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Observers of BYU's basketball practice could easily tell that coach Dave Rose was in a bad mood. There was lots of yelling from Rose and his assistants. The season has reached its critical juncture.

Simply, the Cougars cannot afford even one more slip-up if they hope to make the NCAA Tournament. Even that might not be enough.

Junior point guard Kyle Collinsworth shrugged off the heated practice afterwards, saying it was just one of those days.

"Nothing is wrong," Collinsworth said. "You wake up, go to work. It is hard to do your work stuff. That's life, you know? It is not a perfect world, not every day can be perfect, but we will get it right tomorrow. We have had a good week."

The Cougars (20-8, 10-5 WCC) obviously have revenge on their minds this week, as San Diego visits on Senior Night on Thursday (8 p.m., ESPNU) having defeated BYU 77-74 last month at Jenny Craig Pavilion.

The theme from BYU's post-practice chats with the media on Wednesday was physicality — matching USD's physicality and not giving up so many easy buckets like it did on Jan. 24.

"Well, they are really tough guys, OK?," Rose said, when asked why the Toreros are so difficult to beat for BYU. "That's what they have their whole program built on — similar to Saint Mary's. They are guys who are very good at reading your defensive approach. So they have counters to almost everything you do. They really slip well to the basket. We got burned pretty good down there with [how] they read with how we were guarding them, and then they stepped to the ball and just got easy baskets.

That will be a challenge tomorrow, to make them earn their baskets, earn what they get, instead of being able to get right on top of the rim and score.

But they are smart, they are well-coached, and they are a physical front line.

There are not too many possessions where a guy is not getting clocked. And hopefully we are the ones delivering the blow, instead of just receiving it."

Actually, BYU got called for delivering the blows in San Diego. The Toreros were awarded 32 free throws, making 20. BYU was 15 of 17 from the line. Collinsworth missed a close shot in the final seconds that like would have forced overtime.

"Well, I can only speak from last year and this year — so just one loss [against USD]," Collinsworth said. "If you are not talking, not communicating, they slip really well. Johnny Dee comes flying off, and they slip really well. I think just communication is going to be a key for tomorrow — just communicate those switches and don't let them slip like that."

Rose's comments about USD's physicality notwithstanding, Collinsworth said the Toreros are no different.

"Um, I mean, it is a pretty physical league. Basketball is physical, so they are just like any other team. They are really good at being aggressive when you come off ball screens or when Ty [Haws] comes off screens for open shots. So they are good at that — just being aggressive early."

The Cougars won't get Nate Austin back — Rose said the big senior will apply to get the year back and prospects are good that that will happen — but at least Anson Winder will be on the floor after having missed the last two games with a groin injury.

"He has practiced all this week," Rose said. "Today was probably the best he has moved around, so we have got him back on track."