Cougars Suffer Season's Second Loss at ASU

TEMPE -- The Cougars were cold and the Sun Devils were hot Saturday afternoon in Tempe, Ariz., as Arizona State defeated BYU 80-52 at Wells Fargo Arena.

BYU shot a season-low 25.4 percent from the floor while Arizona State made a BYU opponent-high 51.8 percent of their attempts. BYU fell to 2-2 with the loss while Arizona State improved to 5-1 on the year.

"Everything that could go wrong went wrong," BYU coach Steve Cleveland said. "Arizona State just dominated us in every facet of the game."

After falling behind 15-5, BYU scored 13 straight points to take an 18-15 advantage when Eric Nielsen made a lay-in off a Mekeli Wesley assist. The Cougar edge soon became a distant memory, however, as Arizona State took a 37-22 halftime lead in the middle of an incredible 60-13 scoring run that gave the Sun Devils a margin as high as 44 points with eight minutes to go in the game.

"I felt like our guys were really ready to play," said ASU coach Rob Evans, whose club has had a week to prepare for the Cougars. "It's the way they practiced. They keep getting better defensively. This is the second-best defensive effort of one of my ball clubs."

Four ASU players reached double figures, led by center Chad Prewitt with 20. Wesley and Terrell Lyday led BYU with 11 points apiece while Nielsen added nine points and a season-high nine rebounds. Lyday went 3-17 from the floor and Wesley 3-15 as BYU made only 15 of their 59 field goal attempts. The 28-point loss was BYU's third-worst scoring deficit suffered during Cleveland's tenure.

BYU returns home to play Florida International Thursday in the Marriott Center before returning to the road to face Rice at the Compaq Center in Houston as part of a double-header also featuring North Carolina and Texas A&M. The double-header will be played Saturday.

Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICS
BYU Cougars vs Arizona State
12-02-00 4:00 PM at Ned Wulk Court
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VISITORS: BYU Cougars 2-2
                          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  3-15   0-2    5-8    5  2  7   4  11  1  4  0  1  30
42 COOPER, Nathan...... f  1-2    0-1    3-4    3  2  5   3   5  0  4  0  0  19
43 DAWES, Derek........ c  0-1    0-0    0-0    0  1  1   0   0  0  0  2  0   6
24 LYDAY, Terrell...... g  3-17   2-8    3-3    0  2  2   2  11  2  2  0  0  38
31 MONTAGUE, Matt...... g  0-1    0-0    0-0    0  3  3   1   0  3  4  0  1  28
02 HANSEN, Travis......    3-8    1-1    1-2    1  1  2   4   8  0  1  0  0  17
20 BOBIK, Daniel.......    1-5    1-4    0-0    0  3  3   3   3  0  1  0  1  16
23 SHIPPEN, Ty.........    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  1  0  0  0   1
25 NIELSEN, Eric.......    3-6    0-0    3-8    0  9  9   3   9  0  1  0  0  31
34 CHRISMAN, Jacob.....    1-3    0-1    3-4    2  1  3   4   5  1  0  0  0  12
40 HOWARD, Dan.........    0-1    0-0    0-0    1  1  2   0   0  0  0  0  0   2
   TEAM................                         2  1  3   1
   Totals..............   15-59   4-17  18-29  14 26 40  25  52  8 17  2  3 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half:  6-28  .214   2nd Half:  9-31  .290   Game:  .254  DEADBALL
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  2-9   .222   2nd Half:  2-8   .250   Game:  .235  REBOUNDS
F Throw % 1st Half:  8-12  .667   2nd Half: 10-17  .588   Game:  .621     2
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HOME TEAM: Arizona State 5-1
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
11 Storey, Awvee....... f  6-9    0-0    2-3    2  6  8   4  14  0  2  0  0  27
42 Redhage, Shawn...... f  3-7    1-1    4-4    1  2  3   4  11  6  4  2  0  26
52 Prewitt, Chad....... c  8-12   1-2    3-4    0  8  8   4  20  2  2  1  2  25
01 Mason, Alton........ g  4-9    1-2    0-0    0  4  4   2   9  3  0  0  1  20
02 Knight, Donnell..... g  2-7    1-2    4-4    2  5  7   2   9  3  3  0  0  30
03 Dodd, Kyle..........    1-1    0-0    1-2    0  4  4   1   3  3  0  0  1  31
04 Smith, Tommy........    4-5    1-1    2-2    0  3  3   5  11  1  1  2  0  14
20 Nahra, Brad.........    0-2    0-1    0-2    0  0  0   1   0  0  1  0  0   8
22 Johnston, Tyson.....    0-1    0-0    0-1    0  1  1   5   0  1  4  0  0   9
23 Howard, Jonathan....    1-3    1-3    0-0    0  0  0   0   3  0  1  0  0   8
34 Bray, Jonathan......    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  1  1   0   0  0  0  0  0   2
   TEAM................                         1  5  6
   Totals..............   29-56   6-12  16-22   6 39 45  28  80 19 18  5  4 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 13-27  .481   2nd Half: 16-29  .552   Game:  .518  DEADBALL
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  2-3   .667   2nd Half:  4-9   .444   Game:  .500  REBOUNDS
F Throw % 1st Half:  9-11  .818   2nd Half:  7-11  .636   Game:  .727     1
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Officials: Terry Christman, Tommy Nunez, Michael Reed
Technical fouls: BYU Cougars-BENCH. Arizona State-None.
Attendance: 7249
Score by Periods                1st  2nd   Total
BYU Cougars...................   22   30  -   52
Arizona State.................   37   43  -   80