BYU Cougars Survive on South Padre Island

The BYU Cougars overcame poor play, cold shooting and a horrendous night from the free throw line Friday, to escape with a 77-75 double-overtime win over South Florida in the semifinals of the South Padre Island Invitational.

Noah Hartsock hit the game-winning jump shot, following a drive and kick from Jimmer Fredette, as time expired in the second overtime.

The Cougars trailed the perennial Big East bottom dwellers by as many as 10 points, but got back into the game late on a barrage of three-point buckets from Jackson Emery and a key triple by Charles Abouo with just over 30 seconds left in regulation to send the game into the first overtime tied at 61.

BYU led the nation in free throw shooting last season, but have appeared mortal in that category early on this season. On Friday they were a dreadful, converting just 50 percent on 17 of 34 attempts from the line.

The Cougars also struggled from the field for the first 30 minutes, before Jackson Emery got them back into the game hitting on four straight three-point shots in the second half. Emery finished the game with 20 points, while All-American Jimmer Fredette scored a game-high 32 on 10-25 shooting from the field, including 4-8 from the arc. As a team the Cougars shot an uncharacteristically poor 32.1 percent from the floor.

The Cougars, who were without forward Chris Collinsworth due to a sprained ankle,  were out-rebounded 46-32 and appeared to be over-matched athletically on the interior by the Bulls. The Cougars were force to double-team in the post, which opened the door for South Florida’s perimeter game.

The lack of a strong low-post presence, particularly on defense, may well be an Achilles Heel for a team that has aspirations to eclipse last year’s performance in the NCAA Tournament, when it advanced to the round of 32 for the first time in 17 years.

So far this season the Cougar haven’t appeared like a team that can make any kind of deep run in the NCAA tourney. But it’s early and Dave Rose is figuring out how to put together the new pieces on this team.

The Cougars did play the passing lanes very well on defense however, and were able to force South Florida into 21 turnovers, while taking care of the ball themselves, turning it over just five times.

The result was that BYU was afforded 24 more shots at the basket, a factor that allowed the Cougars to stay in the game and have a shot to win it in the end.

The Cougars will need to get some things ironed out quickly, seeing that they will face a very good Saint Mary’s team in Saturday night’s final. The Gaels easily dispatched Texas Tech 88-68 in the other semifinal Friday night.