Game 2 - Cougars Hit the Road to Play Pepperdine

BYU GAME #2 FAST FACTS

BYU COUGARS (1-0)

vs.

Pepperdine Waves (1-1)

Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2008

Firestone Fieldhouse (3,104)

Malibu, Calif.

7 p.m. PT (8 p.m. MT)

Coaches:

BYU, Dave Rose (73-26 in fourth season; same overall)

PEPP, Tom Asbury (126-59 in seventh season; 211-147 in 13th season overall)

Series: . . . . Pepperdine Leads, 4-3, with BYU winning the last meeting, 86-67, in 2007 in Provo

TV:None

Radio:KSL Newsradio (102.7 FM/1160 AM) and the Cougar Sports Network (6 p.m. PT pregame show — Greg Wrubell, play-by-play; Mark Durrant, game analysis)

Web:Live audio and live stats links are available on the basketball schedule page at www.byucougars.com/basketball_m/

BYU TO PLAY AT PEPPERDINE IN FIRST ROAD GAME

Coming off a season-opening victory at home against Long Beach State, BYU men’s basketball will play its first road game of the 2008-09 season on Monday at Pepperdine. The Cougars defeated Long Beach State 75-65 behind Lee Cummard’s career-high 36 points to extend the school record and nation’s best home winning streak to 48 games. Pepperdine is 1-1 on the year and led by Mychel Thompson’s 17.5 points per game. Saturday’s game will not be televised but can be heard live on the radio beginning with the pregame show at 6 p.m. PT on KSL Newsradio 102.7 FM and 1160 AM out of Salt Lake City or via the Internet at KSL.com.

UP NEXT

BYU will host the Basketball Travelers Invitational from Nov. 20 to 22 at the Marriott Center. The Cougars will play three games in three days against North Florida on Nov. 20 at 7:30 p.m., Rice on Nov. 21 at 8:30 p.m. and Cal Poly on Nov. 22 at 8:30 p.m.

COUGAR QUICK HITS

— BYU extended its nation’s-best home winning streak to 48 games with a 75-65 victory at home over Long Beach to open the 2008-09 season. The Cougars went 16-0 at home last year. The streak is the longest in school history.

— Two-time MWC Coach of the Year Dave Rose has guided BYU to three-straight 20-win seasons and three-straight postseason appearances. In his first season the Cougars were 20-9 and made a trip to the NIT. In his second campaign he guided the Cougars to the outright MWC title, a top-25 ranking, a trip to the NCAA Tournament and a 25-9 overall record. Last season he led BYU to a 27-8 overall record, a second-straight outright league title and a trip to the NCAA Tournament.

— BYU has been picked to finish second (five first-place votes) in the MWC preseason poll by the league’s media.

— Lee Cummard has been named a 2008-09 preseason candidate for the John R. Wooden Award All-America Team and Player of the Year trophy.

LOOKING AT Pepperdine

Pepperdine has opened the 2008-09 season by splitting two home games. The Waves defeated CS Monterey Bay 91-82 in the opener. Mychel Thompson scored 25 points and Ryan Holmes added 22 points in the win. Thompson hit 3-of-5 from downtown in the win while Holmes was 10-of-13 from the free throw line. Keion Bell scored 17 points to lead the Waves in their 66-65 loss to Arkansas-Little Rock. The Waves had two game-winning opportunities but Thompson missed a 15-footer and Jonathan Dupre’ missed a baseline jumper. Tom Asbury is in his seventh season as head coach of the Waves but his first since 1993-94. Asbury was 125-69 from 1989 to 1994 and led the Waves to three NCAA Tournament appearances and two trips to the NIT. Following his stint at Pepperdine Asbury was the head coach at Kansas State from 1995-2000 and an assistant coach at Alabama from 2004-07. Last season the Waves had an overall record of 11-21. The Waves play in the West Coast Conference and finished sixth in league play last season with a 4-10 record.

LBSU’S PROBABLE STARTERS

Pos.#NameHt. Wt.Yr. PPGRPG

G31Ryan Holmes6-1185Sr.16.51.5

G3Keion Bell6-3180Fr.15.54.0

F15Mychel Thompson6-7200So.17.52.5

F32Taylor Darby6-7210Fr.3.04.5

C50Denis Agre6-8230So.6.54.5

PEPPERDINE’S LAST OUTING — WAVES FALL TO ARKANSAS-LITTLE ROCK

After opening the season with a 91-82 victory over CS Monterey Bay, Pepperdine dropped a close on to Arkansas-Little Rock, 66-65 at home. The Waves had two chances to win the game but came up empty. Keion Bell scored 17 points to lead four players in double figures. Dane Suttle, Jr., came off the bench and hit 4-of-5 three-pointers for 12 points.

SERIES NOTES

This will be the seventh meeting between Pepperdine and BYU. The Cougars trail the series 3-4 but have won the last two meetings, including last season’s 86-67 win at the Marriott Center. The Waves lead the series in Malibu 3-0, winning the last meeting 82-79 in overtime in 2002. Pepperdine won the first three meetings of the series with the first game dating back to 1944. The Waves won again in 1959 and then in 1985 before BYU picked up its first win of the series at home in 1997.

LAST YEAR VS. PEPPERDINE

No. 25 BYU (9-2) won its 37th straight home game with a convincing 86-67 win over Pepperdine (5-7) Saturday night in the Marriott Center. Junior guard Lee Cummard led all scorers with 21 points on 10-of-12 shooting, while junior center Trent Plaisted posted his fourth double-double of the season with 18 points and a season-high 18 rebounds. Plaisted’s 18 boards also matched his career high. Jason Walberg paced Pepperdine with 17 points, while Malcolm Thomas chipped in 14 points and seven rebounds. BYU shot 57 percent for the game to the Waves’ 31 percent. The Cougars recorded 24 assists on their 37 field goals. BYU also won the battle of the boards, 46-37. The Cougars applied a balanced attack early on as Sam Burgess followed up a lay-in with a head fake and kiss off the glass to give him a quick four points. Plaisted scored on a strong post move going left, while Cummard nailed a trey from the top of the key giving BYU a 9-2 lead. Minutes later, Plaisted flushed a layup and a dunk in succession to give the Cougars a double-digit lead little more than five minutes into the game. Carrying a 20-8 edge with 11 minutes remaining in the first half, BYU got a little sloppy. Thanks in large part to the Cougars’ 12 turnovers in the game’s first 12 minutes the Waves used an 11-2 run to get back in the game. Leading by only three points at 22-19, BYU went back to work in the paint. After another Plaisted slam, freshman Chris Collinsworth put down a layup to extend the Cougars’ cushion to seven at 26-19. Freshman guard Michael Loyd, Jr. knocked one down from beyond the arc and then swished a 15-footer along the left baseline. Pepperdine responded with back-to-back three-pointers to cut BYU’s lead to 31-28 with five minutes to go in the half. Seconds later it was Loyd, Jr. again bringing a little show time basketball to the Marriott Center. The Las Vegas native stole the ball and drove the length of the court before throwing up a perfectly timed alley-oop to Cummard. A Ben Murdock three and a Plaisted jump-hook in the paint brought the Cougars’ lead back to 10 at 38-28. With just under two minutes remaining, Cummard went coast-to-coast for a two-handed slam that gave BYU its largest lead of the half at 40-29. Pepperdine scored four unanswered points in the low post to make it a 40-33 game at the break. The Cougars shot a smoldering 62 percent from the field in the opening half, while holding the Waves to just 34 percent.