Rose keeping focus on Colorado State
Brigham Young will put its 43-game home winning streak on the line Saturday against UNLV in a matchup of the top teams in the Mountain West Conference.
The Cougars (18-5, 7-1 MWC) will be looking to avenge their worst loss ever to the Rebels (18-5, 7-2), who blew out BYU 70-41 on Jan. 15 in Las Vegas.
Cougars coach Dave Rose didn’t want to discuss UNLV during Monday’s MWC coaches’ teleconference, though, saying he was focused solely on Wednesday’s 6 p.m. game at Colorado State (6-17, 0-9).
“We’ll start to work on (UNLV) on Thursday. We’ve got a couple big days to prepare for Colorado State,” Rose said. “Off the top of my head, our preparation for (UNLV) will be very similar to how we prepare for every game. That game (in Las Vegas) got away from us and we’ll address that with our players.”
The Rams have lost 11 straight games, but should be bolstered by the return of 7-foot, 260-pound senior center Stuart Creason, who missed nine games with a foot injury, after a teammate stepped on him in practice, before scoring 13 points in 16 minutes in Saturday’s 68-51 loss at UNLV.
“They got one of their big leaders back and he should give everybody an emotional lift as they start this second round (of the league schedule),” Rose said. “Creason makes their team a lot better. They’ve struggled without him, but put him back in the lineup and they become a much better defensive team, rebounding team and a much better offensive team.”
BYU beat Colorado State 92-73 on Jan. 12 at the Marriott Center. The Rams’ Marcus Walker leads the league in scoring at 18.3 points per game.
• PLAISTED FINDING FORM — Trent Plaisted, the Cougars’ 6-11, 245-pound junior forward/center, tied a career high with 27 points in BYU’s 83-72 win over Texas Christian on Wednesday.
Plaisted, who is averaging 15.7 points and a team-leading 9.0 rebounds per game, also has made strides at the free-throw line in his last two games. He is shooting just 52.9 percent (90 of 170) from the line this season, but has made 14 of his last 20 (70 percent) — 7 of 9 against TCU and 7 of 11 against Wyoming.
• COUGARS CLICKING — BYU’s win over TCU, coupled with UNLV’s loss at Utah, gave the Cougars sole possession of first place in the MWC. BYU’s 7-1 league mark is its best MWC start ever, and the Cougars’ current six-game winning streak is their longest of the season.