Game 14 - Cougars to Battle Wolves in Marriott Center

BYU GAME #14 FAST FACTS

BYU (11-2)

vs.

Western Oregon (6-4)

Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2009

Marriott Center (22,700)

Provo, Utah

7:30 p.m. MT

Coaches:

BYU, Dave Rose (83-28 in fourth season; same overall)

Western Oregon, Craig Stanger (40-51 in fourth season; same overall)

Series:

BYU leads, 2-0, including a 102-40 win in Provo on Dec. 22, 2006

TV:

None

Radio:

KSL Newsradio (102.7 FM/1160 AM) and the Cougar Sports Network (6:30 p.m. MT 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/

Cougars Look to Start New Home Winning Streak with Western Oregon

Coming off a 94-87 loss to No. 6 Wake Forest at home — ending a school record 53-game home winning streak — BYU (11-2) men’s basketball will look to start a new winning streak when the Cougars face Western Oregon (6-4) on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. MT in the Marriott Center. BYU defeated Western Oregon 102-40 in 2006, the largest margin of victory (62) in school history. The Cougars lead the all-time series 2-0. Saturday’s game can be heard live on the radio beginning with the pregame show at 6:30 p.m. MT on KSL Newsradio 102.7 FM and 1160 AM out of Salt Lake City or via the Internet at KSL.com.

Up Next

BYU opens MWC play at Colorado State on Saturday, Jan. 10 at 1 p.m. MT. The Cougars are looking for their third-straight regular season MWC title. Follow the game on www.byucougars.com and listen live on the radio beginning with the pregame show at 12 p.m. MT on KSL Newsradio 102.7 FM and 1160 AM out of Salt Lake City or via the Internet at KSL.com. The game will be televised live on The Mtn.

Cougar Quick Hits

— At 11-2 BYU is off to its best start since the 1999-2000 season when the Cougars started 12-2.

— BYU’s school record 53 game home winning streak ended with a 94-87 loss to Wake Forest. The Cougars will look to start another streak when they take on Oregon State on Tuesday.

— 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. He has the best record through 110 games of any BYU basketball coach.

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

Looking at Western Oregon

Western Oregon, an NCAA Division II institution and member of the Greater Northwest Athletic Conference, is 6-4 this season and coming off a 77-67 loss at Pepperdine. The Wolves are a high-scoring team, averaging 78.2 points per game. Travis Kuhn leads the team in scoring at 17.9 points per game and is second in rebounding at 5.5 boards. Sam Kelly (11.2), Mike McLaughlin (11.2) and Blair Wheadon (10.4) also average double figures. McLaughlin leads the team in rebounding at 6.7 boards per contest. Craig Stanger is in his fourth year as the head coach of the Wolves and a graduate of BYU where he was a student manager.

Series Notes

Saturday’s game will mark the third meeting between BYU and Western Oregon and the first since Dec. 22, 2006 when the Cougars set a record for margin of victory in a 102-40 victory at the Marriott Center. The two previous meetings in the series were played at the Marriott Center and resulted in BYU victories.

1,000-Point Man

Including a season-high performance with 36 against Long Beach State, 30 against Weber State, 28 against Cal Poly and 26 at Tulsa, Lee Cummard now has 238 total points for the season and 1,241 for his career. He is now 19th all-time in scoring in BYU history. Cummard is 34 points from passing Alan Taylor for 19th all-time.

Downtown Record Watch

With four treys against No. 6 Wake Forest Jonathan Tavernari has 154 career threes, including 37 this season. He started the season with 117 and has passed Andy Toolson for third place and is 10 downtown makes from passing Mike Rose (163) for second. Tavernari also has 421 attempts from downtown, good for second all-time in school history. Lee Cummard has 133 threes for his career, now nine threes from passing Andy Toolson for fourth.

Home Winning Streak

BYU’s school record and nation’s best active home winning streak ended on Saturday, Jan. 3, 2009 with a 94-87 loss to No. 6 Wake Forest. The Cougars are now 6-1 at home in 2008-09. The Cougars set the school record with their 67-59 win over Utah in the Marriott Center on Feb. 20, their 45th straight home win. The Cougars were 16-0 at home last year and won 17 home games the prior season after going 14-1 at home in 2005-06. BYU’s last home loss was in the 2005-06 season opener against Loyola Marymount. BYU had won 29 straight over nonconference opponents and has won 24 consecutive over MWC foes. BYU’s last league loss at home was its season finale in 2005 to UNLV. BYU is 425-117 (.784) all-time in the Marriott Center, and Cougar head coach Dave Rose is 53-2. Prior to the streak, BYU’s longest homecourt victory streak was 44 games from Feb 19, 2000 to Jan 16, 2003.

Top-10 Pick Pockets

With 11 steals this season Lee Cummard has climbed to ninth all-time in BYU history in career steals with 111. Cummard had 16 as a freshman, 50 as a sophomore and 33 last season. Jonathan Tavernari is also climbing the list with 22 thefts this season and 88 for his career. He is now tied for 16th with Rafael Araujo.

Iron Man Cummard

Since arriving at BYU as a freshman in 2005-06 senior Lee Cummard has not missed a single game. His streak of 111 games played currently ranks 11th for the longest such streak in school history. Cummard has also started the last 82 games he has played, dating back to the first game of the 2006-07 season, a streak that ranks seventh longest in school history. In his career Cummard has played in 111 games and with 17 regular season games remaining, the MWC tournament and the possibility of postseason play he has the potential to claim the top spot in career games played. Below are the streaks for consecutive games started and consecutive games played.