Game 10 - Cougars Look to Navigate Past Pilots

BYU GAME #10 FAST FACTS

BYU (9-0)

vs.

Portland (5-2)

Saturday, Dec. 13, 2008

Marriott Center (22,700)

Provo, Utah

8 p.m. MT

Coaches:

BYU, Dave Rose (81-26 in fourth season; same overall)

Portland, Eric Reveno (23-47 in 3rd season; same overall)

Series:

BYU leads, 3-1, including a 78-54 win in Portland last season

TV:

Live on The Mtn. (Bill Riley, Play-by-play; Joe Cravens, game analysis)

Radio:

KSL Newsradio (102.7 FM/1160 AM) and the Cougar Sports Network (7 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 To Host Portland on Saturday

BYU (9-0) men’s basketball will look to extend its nation’s best home win streak to 53 games when the Cougars take on Portland on Saturday at 8 p.m. in the Marriott Center. The game will be the fifth meeting between the teams with BYU owning a 3-1 advantage, having won the last three games. The Cougars are coming off a 94-56 home victory against Boise State on Wednesday and Portland (5-2) defeated Idaho 68-65 at home in its most recent game. BYU is looking to extend its best start since the 1987-88 season when the Cougars started 17-0. Saturday’s game will be televised live on The Mtn. and can be heard live on the radio beginning with the pregame show at 7 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 will play Arizona State in the 2008 Stadium Shootout on Dec. 13 at 2:30 p.m. MT. The game will be part of a double header played at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz. Louisville and Minnesota will play at 1 p.m. prior to the BYU game. The game will be televised live on FSN.

Cougar Quick Hits

— At 9-0 BYU is off to its best start since the 1987-88 season.

— BYU extended its nation’s-best home winning streak to 52 games with a 94-56 victory over Boise State in the Marriott Center. The Cougars went 16-0 at home last year. The streak is the longest in school history.

— 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 100 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 Portland

Portland is 5-2 on the season after defeating Idaho State 68-65 on Dec. 6. Nik Raivio leads the team in scoring (15.7) and rebounds per game (6.3) and had 21 points and eight rebounds in the Pilots’ win against Idaho State. Robin Smeulders is second on the team in scoring (14.3) and rebounding (5.3) and is shooting 50.0 percent from the field. T.J. Campbell averages 10.1 points per game and leads the team in three-point makes (16) and assists per game (5.6). Portland is coached by third year head man Eric Reveno. Reveno has a career record of 23-47 and led the Pilots to a 10-23 record in 2007-08.

Series Notes

Saturday’s game will mark the fifth meeting between BYU and Portland, a series that dates back to Dec. 14, 1957. The Cougars lead the all-time series 3-1 with BYU winning the last three. The Pilots started the series with a 63-54 win in Provo and the Cougars answered the next year with a 77-72 victory in Portland on Dec. 3, 1958. The Cougars and Pilots renewed the series on Nov. 22, 2006 in Provo and BYU won 79-50. The Cougars won in Portland last season 78-54.

1,000-Point Man

Including a season-high performance with 36 against Long Beach State, 30 against Weber State and 28 against Cal Poly, Lee Cummard now has 170 total points for the season and 1,183 for his career. He is now 22nd all-time in scoring in BYU history. He passed Randy (1,166) and Joe Richey (1,177) during the Boise State game and is now 13 points from passing Eldon Brinley and 23 from passing Gary Trost to break into the top-20.

Downtown Record Watch

With three treys against Boise State Jonathan Tavernari has 139 career threes, including 22 this season. He started the season with 117 and has passed Terrell Lyday for fourth place and is two downtown makes from tying Andy Toolson (141) for third. Tavernari also has 382 attempts from downtown, good for second all-time, now one ahead of Mike Rose. Lee Cummard hit two threes against Boise State to give him 131 for his career, now four ahead of Terrell Lyday for fifth all-time and eight behind Tavernari for fourth.

Big Second Half

Leading 33-29 at the break against Boise State the Cougars exploded for 61 points in the second half. BYU ran away from the Broncos with a 22-5 run in the fist 4:31 to start the second half. The 61 points scored is tied for the 18th-most points scored in a half in school history.

Home Winning Streak

BYU extended its home winning streak to 52 games with a 94-56 victory over Boise State on Dec. 10. The Cougars are 5-0 at home in 2008-09. The streak is a school record and currently the longest in the nation. 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 has since won 27 straight over nonconference opponents and 24 consecutive over MWC foes. BYU’s last league loss at home was its season finale in 2005 to UNLV. BYU is 424-116 (.785) all-time in the Marriott Center, and Cougar head coach Dave Rose is 51-1. Prior to the current streak, BYU’s longest homecourt victory streak was 44 games from Feb 19, 2000 to Jan 16, 2003.

Top-10 Pick Pockets

With nine steals this season Lee Cummard has climbed to ninth all-time in BYU history in career steals with 109. Cummard had 16 as a freshman, 50 as a sophomore and 33 last season. Jonathan Tavernari is also climbing the list with 16 thefts this season and 82 for his career. He is now tied for 21st.

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 107 games played currently ranks tied for 11th with Nathan Call for the longest such streak in school history. Cummard has also started the last 78 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 107 games and with 21 regular season games and the MWC tournament 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.