Marriott Center
500 E University Parkway Provo UT 84604
PROVO -- Four Cougars scored in double figures and BYU held Colorado State to a season-low shooting night in a 68-47 win in the Marriott Center Saturday. It was the first time in the last four games that any BYU players other than the team's top two scorers, Mekeli Wesley and Terrell Lyday, have reached double-digit scoring.
Eric Nielsen, who was averaging 3.9 points and had not scored in double figures in the previous 14 games, made 4-5 shots, including his first three-pointer of the year, to score 10 points. He scored five points during a 16-5 run in the first half that gave BYU a 24-11 early advantage. Wesley, BYU's leading scorer, contributed 13 points in only 21 minutes while Lyday scored a game-high 15 and Michael Vranes added 11.
Colorado State closed the gap before half with its leading scorer, Ceedric Goodwyn, scoring seven of his team-high 14 points to bring the Rams to within five, 34-29, at the break. Goodwyn reached double figures for the 17 straight game but for the third time this year, all CSU losses, he was the only Ram to reach double digits.
Vranes scored five of his 11 points as the Cougars went on a 12-4 run to open the second half and take a 46-33 lead. Colorado State got within 10 at 48-38 but the Cougars went on another run that included Nielsen's three-pointer, scoring 14 of the next 16 points to put the game out of reach. After Goodwyn scored at the 12:42 mark, Colorado State didn't score another field goal.
BYU shot 50 percent from the floor to CSU's 32.6 percent, a season low. Neither team shot well from three-point range despite coming in as two of the top three teams in the nation in three-point percentage. The Rams entered the game as the leading three-point shooting team but managed only four treys in 21 attempts for a season-low 19 percent while BYU, third in the nation, made 4-16 for 25 percent.
Lyday was the one exception, making 3-5 treys and setting a new BYU record by making a three-pointer in his 17th straight game. The previous record he shared with Andy Toolson, who made a trey in 16 straight games in 1990.
The Cougars rebounded well, out boarding the Rams 40-28. BYU is 10-0 on the year when out rebounding the opposition. The win improves BYU to 9-1 at home this year, equaling the nine wins it had last year in the Marriott Center when it recorded a 9-5 home mark. Overall, BYU is 14-3 and is tied for second with a 3-1 Mountain West Conference record.
Colorado State falls to 11-6 overall and 1-2 in the conference. BYU will begin the first of four straight road games next week at Air Force Thursday and New Mexico Saturday.
Post-Game Coaches Quotes:
Colorado State Head Coach Ritchie McKay:
"My hat is off to BYU. They were much better prepared than we were. We had seven days to prepare and they came in better prepared. Certainly BYU deserves all the credit. We just got out-played."
"I don't see a lot of positives on the stat sheet. We were very much out-played."
"BYU deserves the win. (BYU head coach) Steve Cleveland has done a great job building this program. I think BYU is an excellent representative of the Mountain West Conference."
Brigham Young Head Coach Steve Cleveland:
"Everyone contributed tonight and I thought we did a good job on the boards, as well as defensively. "
"Eric Nielsen had a very good night. Eric is very capable. He can face up and hit that little fifteen-footer. It's hard to gain confidence in Conference games. You don't want to be experimenting. Usually you want to get that done in the preseason. I have never told him not to shoot the basketball. But tonight he was on a roll with 10 points and six rebounds. That is a good night for Eric. There's nobody I'm happier for tonight than for Eric Nielsen. It's tough for him because he has been in Russia for two years, eating bread and potatoes, lost 50 pounds and to live what he has been through."
"Eric is a kid who has no personal agenda. He doesn't care if he scores one point, or what happens. He just wants to help the team."
"I thought our defensive preparation, the one day we had, was really, really well executed. I guess I can't complain about having only one day to prepare."
Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICSColorado State vs BYU
1/22/00 7:05 at Provo, Utah
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VISITORS: Colorado State 11-6, 1-2
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
40 PATIK, Garrett...... f 1-3 0-2 0-0 1 3 4 2 2 3 0 0 1 16
45 GOODWYN, Ceedric.... f 6-13 1-3 1-4 0 3 3 0 14 0 2 0 1 29
54 FORD, John.......... c 2-4 0-0 1-3 1 0 1 2 5 0 0 0 2 10
10 PALMER, Aki......... g 1-4 1-4 0-1 0 2 2 2 3 0 3 0 1 21
32 SIVESIND, John...... g 2-6 1-5 0-2 0 3 3 2 5 1 3 0 2 31
03 GRADY, Ron.......... 0-2 0-1 2-2 0 3 3 3 2 0 2 0 0 18
11 BIRLEY, Andy........ 2-8 1-5 2-3 0 0 0 1 7 1 1 0 0 23
14 MANSELL, Derrick.... 0-2 0-0 2-2 1 1 2 2 2 2 1 0 0 18
30 MARTIN, Paul........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
33 GREENE, Brian....... 0-1 0-0 3-4 2 2 4 3 3 0 1 2 0 18
44 FISHER, David....... 1-3 0-1 2-3 2 1 3 2 4 0 3 0 0 13
TEAM................ 2 2
Totals.............. 15-46 4-21 13-24 7 21 28 19 47 7 16 2 7 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 9-23 .391 2nd Half: 6-23 .261 Game: .326 DEADBALL
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-8 .375 2nd Half: 1-13 .077 Game: .190 REBOUNDS
F Throw % 1st Half: 8-13 .615 2nd Half: 5-11 .455 Game: .542 3
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HOME TEAM: BYU 14-3, 3-1
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
15 WESLEY, Mekeli...... f 5-7 0-1 3-4 0 5 5 4 13 0 5 0 2 21
25 NIELSEN, Eric....... f 4-5 1-1 1-2 3 3 6 3 10 2 0 1 3 33
04 CHRISTENSEN, Todd... g 0-3 0-3 0-0 0 2 2 3 0 3 3 0 1 21
13 VRANES, Michael..... g 4-9 0-3 3-3 0 7 7 4 11 1 3 0 0 30
24 LYDAY, Terrell...... g 5-11 3-5 2-3 0 2 2 1 15 0 0 0 2 29
02 RIVERS, Silester.... 4-8 0-0 1-2 1 1 2 3 9 1 2 1 2 16
05 ROBERTS, Marc....... 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 1 2 1 1 0 0 3
10 ALLEN, John......... 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 2
20 TAGGART, Nick....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
31 MONTAGUE, Matt...... 1-2 0-1 0-0 0 5 5 0 2 5 1 0 1 23
34 ELLSWORTH, Joe...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2
42 COOPER, Nathan...... 1-2 0-1 2-2 1 4 5 0 4 2 1 0 0 16
50 NIELSEN, David...... 0-0 0-0 2-2 1 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 3
TEAM................ 2 1 3
Totals.............. 25-50 4-16 14-18 8 32 40 20 68 15 17 2 12 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 13-24 .542 2nd Half: 12-26 .462 Game: .500 DEADBALL
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-5 .400 2nd Half: 2-11 .182 Game: .250 REBOUNDS
F Throw % 1st Half: 6-8 .750 2nd Half: 8-10 .800 Game: .778 0
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Officials: Larry Stubing, Shawn Lehigh, Verne Harris
Technical fouls: Colorado State-None. BYU-None.
Attendance: 13182
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Colorado State................ 29 18 - 47
BYU........................... 34 34 - 68
PROVO -- Coming off its win Thursday over Wyoming, BYU, 13-3 overall and 2-1 in the Mountain West Conference, will host Colorado State, 11-5 and 1-1, Saturday at 7 p.m. in the Marriott Center. The game will be televised by Sports West Productions and can be seen locally on KSL-TV, channel 5 with Tom Kirkland and Tony Ingle calling the action. The radio broadcast can be heard on KSL Newsradio 1160 AM with Greg Wrubell and former Cougar Mark Durrant calling the action. The game is the second half of a double header with the BYU women's basketball team, who plays Wyoming at 4 p.m. The women's game will be televised on KBYU, channel 11.
Up Next
BYU starts the first of four straight road games next week with games at Air Force Thursday and at New Mexico Saturday. The Cougars play at San Diego State and at Utah before its next home game Feb. 17 vs. New Mexico.
Last Time Out
Led by Mekeli Wesley's career-high 34-points, BYU improved to 13-3 Thursday with an 87-78 win over Wyoming at the Marriott Center. Scoring a season-best 16 first-half points, Wesley carried the Cougars to a slim 38-37 halftime advantage. He continued his strong play in the final 20 minutes, adding 18 second-half points to surpass his previous scoring high of 31 points set twice during his freshman season. Wesley not only led the Cougars in scoring but also had team highs of eight rebounds and four assists. Terrell Lyday added 22 points, 17 in the second half, while hitting 2-4 three pointers to tie a school record of 16 straight games with a made three-pointer. Andy Toolson also made a three in 16 straight game in 1990. LaDarion Jones led Wyoming with 26 points. Wyoming shot 42.6 percent for the game while the Cougars made 49 percent of their attempts.
Quick Facts:
BYU (13-3, 2-1) vs. Colorado State (11-5, 1-1)
Saturday, Jan. 22 • Marriott Center (22,700) •Provo, Utah• 7 p.m. Mountain
Broadcast Plans:
Television:
Network: Sports West Productions
Local Station: KSL, channel 5
Air Time: 7 p.m. Mountain
Play-by-play: Tom Kirkland
Commentary: Tony Ingle
Satellite coordinates : TelStar 6, C-11 (C-Band)
Radio:
Network: Cougar Sports Network
Station: KSL Newsradio 1160 AM
Air Time: 6:30 p.m. Mountain
Play-by-play: Greg Wrubell
Commentary: Mark Durrant
BYU's Probable Starters:
F 25 Eric Nielsen 6-8 210 So. 3.9/3.6
F 15 Mekeli Wesley 6-9 230 Jr. 19.4/ 6.3
G 24 Terrell Lyday 6-3 190 Jr. 17.6/4.1
G 4 Todd Christensen 6-1 185 Jr. 6.4/0.7
G 13 Michael Vranes 6-3 190 So. 8.3/4.4
CSU's Probable Starters:
F 45 Ceedric Goodwyn 6-8 230 Sr. 19.3/4.8
C 54 John Ford 6-9 205 Sr. 8.0/3.2
G 3 Ron Grady 6-3 185 Jr. 10.2/3.7
G 32 John Sivesind 6-3 195 Jr. 11.8/3.4
G 10 Aki Palmer 5-9 175 Jr. 8.2/1.6
BYU Coach: Steve Cleveland
Record at BYU: 34-40 (3rd year)
Overall Div. I record: Same
CSU Coach: Ritchie McKay
Record at CSU: 30-16 (2nd year)
Overall record: 54-45 (4th year)
Series Record: 70-40 BYU
Game Time: 7:05 p.m. Mountain
Scouting Colorado State
Colorado State is 11-5 overall and 1-1 in the conference. The Rams dropped their first home contest of the season in a 71-70 loss in the conference opener to New Mexico on Jan. 10 . It was the Rams' eighth straight loss to the Lobos. Ceedric Goodwyn (Sr. F) Goodwyn had his best game of the season with 29 points, seven rebounds, five assists, three blocks and one steal .Goodwyn is the Mountain West Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Week after leading the Rams to a 1-1 record in conference play this past week when he scored 52 points (26 ppg), pulled down 12 rebounds, and had seven blocks in two games. Goodwyn shot 54 percent (19-35) from the field, 67 percent (4-6) from beyond the arc and 59 percent (10-17) from the free throw line. John Sivesind (Jr., G) stretched his double-figure scoring streaks to 11 games with 11 points. The Rams evened its conference mark at 1-1 with its third straight win over Wyoming (77-71) on Jan. 15. Goodwyn extended his league-leading double-figure scoring streak to 16 games with 23 points and rejected a season-high four shots. Garrett Patik (Jr., F) notched his first double-double of the year with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Sivesind made it 12 games in a row in double-digits with 10 points. CSU is the top three-point shooting team in the nation and CSU's Aki Palmer's nine 3-pointers made at Michigan on Jan. 2 is tied for the fourth-highest single-game total in the nation this season. Palmer's 3-point percentage in the game vs. the Wolverines (90 percent, 9-10) ranks tied for second in the country. On the team side, the Rams' 17 3-pointers made at Michigan is tied for 3rd nationally. Colorado State's defense has posted two of the lowest scoring halves by an opponent this season. Seattle University managed just 10 points in the first half of a 74-31 loss to the Rams on Nov. 20, while Denver tallied 15 points in the first half of the Dec 18th game. Utah and BYU are the other two MWC schools to hold opponents to 20 points or less in a half. CSU's wins include Oregon State, Washington State, UCLA and Colorado. Common non-conference teams on BYU's schedule were Arizona State (72-57 loss) and Denver (85-51 win). Other losses were to St. Bonaventure, Pepperdine, Michigan and New Mexico.
Series Notes
This will be the 111th meeting between the two schools. BYU leads the series 70-40, but CSU has won five of the last six meetings, including the past three by an average of 12 points. CSU has won seven of the last 10 games dating back to the 1993-94 season. BYU's last win was a 76-68 home victory in the second game of the 1994-95 season. It's last victory in Fort Collins was a 72-70 overtime win in 1993-94. BYU coach Steve Cleveland is 0-2 against Colorado State with both losses occurring during his first season in 1997-98. The series dates back to 1938.
Recent Meetings
Colorado State won the last meeting, an 83-74 CSU victory in Fort Collins during the 1997-98 season. The last game in Provo was also a CSU victory that same season. The Rams defeated the Cougars in a low-scoring affair, 55-44. Mekeli Wesley is the only Cougar who played CSU in 1998. He did not score and had one rebound in the first game. It is the only game in Wesley's career he has not scored. He totalled 12 points and four rebounds in the second meeting. The two schools did not play each other last year, being in different WAC quadrants.
Cougars Achieve Win No. 13 for first time since 1995-96
With BYU's win Thursday over Wyoming, the Cougars have surpass last year's win total (12-16) and achieved its 13th win in a season for the first time since another win over Wyoming (an 81-71 win at Wyoming on Feb. 10, 1996) gave the Cougars its 13th win in its 22nd game of the 1995-96 season.
Lyday Equals Three-Point Mark, Poised to Set Record
Having made a three-pointer in each of BYU's 16 games this season, Terrell Lyday has equaled the BYU record of 16 straight games with a three-point shot set by Andy Toolson in 1990. He can break the record with a three-pointer against Colorado State Saturday. Lyday has made 45 percent of his three-point attempts, making a team-best 38 treys. Lyday made 1-2 treys last year at Fresno City College.
Streaks
BYU has a one-game win streak after having its five-game streak halted Saturday with its 56-49 loss to Utah. The loss also ended BYU's eight-game home win streak, including one win from last year. All eight wins were by double-digit margins. The Cougars have two five-game win streaks this year and have won 11 of their last 13. BYU has won its last four straight road games. The last time BYU won four straight road games was in 1992-93, when the Cougars has a six-game road streak. BYU's three straight non-conference road wins was a first since the 1991-92 season.
BYU's RPI Ranking Best in MWC
According to CollegeRPI.com rankings computed by Jerry Palm (released Jan. 18) and the Collegiate Basketball News (released Jan. 17), BYU is the highest rated team in the Mountain West Conference in both the Collegerpi.com (36th) and Collegiate Basketball News (39th) rankings. According to CBN, New Mexico has the toughest schedule among Mtn. West team at No. 36. CSU is second at 71th, followed by BYU (73), Utah (117), Air Force (133), SDSU (137), UNLV (156) and Wyoming (162). The Mountain West Conference is rated ninth among the 31 conferences (and five independents) in the country.
School (CBN/Collegerpi.com)
BYU (39/36)
Utah (40/39)
Colorado St (53/57)
UNLV (73/69)
New Mexico (82/87)
Wyoming (111/110)
San Diego St (211/210)
Air Force (258/267)
Playing at Home
BYU is 8-1 at home this year after defeating Wyoming Thursday. The only loss was Saturday (56-49) against Utah. The Cougars are averaging 76.9 points per game in the Marriott Center and a 15.8-point margin of victory. BYU is making 50.2 percent of its shots, including 40 percent of its three-point attempts, in the Marriott Center this year. The Cougars are pulling down 36.1 rebounds per game to their opponents 34.1. Wesley is scoring a team-best 20 points, followed by Terrell Lyday at 15.2, Michael Vranes 9.1, Silester Rivers at 8.8 and Nathan Cooper at 8.3.
Numbers on the Road
BYU is 5-2 on the road this year, having more than doubled the number of wins it achieved in the opponent's home arena last year (2-10 in road games last year). The Cougars have won their last four road games and are scoring 72.1 in away games for a 3.7 scoring margin. On the road, BYU is shooting .436, including .442 on threes, and .704 from the free throw line. BYU is being out rebounded 37.6-35.3. Terrell Lyday leads the Cougar scoring effort on the road with a 20.6 average after scoring a career-high 35 at Utah State and 30 at UNLV Monday. Mekeli Wesley averaged 18.6 points and a team-best 5.9 rebounds.
Defense
The Cougars are rank first in the Mountain West Conference in both field goal percentage defense and three-point field goal percentage defense. They have held their opponents to a collective 38.1 shooting percentage and a 28.9 percentage on three-pointers. The Cougars have held the opposition to below 40 percent shooting in 10 of 16 games this year. In BYU's three losses, Arizona shot .544, South Alabama .490 and Utah .429. BYU is 12-0 when it out shoots its opponent. BYU is holding opponents to 64.3 points per game. While collectively good, individually BYU has had outstanding defensive efforts, including Terrell Lyday helping hold Eddie House of Arizona State (No. 3 scorer in the nation) to a 0-16 night -- the only time House has gone without a field goal in his career.
On the Boards
BYU is pulling down 35.8 rebounds per game while its opponents are grabbing 35.6. The Cougars are 9-0 when they have out rebounded their opponents and 4-3 in games were the opposition totalled more boards. Mekeli Wesley leads BYU with 6.3 rebounds per game, including a team-best 77 defensive boards. Silester Rivers has a team-high 26 offensive rebounds.
Offense
BYU has shot better than 50 percent from the floor in seven games (49 percent vs. Wyoming). The Cougars have shot below 40 percent twice -- 36.5 percent in a loss at nationally ranked Arizona and a season-low 29.6 in a win at UC Santa Barbara. The Cougars are shooting 47.1 percent from the floor, including 42 percent on threes, and 70.6 percent from the line. Three regular players are shooting better than 50 percent. Silester Rivers is making a team-best 57.5 percent from the floor, Mekeli Wesley 51.5 and Todd Christensen 50.7. Nathan Cooper has made a team-best 80 percent from the line. The Cougars score 74.8 points per game.
Three-Point Range
BYU is third in the nation in three-point percentage (Colorado State is ranked No. 1). The Cougars are shooting 42 percent from three point range this year. Four players are shooting 40 percent or better individually, led by Todd Christensen (23-49) who is making 47 percent of his attempts. Terrell Lyday (38-84) has made 45 percent, Mekeli Wesley (15-34) 44 percent and Michael Vranes (19-46) 41 percent. Six players have made a three-pointer, led by Lyday's team-high 36. Nathan Cooper has made six and Matt Montague two. Eric Nielsen (0-2), Silester Rivers (0-1) and the departed Morgan Smith (0-1) are the only other Cougars to attempt a shot from behind the arc. BYU's opponents are shooting 29 percent from three-point range. BYU is making 6.4 threes per game compared to 5.1 by its opponents.
BYU's record when . . .
BYU leads at half 11-0
Opponent leads at half 1-3
Score tied at half 1-0
BYU leads with 5 minutes left 12-1
Opponent leads with 5 min. left 0-2
BYU leads with 1 minute left 12-0
Opponent leads with 1 min. left 1-3
Score tied with 1 minute left 0-0
Game goes into overtime 1-0
BYU out rebounds opponent 9-0
Opponent out rebounds BYU 4-3
BYU and opponent tie in rebounds 0-0
BYU shoots 50 % or better 7-0
Opponent shoots 50 % or better 0-1
BYU out shoots opponent 12-0
Opponent out shoots BYU 1-3
Starting Lineups
UCR Montague, Lyday, Vranes, Nielsen, Wesley
SUU Montague, Lyday, Vranes, Nielsen, Wesley
Ariz. Montague, Lyday, Vranes, Nielsen, Wesley
Den. Montague, Lyday, Vranes, Nielsen, Wesley
ASU Montague, Lyday, Vranes, Nielsen, Wesley
TSU Montague, Lyday, Vranes, Nielsen, Wesley
WSU Montague, Lyday, Vranes, Nielsen, Wesley
SCSU Montague, Lyday, Vranes, Nielsen, Wesley
USA Montague, Lyday, Vranes, Nielsen, Wesley
FIU Montague, Lyday, Vranes, Rivers, Wesley
UCSB Montague, Lyday, Vranes, Rivers, Wesley
UCI Montague, Lyday, Vranes, Nielsen, Wesley
USU Christensen, Lyday, Vranes, Nielsen, Wesley
UNLV Christensen, Lyday, Vranes, Nielsen, Wesley
Utah Christensen, Lyday, Vranes, Rivers, Wesley
Wyo Christensen, Lyday, Vranes, Nielsen, Wesley
Mekeli Wesley
Wesley is BYU's leading scorer and rebounder, averaging 19.4 ppg and 6.3 rpg. He has been BYU's top scorer in nine games this season and has scored in double figures in 14 of BYU's 16 games. He scored a career-high 34 points vs. Wyoming (he scored 31 points twice as a freshman) and had team highs of eight rebounds and four assists. He had game highs of 21 points and seven rebounds against Utah. He scored 17 points and had four rebounds at UNLV Monday. He scored 11 points and had a team highs with eight rebounds and three assists at Utah State. He scored 18 points and pulled down six boards against UC Irvine. He had six rebounds and scored a game-high 24 points, 16 in the second half, at UCSB -- the seventh time he has scored 20 or more points. He had eight points and seven rebounds at Florida International. He had a game-high 20 points at South Alabama. He averaged 21 points and nine rebounds to earn MWC Player of the Week honors (Dec. 7-11) and was named the Cougar Classic MVP for the second time in his career (also as freshman). After averaging three rebounds per game in first three contests, he averaged 7.4 over the next eight. He recorded his first double-double of the year (fourth of career) with 24 points and 10 rebounds in win over Texas Southern. He scored a season-high 26 points in back-to-back games this year versus Denver and Arizona State .
Michael Vranes
Vranes is pulling down 4.4 rebounds per game and is third on the team in scoring at 8.3 ppg. He is second on the team with 3.1 assists per game from his shooting guard spot (averaged 2.9 last year as point guard), although he has seen some limited play at point recently. He has made a trey in 10 games and has scored in double figures in five games. He is 19-46 (.413) on treys. He had eight points, five rebounds and three assists in 20 minutes vs. Wyoming. He was 2-7 for four points and had four rebounds and three assists vs. Utah. He had nine points and four boards at UNLV and had nine points, five rebound and two assists last Saturday at Utah State. He had 11 points, five rebounds and five assists against UC Irvine. Vranes matched a career high with a team-best nine rebounds at UCSB. He also had team-high three assists despite three points on 1-9 shooting. He scored eight of his 12 points in overtime at FIU. He totalled 10 points, six rebounds and a season-high seven assists vs. South Carolina State. He had a season-high 15 points along with five rebounds vs. Weber State.
Terrell Lyday
Lyday averages 17.6 points, second on the team, and team-high 33.1 minutes. He has scored in double figures in 14 of BYU's 16 games and tied a school record having made a three-pointer in all 16 games this season (team-high 39 threes, 38-84, .452). Last year he made more than 100 treys for Fresno City College. He has excelled defensively also, guarding the other team's best perimeter player. He helped hold Arizona State's high scoring Eddie House to a five-point night on 0-16 shooting, the only time House has not scored a field goal in his career. House has the top two scoring games in the nation this year (61 and 46). Lyday is averaging 21.3 points, 6.6 rebounds, 3.6 steals and 2.0 assists in his first three MWC games. He scored 22 points vs. Wyoming and Lyday had 12 points, six rebounds, three steals and three assists vs. Utah. Lyday made 5-10 threes, scored 30 points and had a career-high 11 rebounds and tied a career-best with six steals at UNLV. It was his first double-double of the year. He was named Mountain West Conference Player of the Week (Jan. 3-8) after averaged 28.5 points and shooting better than 60 percent from the floor and on threes in two BYU wins. He carried BYU to a win at Utah State with a career-high 35 points, including six three pointers, and scored a game-high 22 points to lead a BYU comeback win over UC Irvine. He had career-best six steals at UCSB, despite an off night scoring (2-11 for eight points and held scoreless in the first half for the first time this year). He scored 26 points at FIU and had 15 points against South Alabama, where he was a perfect 4-4 on three-point attempts. He joined Wesley on the Cougar Classic All-Tournament team Dec. 10-11 and is showing why he was recruited by Coach Steve Cleveland out of Fresno City College to help replace production lost by the LDS Church mission departure of freshman sensation Mark Bigelow (15 ppg last year). He scored 18 points against Arizona and had 17 vs. ASU.
Eric Nielsen
A returned LDS missionary to Russia, Nielsen is averaging 3.9 points and 3.6 rebounds. He has started in all but three games. He averaged 5.4 points (52.8 percent) and 4.0 rebounds in 24.6 minutes as a starter in the first nine games. After scoring 10 and 12 points in first two games, he has not reached double digits in the past 14 outings. He didn't score for the second time this year vs. Wyoming. He fouled out, playing 14 minutes, scoring two points on one attempt and had one rebound vs. Utah. In foul trouble, he played only 10 minutes at UNLV (2 pts, 4 rebounds). At Utah State he was held scoreless and had four rebounds. He had four points, three rebounds and a season-high three assists against UC Irvine. At UCSB, he equaled a career-best seven rebounds. He was married to BYU All-American volleyball player Anna-Lena Smith Dec. 30 in Mesa, Ariz. He had eight points at South Alabama and at Denver. He scored a season-high 12 points versus Southern Utah and had 10 in the season-opener against UC Riverside.
Todd Christensen
Regarded as the best shooter on the team, Christensen has made 34-67 attempts (.507), including 23-49 (team-best .469) from behind the arc. He averages 6.4 ppg in 18 minutes. He is sharing point guard duties after playing shooting guard most of last year. He has started the last four games. He had seven points, three assists vs. Wyoming. He did not score, taking only one shot, vs. Utah. At UNLV, he had eight points, including a clutch three-pointer to put the Cougars up four late in the game. Christensen started at Utah State and scored seven early points to help BYU shot 57 percent in the first half. Christensen scored 13 points, including a four-point play at UCSB. Against UCSB and FIU he was 9-16 (.562) from the floor, 6-11 (.545) on treys, and 3-3 from the line while averaging 13.5 ppg. He scored all of his 14 points in the first half at FIU (4-5 treys in 11 minutes). He had season-best three assists at S. Alabama in 12 minutes. He had a season-high 16 points, including 5-8 threes, vs. South Carolina State. He scored 10 at Denver.
Silester Rivers
Rivers averages 7.8 points (4th on team) and 4.8 rebounds (2nd on team) per game. He has a team-high 26 offensive boards and is shooting a team-best 57.5 percent (FG). He has scored in double figures six times this year and has led the team in rebounds three times (6 vs. UC Riverside, 9 at Denver, 11 at FIU). He scored eight points vs. Wyoming. He started his third game of the year vs. Utah and had five points, four rebounds while guarding the much larger Ute post players. Rivers had three points (3-4 FTs) and five rebounds at UNLV. He had a strong outing Saturday at Utah State, scoring 15 points with some nice post play and pulling down seven rebounds in 24 minutes off the bench. Rivers came off the bench against UC Irvine after starting the two previous games. Despite being weakened by the flu, he contributed five points and six rebounds in 11 minutes. He started his second straight game against UCSB but was 0-2 with four rebounds in 17 minutes. He played a season-high 31 minutes in his first start at Florida International and had double-double 10 points and season-high 11 rebounds. He scored eight points in 12 minutes at South Alabama. He scored game- and season-high 17 points against South Carolina State. Coming off the bench in the first nine games he averaged 8.8 ppg and is 4.3 rebounds, including 10 points versus Arizona State and 14 points in back-to-back games to open the year against UC Riverside and Southern Utah.
Nathan Cooper
He is coming off the bench this year after starting 23 of BYU's 28 games last year. He is averaging 6.4 points and 3.2 rebounds in 20.6 minutes. He has made a team-best 32 of 40 free throws (.800). He has four double-figures scoring games and has made a trey in five games. He had one point vs. Wyoming. He had five points and three rebounds vs. Utah. He was forced to play the 4 position at UNLV with foul trouble to Eric Nielsen and Silester Rivers. He played 22 minutes and had two points and one rebound. He played 15 minutes at Utah State, scoring one point and adding two boards and two assists. He and Michael Vranes received the coaches game ball for their effort against UC Irvine. Cooper had 14 points and four rebounds in a season-high 31 minutes. He scored BYU's first basket at UCSB five minutes into the contest and sparked an 8-0 run with a steal, forcing a turnover and handing out an assist. He finished with three points and three boards. He had five points, six rebound effort at FIU. He set a career high with seven assists at South Alabama. He scored a season- and team-high 15 points against Weber State.
Matt Montague
The only true point guard on the BYU roster, he has team-leading 66 assists (4.1 apg). He is averaging 2.8 points and 3.0 rebounds. He has been plagued by a achilles injury all year. After starting the first 12 games, he has come off the bench in the last four games. He had a season-high seven points vs. Wyoming after played a season-low seven minutes vs. Utah (1 assist, 3 TO, 1 rebound). He scored six points and had seven assists at UNLV. At Utah State he played 25 minutes off the bench and had four points and two assists. He was limited to 10 minutes (achilles) against UC Irvine and did not record an assist for the first time this year. Montague did not take a shot but made three clutch free throws down the stretch at UCSB. He had two points, four rebounds and eight assists in team- and personal career-high 41 minutes at FIU. He shared team-high five rebounds with Wesley at South Alabama while handing out four assists. He matched his season high with five points vs. South Carolina State and made his second three-pointer of the year (2-6 on the season). After receiving stitches to repair a cut above his eye against ASU, Montague returned and led BYU on a 14-1 run. He dished out a season-high nine assists vs. Weber State and helped hold Wildcat guard Eddie Gill to 2-14 shooting.
Comparing StatisticsBYU CSU
SCORING
Points per game .74.8 72.1
Scoring margin + 10.5 + 10.2
SHOOTING PERCENTAGES
Field goals .471 .493
3-pointers .420 .443
Free throws .706 .705
REBOUNDING
Rebounds per game .35.8 .31.8
Rebounding margin + 0.1 + 0.6
ASSISTS
Assists per game 15.5 14.4
TURNOVERS
Turnovers per game 14.5 15.0
Turnover margin + 1.3 - 0.6
BLOCKS
Blocks per game 2.1 5.7
STEALS
Steals per game 7.8 7.1
BYU Combined Team Statistics (Through games of Jan 21, 2000)
All games
DATE OPPONENT W/L SCORE ATTEND
------------ -------------------- --- ----- ------
11/20/99 CALIFORNIA-RIVERSIDE W 91-62 7546
11/24/99 SOUTHERN UTAH W 92-64 4518
12-1-99 at Arizona L 62-86 14345
12/4/99 at Denver W 81-58 1507
12/7/99 ARIZONA STATE W 78-67 5867
Dec 10, 1999 TEXAS SOUTHERN W 76-61 6541
12/11/99 WEBER STATE W 66-53 9862
12/18/99 SOUTH CAROLINA STATE W 76-43 7584
12-21-99 at South Alabama L 63-64 1785
12/21/99 at Fla International W OT 83-75 953
12-29-99 at UC Santa Barbara W 57-48 2891
1/5/00 UC IRVINE W 77-66 9574
Jan 08, 2000 at Utah State W 82-73 10270
*01/10/00 at UNLV W 77-75 12597
*1/15/00 UTAH L 49-56 22580
*Jan 20, 2000 WYOMING W 87-78 10347
* denotes conference game
RECORD: OVERALL HOME AWAY NEUTRAL
ALL GAMES........... (13-3) (8-1) (5-2) (0-0)
CONFERENCE.......... (2-1) (1-1) (1-0) (0-0)
NON-CONFERENCE...... (11-2) (7-0) (4-2) (0-0)
## SUMMARY GP-GS Min FG% 3PT% FT% R/G A/G STL BLK PTS/G
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
15 WESLEY, Mekeli...... 16-16 31.1 .515 .441 .761 6.3 1.8 21 10 19.4
24 LYDAY, Terrell...... 16-16 33.1 .478 .452 .765 4.1 1.7 35 6 17.6
13 VRANES, Michael..... 16-16 26.0 .395 .413 .513 4.4 3.1 19 1 8.3
02 RIVERS, Silester.... 16-2 18.3 .575 .000 .603 4.8 0.6 9 7 7.8
42 COOPER, Nathan...... 16-0 20.6 .405 .273 .800 3.2 2.1 9 1 6.4
04 CHRISTENSEN, Todd... 16-4 17.9 .507 .469 .733 0.7 1.1 9 1 6.4
25 NIELSEN, Eric....... 16-14 21.6 .471 .000 .636 3.6 0.8 8 6 3.9
31 MONTAGUE, Matt...... 16-12 25.2 .375 .333 .704 3.0 4.1 13 0 2.8
05 ROBERTS, Marc....... 8-0 4.1 .400 .000 .833 0.5 0.2 0 1 1.1
50 NIELSEN, David...... 6-0 3.3 .200 .000 .857 0.5 0.2 1 0 1.3
10 ALLEN, John......... 6-0 3.7 .667 .000 .667 1.0 0.2 1 0 1.0
40 HOWARD, Dan......... 4-0 4.8 1.000 .000 .000 2.0 0.0 0 0 1.5
33 SMITH, Morgan....... 5-0 2.6 .125 .000 1.000 0.6 0.2 0 0 1.2
34 ELLSWORTH, Joe...... 3-0 2.0 .333 .000 .000 1.0 0.0 0 1 0.7
20 TAGGART, Nick....... 3-0 1.7 .000 .000 .000 0.0 0.0 0 0 0.0
Total............... 16 .471 .420 .706 35.7 15.5 125 34 74.8
Opponents........... 16 .380 .289 .707 35.6 12.6 110 35 64.3
SCORING GP FG-FGA FG% 3FG-FGA 3PT% FT-FTA FT% PTS PTS/G
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WESLEY, Mekeli...... 16 106-206 .515 15-34 .441 83-109 .761 310 19.4
LYDAY, Terrell...... 16 89-186 .478 38-84 .452 65-85 .765 281 17.6
VRANES, Michael..... 16 47-119 .395 19-46 .413 20-39 .513 133 8.3
RIVERS, Silester.... 16 42-73 .575 0-1 .000 41-68 .603 125 7.8
COOPER, Nathan...... 16 32-79 .405 6-22 .273 32-40 .800 102 6.4
CHRISTENSEN, Todd... 16 34-67 .507 23-49 .469 11-15 .733 102 6.4
NIELSEN, Eric....... 16 24-51 .471 0-2 .000 14-22 .636 62 3.9
MONTAGUE, Matt...... 16 12-32 .375 2-6 .333 19-27 .704 45 2.8
ROBERTS, Marc....... 8 2-5 .400 0-0 .000 5-6 .833 9 1.1
NIELSEN, David...... 6 1-5 .200 0-0 .000 6-7 .857 8 1.3
ALLEN, John......... 6 2-3 .667 0-0 .000 2-3 .667 6 1.0
HOWARD, Dan......... 4 3-3 1.000 0-0 .000 0-2 .000 6 1.5
SMITH, Morgan....... 5 1-8 .125 0-1 .000 4-4 1.000 6 1.2
ELLSWORTH, Joe...... 3 1-3 .333 0-0 .000 0-1 .000 2 0.7
TAGGART, Nick....... 3 0-0 .000 0-0 .000 0-0 .000 0 0.0
Total............... 16 396-840 .471 103-245 .420 302-428 .706 1197 74.8
Opponents........... 16 358-942 .380 81-280 .289 232-328 .707 1029 64.3
REBOUNDS
TOTALS GP MIN OFF DEF TOT PF FO A TO A/TO HI
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
WESLEY, Mekeli...... 16 498 24 77 101 50 0 29 28 1.0 34
LYDAY, Terrell...... 16 529 4 61 65 25 0 27 43 0.6 35
VRANES, Michael..... 16 416 21 50 71 32 1 49 28 1.8 15
RIVERS, Silester.... 16 293 26 51 77 49 0 9 29 0.3 17
COOPER, Nathan...... 16 330 15 36 51 37 1 33 15 2.2 15
CHRISTENSEN, Todd... 16 286 0 11 11 32 0 18 15 1.2 16
NIELSEN, Eric....... 16 345 20 38 58 47 2 12 19 0.6 12
MONTAGUE, Matt...... 16 404 4 44 48 20 0 66 40 1.6 7
ROBERTS, Marc....... 8 33 1 3 4 3 0 2 5 0.4 4
NIELSEN, David...... 6 20 1 2 3 4 0 1 3 0.3 6
ALLEN, John......... 6 22 0 6 6 2 0 1 1 1.0 2
HOWARD, Dan......... 4 19 3 5 8 4 0 0 2 0.0 6
SMITH, Morgan....... 5 13 1 2 3 0 0 1 2 0.5 2
ELLSWORTH, Joe...... 3 6 0 3 3 0 0 0 0 0.0 2
TAGGART, Nick....... 3 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0
Total............... 16 3219 144 427 571 305 4 248 232 1.1 92
Opponents........... 16 3227 211 359 570 337 - 201 253 0.8 86
TEAM STATISTICS BY OPP
--------------------------------------------------------
SCORING....................... 1197 1029
Points per game............. 74.8 64.3
Scoring margin.............. +10.5 -
FIELD GOALS-ATT............... 396-840 358-942
Field goal pct.............. .471 .380
3 POINT FG-ATT................ 103-245 81-280
3-point FG pct.............. .420 .289
3-pt FG made per game....... 6.4 5.1
FREE THROWS-ATT............... 302-428 232-328
Free throw pct.............. .706 .707
REBOUNDS...................... 571 570
Rebounds per game........... 35.7 35.6
Rebounding margin........... +0.1 -
ASSISTS....................... 248 201
Assists per game............ 15.5 12.6
TURNOVERS..................... 232 253
Turnovers per game.......... 14.5 15.8
Turnover margin............. +1.3 -
Assist/turnover ratio....... 1.1 0.8
STEALS........................ 125 110
Steals per game............. 7.8 6.9
BLOCKS........................ 34 35
Blocks per game............. 2.1 2.2
WINNING STREAK................ 1 -
Home win streak............. 1 -
ATTENDANCE.................... 84419 44348
Home games-Avg/Game......... 9-9380 7-6335
Neutral site-Avg/Game....... - 0-0
BY PERIOD 1st 2nd OT Total
------------ ---- ---- ---- ----
Team........ 560 623 14 - 1197
Opponents... 475 548 6 - 1029
Category Leaders
The Automated ScoreBook
BYU Category Leaders (Through games of Jan 21, 2000)
All games
FG PERCENTAGE FG ATT Pct FIELD GOAL ATTEMPTS G Att Att/G
---------------------------------- -----------------------------------
HOWARD, Dan......... 3 3 1.000 WESLEY, Mekeli...... 16 206 12.9
ALLEN, John......... 2 3 .667 LYDAY, Terrell...... 16 186 11.6
RIVERS, Silester.... 42 73 .575 VRANES, Michael..... 16 119 7.4
WESLEY, Mekeli...... 106 206 .515 COOPER, Nathan...... 16 79 4.9
CHRISTENSEN, Todd... 34 67 .507 RIVERS, Silester.... 16 73 4.6
LYDAY, Terrell...... 89 186 .478
NIELSEN, Eric....... 24 51 .471 FIELD GOALS MADE G Made Made/G
COOPER, Nathan...... 32 79 .405 -----------------------------------
ROBERTS, Marc....... 2 5 .400 WESLEY, Mekeli...... 16 106 6.6
VRANES, Michael..... 47 119 .395 LYDAY, Terrell...... 16 89 5.6
MONTAGUE, Matt...... 12 32 .375 VRANES, Michael..... 16 47 2.9
ELLSWORTH, Joe...... 1 3 .333 RIVERS, Silester.... 16 42 2.6
CHRISTENSEN, Todd... 16 34 2.1
3-POINT PERCENTAGE 3FG ATT Pct 3-POINT FG ATTEMPTS G Att Att/G
---------------------------------- -----------------------------------
CHRISTENSEN, Todd... 23 49 .469 LYDAY, Terrell...... 16 84 5.2
LYDAY, Terrell...... 38 84 .452 CHRISTENSEN, Todd... 16 49 3.1
WESLEY, Mekeli...... 15 34 .441 VRANES, Michael..... 16 46 2.9
VRANES, Michael..... 19 46 .413 WESLEY, Mekeli...... 16 34 2.1
MONTAGUE, Matt...... 2 6 .333 COOPER, Nathan...... 16 22 1.4
COOPER, Nathan...... 6 22 .273
3-POINT FGS MADE G Made Made/G
-----------------------------------
LYDAY, Terrell...... 16 38 2.4
CHRISTENSEN, Todd... 16 23 1.4
VRANES, Michael..... 16 19 1.2
WESLEY, Mekeli...... 16 15 0.9
COOPER, Nathan...... 16 6 0.4
FT PERCENTAGE FT ATT Pct FREE THROW ATTEMPTS G Att Att/G
---------------------------------- -----------------------------------
SMITH, Morgan....... 4 4 1.000 WESLEY, Mekeli...... 16 109 6.8
NIELSEN, David...... 6 7 .857 LYDAY, Terrell...... 16 85 5.3
ROBERTS, Marc....... 5 6 .833 RIVERS, Silester.... 16 68 4.2
COOPER, Nathan...... 32 40 .800 COOPER, Nathan...... 16 40 2.5
LYDAY, Terrell...... 65 85 .765 VRANES, Michael..... 16 39 2.4
WESLEY, Mekeli...... 83 109 .761
CHRISTENSEN, Todd... 11 15 .733 FREE THROWS MADE G Made Made/G
MONTAGUE, Matt...... 19 27 .704 -----------------------------------
ALLEN, John......... 2 3 .667 WESLEY, Mekeli...... 16 83 5.2
NIELSEN, Eric....... 14 22 .636 LYDAY, Terrell...... 16 65 4.1
RIVERS, Silester.... 41 68 .603 VRANES, Michael..... 16 20 1.2
VRANES, Michael..... 20 39 .513 RIVERS, Silester.... 16 41 2.6
CHRISTENSEN, Todd... 16 11 0.7
COOPER, Nathan...... 16 32 2.0
POINTS G Pts Pts/G POINTS AVERAGE G Pts Avg/G
----------------------------------- ----------------------------------
WESLEY, Mekeli...... 16 310 19.4 WESLEY, Mekeli...... 16 310 19.4
LYDAY, Terrell...... 16 281 17.6 LYDAY, Terrell...... 16 281 17.6
VRANES, Michael..... 16 133 8.3 VRANES, Michael..... 16 133 8.3
RIVERS, Silester.... 16 125 7.8 RIVERS, Silester.... 16 125 7.8
COOPER, Nathan...... 16 102 6.4 CHRISTENSEN, Todd... 16 102 6.4
CHRISTENSEN, Todd... 16 102 6.4 COOPER, Nathan...... 16 102 6.4
NIELSEN, Eric....... 16 62 3.9 NIELSEN, Eric....... 16 62 3.9
MONTAGUE, Matt...... 16 45 2.8 MONTAGUE, Matt...... 16 45 2.8
ROBERTS, Marc....... 8 9 1.1 HOWARD, Dan......... 4 6 1.5
NIELSEN, David...... 6 8 1.3 NIELSEN, David...... 6 8 1.3
ALLEN, John......... 6 6 1.0 SMITH, Morgan....... 5 6 1.2
HOWARD, Dan......... 4 6 1.5 ROBERTS, Marc....... 8 9 1.1
SMITH, Morgan....... 5 6 1.2
REBOUNDS G Reb Reb/G ASSISTS G No. A/G
----------------------------------- -----------------------------------
WESLEY, Mekeli...... 16 101 6.3 MONTAGUE, Matt...... 16 66 4.1
RIVERS, Silester.... 16 77 4.8 VRANES, Michael..... 16 49 3.1
VRANES, Michael..... 16 71 4.4 COOPER, Nathan...... 16 33 2.1
LYDAY, Terrell...... 16 65 4.1 WESLEY, Mekeli...... 16 29 1.8
NIELSEN, Eric....... 16 58 3.6 LYDAY, Terrell...... 16 27 1.7
REBOUND AVERAGE G Reb Avg/G STEALS G No. S/G
----------------------------------- -----------------------------------
WESLEY, Mekeli...... 16 101 6.3 LYDAY, Terrell...... 16 35 2.2
RIVERS, Silester.... 16 77 4.8 WESLEY, Mekeli...... 16 21 1.3
VRANES, Michael..... 16 71 4.4 VRANES, Michael..... 16 19 1.2
LYDAY, Terrell...... 16 65 4.1 MONTAGUE, Matt...... 16 13 0.8
NIELSEN, Eric....... 16 58 3.6 RIVERS, Silester.... 16 9 0.6
COOPER, Nathan...... 16 9 0.6
CHRISTENSEN, Todd... 16 9 0.6
OFFENSIVE REBOUNDS G No. Avg/G BLOCKED SHOTS G No. Blk/G
----------------------------------- -----------------------------------
RIVERS, Silester.... 16 26 1.6 WESLEY, Mekeli...... 16 10 0.6
WESLEY, Mekeli...... 16 24 1.5 RIVERS, Silester.... 16 7 0.4
VRANES, Michael..... 16 21 1.3 LYDAY, Terrell...... 16 6 0.4
NIELSEN, Eric....... 16 20 1.2 NIELSEN, Eric....... 16 6 0.4
COOPER, Nathan...... 16 15 0.9 COOPER, Nathan...... 16 1 0.1
ROBERTS, Marc....... 8 1 0.1
DEFENSIVE REBOUNDS G No. Avg/G ELLSWORTH, Joe...... 3 1 0.3
----------------------------------- VRANES, Michael..... 16 1 0.1
WESLEY, Mekeli...... 16 77 4.8 CHRISTENSEN, Todd... 16 1 0.1
LYDAY, Terrell...... 16 61 3.8
RIVERS, Silester.... 16 51 3.2 MINUTES G No. Min/G
VRANES, Michael..... 16 50 3.1 -----------------------------------
MONTAGUE, Matt...... 16 44 2.8 LYDAY, Terrell...... 16 529 33.1
WESLEY, Mekeli...... 16 498 31.1
VRANES, Michael..... 16 416 26.0
MONTAGUE, Matt...... 16 404 25.2
NIELSEN, Eric....... 16 345 21.6
FOULS G No. Per/G TURNOVERS G No. TO/G
----------------------------------- -----------------------------------
WESLEY, Mekeli...... 16 50 3.1 LYDAY, Terrell...... 16 43 2.7
RIVERS, Silester.... 16 49 3.1 MONTAGUE, Matt...... 16 40 2.5
NIELSEN, Eric....... 16 47 2.9 RIVERS, Silester.... 16 29 1.8
COOPER, Nathan...... 16 37 2.3 VRANES, Michael..... 16 28 1.8
VRANES, Michael..... 16 32 2.0 WESLEY, Mekeli...... 16 28 1.8
CHRISTENSEN, Todd... 16 32 2.0
FOULOUTS G No.
----------------------------
NIELSEN, Eric....... 16 2
COOPER, Nathan...... 16 1
VRANES, Michael..... 16 1
