrubell and Mark Durrant will call the game, which is also available online at KSL.com. The BYU-SUU game is the second part of a double-header Saturday in the Marriott Center. The BYU women host UC Santa Barbara Saturday at 4 p.m.

GAME #3 FAST FACTS

BYU COUGARS (1-1, 0-0 MWC) vs. SOUTHERN UTAH THUNDERBIRDS (0-4, 0-0 Mid-Con.)

SATURDAY, NOV. 26, 2005

MARRIOTT CENTER (22,700)

PROVO, UTAH

7:05 p.m. MST

Coaches:

BYU, Dave Rose (1-1 in first year; same overall)

SUU, Bill Evans (183-193 in his 15th season; same overall)

Series:

BYU leads 8-0, including last year's 77-52 win in the Marriott Center

TV: None

Radio:

KSL Newsradio, BYU Sports Network (Greg Wrubell, play-by-play; Mark Durrant, game analysis)

Web:

Live audio and live stats broadcasts are available at www.byucougars.com/basketball_m/

UP NEXT

The Cougars will face Lamar University on Nov. 30th at 7 p.m. in the Delta Center in Salt Lake City in a contest originally slated for Dec. 20th in Provo before being rescheduled because of Hurricane Rita. The contest will be BYU's third annual game in the Delta Center. BYU then travels to Los Angeles to face USC on Saturday, Dec. 3rd.

DELTA CENTER TICKET INFORMATION

BYU season ticket holders should have received their Delta Center tickets via mail. Single-game tickets are on sale. Lower bowl tickets are $14 and upper bowl tickets $5. Courtside VIP tickets, which include a pregame meal and halftime snacks, are $50. Students with a BYU All-Sport Pass can use their pass to receive two tickets to the game. All-Sport tickets can be redeemed at the Marriott Center Ticket Office. They can also be redeemed the day of the game at the Delta Center Ticket Office.

COUGAR QUICK HITS

- Coming off a disappointing 9-21 season after five straight postseason appearances, BYU looks to return to the ranks of conference contenders and postseason invitees under the direction of new head coach Dave Rose.

- Rose enters his first year leading the Cougars after serving the past eight seasons as Steve Cleveland's lead assistant, including five years as associate head coach. After Cleveland announced his resignation to take the Fresno State job, BYU moved quickly to promote Rose to BYU's head position.

- This year Coach Rose has five juniors with some starting experience and several talented newcomers with the ability to make an impact in their first seasons on the court.

- Among BYU's returning players, honorable mention All-MWC guard Austin Ainge was the team's second-leading scorer and top assist man last year, and junior forward Keena Young was BYU's leading rebounder. Other returners with starting experience include junior swingman Jimmy Balderson, who represented Canada at the World University Games this summer; junior center Derek Dawes, who made 13 starts in the middle last year; and junior guard Mike Rose, who made seven starts last year and averaged 7.7 points while making a team-leading 56 treys.

- Several players who did not take the court for BYU last year could be key contributors in 2005-06. Among those players are redshirt freshmen Trent Plaisted (6-11, F/C) and David Burgess (6-10, C), freshmen Lee Cummard (6-6, G) and Jackson Emery (6-3, G) and JC transfers Rashaun Broadus (6-0, G) and Fernando Malaman (6-9, F).

- After two games, Balderson leads BYU in both scoring (15.0) and rebounding (5.5) while the Cougars are averaging 73.5 points and shooting .477 as a team, including .457 from long range. BYU is shooting .725 from the line.

LOOKING AT SOUTHERN UTAH

Southern Utah returns seven lettermen and two starters from last year's 13-15 team that earned a 6-10 record in the Mid-Continent Conference. Coach Bill Evans (183-193 in his 15th season in Cedar City) has had to deal with several injuries to key players already this season as the Thunderbirds are off to an 0-4 start and will play their fifth straight road contest on Saturday against BYU. SUU's home opener will be Tuesday vs. Weber State. SUU lost to Ole Miss (69-62), South Carolina State (66-59) and host New Mexico (62-48) at the Jim Thorpe Classic and then fell at Arizona State (82-62) Wednesday. Southern Utah starting center Lubor Olsovsky sprained his ankle in the season opener against Ole Miss and has missed the last three games. SUU also played at ASU without injured starter Rand Janes and lost their leading scorer Justin Allen early against the Sun Devils after taking a elbow that broke his nose. Through four games, center Fernando Bonfim has 13 blocks, easily putting him on pace to break Sean Allen's SUU record of 60 in a season, set in 1994-95.

LAST OUTING - SUU FALLS AT ASU

TEMPE, Ariz. -- Henry Uhegwu had 16 points and Steve Barnes 14 for the SUU Thunderbirds (0-4) in a loss at Arizona State Wednesday. SUU completed a difficult road trip after losing to Mississippi, South Carolina State and New Mexico over the weekend at the Jim Thorpe Classic in Albuquerque, N.M. ASU's Craig Austin scored 21 points in his first attempt to replace last season's Pac-10 player of the year, Ike Diogu, as Arizona State beat depleted Southern Utah 82-62 Wednesday night. Bryson Krueger had 18 points in the Sun Devils' opener, and Kevin Kruger added 14 and six assists. SUU began the game without injured starters Rand Janes and Lubor Olsovsky and lost leading scorer Justin Allen when an elbow by Arizona State's Serge Angounou broke his nose and cut his cheek with 4:23 left in the first half. The Thunderbirds recovered from a 48-28 halftime deficit to play Arizona State even in the second half.

SUU at UNM - Bench LIfts Lobos Over Thunderbirds to Conclude Jim Thorpe Classic

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Nate Janes and Justin Allen scored 12 points each to lead Southern Utah but New Mexico got 14 points each from David Chiotti and Mark Walters to take a 62-48 win in the final game of the Jim Thorpe Classic Sunday. Southern Utah got off to a fast start, outscoring the Lobos 10-2 out of the gate but New Mexico, with a spark from its bench, went on a 22-2 run to go up 22-10. Southern Utah pulled back within seven at 30-23 but UMN limited the Thunderbirds to just a Janes jumper in the final 2:05 to push the lead to 36-25 at the break. The Thunderbirds did a better job defending the perimeter in the second half but the Lobos were able to control the game inside.

SOUTHERN UTAH STARTERS (last game)

No Name Pos Ht Wt Cl Hometown (Previous School) PPG RPG

40 Nate Jones F 6-7 210 Sr. Cedar City, Utah (Snow College) 5.3 4.5

50 Fernando Bonfim C 7-0 275 Jr. Scottsbluff, Neb. (Western Nebraska) 5,5 3.5

3 Henry Uhegwu G 6-3 190 Jr. Houston, Texas (Dixie State) 8.3 3.0

5 Steve Barnes G 5-10 160 Jr. Cedar City, Utah (Snow College) 7.5 2.0

22 Justin Allen G 6-0 170 Jr. Los Angeles, Calif. (Saddleback CC) 12.0 3.0

OFF THE BENCH (last game)

1 Lubor Olsovsky C/F 6-9 215 Sr Bratislava, Slovokia (Ryan Academy) 9.0 2.0

10 David Marek G 6-2 175 Fr. Benesov, Czech Rep. (Laurinberg Prep) 1.7 1.0

12 Dax Crum G 6-1 180 Jr. Kirtland, N.M. (Arizona Western) 2.0 0.0

23 Eli Davis G/F 6-4 190 Fr. Phoenix, Ariz. (Deer Valley HS) 1.8 2.0

30 Rand Jones G/F 6-3 195 Sr. Cedar City, Utah (Canyon View HS) 10.7 3.7

33 Junior Abrahao F 6-7 220 Jr. Jacarei, Brazil (Western Nebraska) 1.0 0.8

41 Estaban Bonanzo C 6-10 230 Sr. Comodor Rivadavia, Argent. (Lon Morris) 4.0 1.3

FORMER MATES

BYU and SUU feature several newcomers to their rosters in 2005-06 who were teammates in junior college. Three players transferred from Western Nebraska and two from Arizona Western. BYU point guard Rashaun Broadus came to BYU this season from Western Nebraska while his former teammates in Scottsbluff, Neb., Junior Abrahao and Fernando Bonfim transferred to Southern Utah. BYU's Fernando Malaman came to BYU from Arizona Western while his teammate in Yuma, Dax Crum, went to SUU. Abrahao, like Malaman, both hail from Brazil.

BYU SERIES vs. SOUTHERN UTAH

The Cougars and Thunderbirds will meet for the ninth time. BYU has won the prior eight contests dating back to 1992. Each game in the series has been played in the Marriott Center.

Overall Series Record: BYU leads 8-0

BYU Record in Provo: 8-0

BYU Record in Cedar City: 0-0

BYU Record at Neutral Sites: 0-0

BYU Record under Dave Rose: 0-0

BYU Record in Overtime Games: 0-0

Longest BYU Win Streak: 8 (1992-Present)

Longest Southern Utah Win Streak: N/A

Largest BYU Margin of Victory: 46, 108-62 in 1992

Largest Southern Utah Margin of Victory: N/A

Most Points Scored by BYU: 108 in 1992

Most Points Scored by Southern Utah: 67 in 1994

Date Opponent Score W/L

12-11-92 Southern Utah* 108-62 W

12-9-94 Southern Utah* 82-67 W

11-24-99 Southern Utah 92-66 W

12-14-00 Southern Utah 58-52 W

12-29-01 Southern Utah 79-58 W

12-28-02 Southern Utah 90-63 W

11-21-03 Southern Utah 88-54 W

12-28-04 Southern Utah 77-52 W

*Cougar Classic

LAST SEASON -- COUGARS WIN BIG OVER SUU

PROVO -- BYU scored 47 second-half points to record a 77-52 win over Southern Utah on Tuesday. With the 25-point victory, the Cougars improved to 4-8 on the year and claim their first back-to-back victories of the season. Southern Utah slipped to 6-4 on the year, ending a four-game win streak. "I thought in the first half we reflected the three to four day layoff," then BYU Head Coach Steve Cleveland said. "At halftime we talked about increasing the energy level in the second half and I was pleased with how the players responded." On the night, the Cougars shot 50 percent from the field, including 15-of-23 second-half field goals with 9-of-12 three-pointers. Mike Rose and Austin Ainge combined for 28 points on the night, each adding four three-pointers. "We have a lot of guys who can really shoot the ball," Cleveland added. "Austin hit a couple big three-pointers in the second half that put the game away. We talked about getting him more involved in the offense and I thought he really got us going." Mike Hall chipped in 12 points while Derek Dawes was just one rebound shy of a double-double. Dawes tied a career high with 10 points and had nine rebounds against the Thunderbirds. "I thought Derek played great tonight," Cleveland said. "He had nine rebounds, contested shots and most importantly gave us a lot of energy when we needed it." Mike Hall finished the night with 12 points, four rebounds and three assists, while Jimmy Balderson added 11 points on four-of-five shooting from the field. Tim Gainey and Rand Janes each had nine points for Southern Utah, while Gainey led SUU with six rebounds. Rose tallied a team-leading 11 points in the opening half, including three-of-five from behind the three-point stripe. Trailing by just two points early, Rose hit his second three-pointer of the half to give BYU an 8-7 lead with 13:35 left in the half. His long-distance bucket sparked a 9-3 run that gave the Cougars a slim 14-10 lead with 11:55 left in the half. Southern Utah rallied to a 21-19 lead with 6:51 left before the Cougars went on an 11-1 run over the final five minutes of the first half, taking a six-point lead into the locker room. In the second half, BYU added to its lead hitting three of its first four attempts (.750) to take a 12-point lead. With 14:25 left in the second half, Rose nailed his fourth three-pointer of the game to give BYU a 42-27 lead. Holding a 20-point lead, Balderson scored seven straight points for the Cougars--including a three-pointer with 3:53 left--to take a 71-47 lead. After a Southern Utah field goal, Sam Burgess drained a three-pointer to give the Cougars a 25-point lead. One minute later, Brock Reichner tossed in a three-point field goal to extend the BYU lead to a game-high 27 points.

IN 2003-04 -- ROSE SETS 3-POINT RECORD IN BYU WIN OVER SOUTHERN UTAH

PROVO -- Making his collegiate debut, freshman Mike Rose blossomed by setting a new school single-game record with eight 3-pointers to lead BYU to an 88-54 win over Southern Utah Friday at the Marriott Center. The freshman guard out of Houston led all scorers with 26 points -- the most points by a BYU freshman since Mark Bigelow totaled 33 in 1998. His eight 3-pointers broke the BYU record of seven threes in a game, previously set by Nick Sanderson (1992) and Danny Bower (1998). Rose's performance behind the arc was just shy of tying the Marriott Center's record of nine 3-pointers in a game set by Utah State's Jay Goodman (1990). Rose was 9-of-16 from the floor with 13 of his attempts coming from behind the arc. He dished out six assists with only one turnover and added two rebounds and one steal in his 22 minutes off the bench.With the win, the Cougars are now 7-0 against the Thunderbirds. Nine of 10 Cougars scored, and four totaled double-digits. Junior Dixie State transfer Mike Hall added 16 points and six rebounds in his Division I debut on 7-of-8 shooting while senior Rafael Araujo went 5-for-8 from the floor, finishing with 12 points and five rebounds. Senior guard Kevin Woodberry contributed 14 points and a career-best 7 assists, one of which set up Rose for his record-breaking trey with 7:01 left in the game. Senior Luiz Lemes added a personal-best five assists and five points on 2-of-3 shooting. Southern Utah came out with its normal 2-3 zone, but never led the game after the tip-off. BYU controlled the first half to take a 46-22 advantage.The 13,786 fans were brought to their feet with 12 minutes to go in the game on back-to-back dunks, an alley-oop from Woodberry to Hall, followed by a slam by Araujo to give BYU a 32- point lead. BYU out shot Southern Utah in all categories, shooting 32-of-55 (57 percent) from the floor, 12-of-26 (50 percent) from three-point range and 12-of-13 (87.5 percent) from the free-throw line. The Cougar defense forced the Thunderbirds to 24 turnovers. Southern Utah's David Palmer led the Thunderbirds with 18 points, including a 5-for-8 performance from the 3-point line. Junior College All-American transfer DeAngelo Newsom added 14 points and six rebounds."Our zone execution was solid," then BYU coach Steve Cleveland said. "We worked on it most of the week, and we'll see a lot of it this season." "I thought we matched the physical play early, but they manhandled us," Southern Utah head coach Bill Evans said. "They're well-coached and a big, physical team. I thought Araujo, Rose, Lemes and Jensen played better than our guys tonight."

BYU's LAST OUTING -- Reichner Leads Cougars over Washington State

SPOKANE -- The BYU Cougars gave head coach Dave Rose his first win Tuesday night as they defeated Washington State 76-68 at Spokane Arena. The Cougars came out strong and never trailed in the victory, which evened their season record at 1-1. Brock Reichner, BYU's lone senior, made an immediate impact in his first start of the season and just the third start of his BYU career. The 6-foot-4 guard scored on the opening possession en route to topping his career-high with 10 points in just the first half while scoring a total of 18. On the defensive end, Reichner was assigned to guard sophomore Josh Akognon, who led WSU with 22 points in its season-opening win over UC Riverside. Akognon was not a factor in the game with Reichner on the floor, finishing with five points and going scoreless until three minutes into the second half. Four of BYU's five starters scored in double figures on the night as Fernando Malaman tallied a career-high 14 points, Jimmy Balderson contributed 12 and Trent Plaisted added 10 in addition to Reichner's 18. BYU shot 55.3 percent (26-47) from the field while Washington State hit 54.8 percent (23-42) of its shots, including a 63 percent first-half efficiency. The Crimson Cougars outrebounded the Provo Cougars, 23-22, marking the first time a Dick Bennett-coached WSU team won the rebounding battle but lost the game. BYU came out solid in the first half on both ends of the court as the Provo Cougars scored the first six points of the game while building an early 8-2 lead and holding Washington State without a bucket from the floor until the 16:22 mark. BYU led 34-30 at the break. The second half was much the same as the first as BYU maintained a cushion, pushing the lead to nine points at one time, but was continually challenged by WSU. Washington State made things interesting late in the second frame with a three-pointer followed by a dunk to cut the lead to three points. With the Wazzou crowd roaring, Rashaun Broadus picked the pocket of WSU's Clark and took the ball all the way to the hoop. The Provo Cougars continued to respond to every WSU push, finding answers from Young, Balderson and Reichner down the stretch to secure the win. Clark led Washington State, now 1-1, with a game-high 23 points on 8-for-10 shooting. He shared game-high rebounding honors with BYU's Malaman, both players grabbing five boards. Led by Reichner's three treys, BYU shot well from long range, making 9-of-18 triples, with six different players converting from behind the arc. WSU made 7-of-19 three-pointers.

WHAT WAS SAID AFTER THE GAME ...

"Tonight was a team effort for our guys, and that's what I'll remember for a while," BYU Coach Dave Rose said. "We got great performances from six or seven guys and good performances from three or four others. When you see guys make big plays and when you see your team respond when opponents make runs at you, those are things that make a coach happy."

"This was a team win," BYU guard Brock Reichner said. "Everyone hit big shots at big times. We wanted to win and thought we deserved to win. It was a great game overall."

"I was impressed by BYU," Washington State coach Dick Bennett said. "They played a much more aggressive and hard-nosed game than they playing last year. They came out alert and ready to play."

NOTES FROM BYU vs. WASHINGTON STATE

- Brock Reichner, BYU's lone senior, made his first start of the season at Washington State and just the third start of his BYU career. Reichner made his presence in the game immediately known as he scored on the opening possession en route to topping his career-high with 10 points in just the first half while scoring a total of 18. On the defensive end, Reichner was assigned to guard sophomore Josh Akognon, who led WSU with 22 points in its season-opener against UC Riverside. Akognon was not a factor in the game with Reichner on the floor, finishing with five points and going scoreless until three minutes into the second half.

- The Cougars' other four starters remained the same as in their season opener against Loyola Marymount, including two JC transfers (Broadus, Malaman) and one redshirt freshman (Plaisted).

- BYU's win marked the first of first-year head coach Dave Rose's career. The Cougars' last win was Feb. 14, 2005 against Colorado State.

- The BYU victory also snapped a three-game Washington State winning streak in the series and evened the all-time series at five wins apiece.

- Fernando Malaman recorded a career-high 14 points in the second game of his BYU career.

- Both Trent Plaisted and Jimmy Balderson have scored in double figures in every game this season including both exhibition contests. Balderson scored 12 points while Plaisted added 10.

- BYU amassed 10 steals vs. Washington State. The last time the Cougars had double-digit steals was Jan. 11, 2005 against MSU-Billings when they recorded 12.

- The Provo Cougars shot 55.3 percent from the field (26-47), a mark eclipsed only once in the entire 2005 season on Jan. 11, 2005 vs. MSU-Billings (.625).

- BYU came out strong in the first half on both ends of the court as the Provo Cougars scored the first six points of the game while building an early 8-2 lead and holding Washington State without a bucket from the floor until the 16:22 mark.

- After trailing for most of the first half, WSU tied the game at 20-20 with just over six minutes remaining, capping a 7-2 run. The Cougars in blue responded with an 8-0 run to tie their largest lead of the half.

- BYU never trailed in the first half while scoring 34 first-half points, more than in each of the Cougars' exhibition games and their season-opener.

- Jackson Emery scored the first points of his BYU career on a three-pointer with 15 minutes left in the second half to answer a three-pointer from WSU.

- Junior center Derek Dawes did not play due to continued recovery from a shoulder injury, while redshrit freshman center David Burgess was unavailable because of illness (flu). When Trent Plaisted went out with four fouls, BYU played with 6-foot-6 Keena Young and 6-foot-9 Fernando Malaman in the post.

SCORING FOR THE COUGARS

BYU has three players averaging double figures after two games, with junior Jimmy Balderson leading the way at 15.0 ppg. Redshirt freshman Trent Plaisted contributes a 13.5 average while junior transfer Fernando Malaman adds 10.0 ppg. Balderson and Plaisted have scored in double figures in each game this season, including BYU's two exhibition outings. Other players to reach double-digit scoring in BYU's two regular season contest include Brock Reichner, who had a team-leading 18 points at Washington State, Fernando Malaman, with 14 against WSU, and Mike Rose, who scored 12 points vs. LMU. Balderson led BYU vs. LMU with 18 points.

ASSISTING IN VICTORY

After combining for six assists and five turnovers in the season-opening loss to LMU, BYU point guards Rashaun Broadus and Austin Ainge showed marked improvement in the play in the Cougars' win at Washington State Tuesday, where the two combined to dish out 10 assists while committing only two turnovers, as each posted a line of a game-high 5 assists with only one turnover. On the year, both guards average 4.0 assists per game.

FRESHMEN SHOW PROMISE IN EXHIBITION WINS

Both of the Cougars' exhibition games showcased rising stars as two freshmen led the team in scoring. Trent Plaisted led BYU against Seattle Pacific with 27 points while Lee Cummard paced the Cougars with 23 points against Victoria.

EXHIBITION NUMBERS

The Cougars made nearly half of their overall attempts in their two exhibition games, going 66-of-133 for a .496 field-goal percentage. They shot .385 from long range, going 10-for-26. From the line, BYU shot .658 while making 38 trips to the charity stripe in the two outings. While BYU has only played two unofficial exhibitions to date, the Cougars seem to be responding well to the new attacking-style offense in terms of assist/turnover ratio compared to last season. The Cougars averaged 21 assists per game in their two exhibitions, compared to 12.3 assists last season (and 16.5 in last year's two exhibition wins). BYU averaged 12.0 turnovers in this year's exhibitions compared to 14.6 turnovers per game last year (and 17.5 turnovers in last year's two exhibitions).

REDSHIRTING -- SAM BURGESS, VUK IVANOVIC

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. Junior Vuk Ivanovic will also redshirt while he sits out the season due to NCAA transfer rules. Burgess scored a game-high 21 points at Cougar Tipoff, 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.