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After BYU lost 92-89 to Valparaiso late Wednesday night in the championship game of the MGM Grand Main Event at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, the word that immediately described the Cougars was "frustration."

Coach Dave Rose used the word, or a derivative of frustration, several times in his seven-minute interview with reporters after the game.

"We showed way too much frustration in our game, and didn't really focus on our execution," Rose said. "We got ourselves in a bad frame of mind."

Noted guard LJ Rose: "We lost our composure a little bit."

The Cougars (4-1) can right the ship on Saturday against Utah Valley (3-1) in what they are calling the Crosstown Clash, but the Wolverines are flying high, having overcome a 28-point deficit to beat Denver 88-85 on Wednesday. Coach Mark Pope's collection of transfers has improved a lot since BYU crushed UVU 85-54 and has pointed to the rematch for quite some time.

"Hopefully we will be better the next time we get into a game like this, which could easily be Saturday night. We have a good team coming in to play us," Rose said of UVU. "We will get into the gym Thursday night after Thanksgiving Dinner and then jump right on it. What is it, the Crosstown Clash? We will see how it goes."

Interestingly, a former Ute and a former Cougar lead the Wolverines. Ex-Ute Kenneth Ogbe is averaging 17.8 points, while ex-Cougar Isaac Neilson is averaging 10.3 points and 9.8 rebounds a game.

The game is being played at 4 p.m. because the football kickoff against Utah State is at 8:15 p.m.

Wednesday, the Cougars were frustrated with the officials for some inconsistent whistles, and their own teammates for some ill-advised shots.

"The most important thing is that when we go through it, guys keep their heads. I mean, guys are frustrated. Eric [Mika]played five minutes in the first half [vs. Saint Louis] and then wham, first five minutes of this game. He's not just frustrated with those three or four minutes, he's frustrated with three or four days of sitting on what happened to him the other night.

I think we had six fouls, and two on each of our three post guys, Eric, KD and Yoeli. That's frustrating, but that's the game. You gotta figure out how you are going to execute through that frustration. And that's what we need to do a better job of."

Rose said one of BYU's main goals was to keep Valpo's Alec Peters off the free-throw line. Naturally, Peters made 12 trips to the charity stripe. The All-America candidate got his share of star treatment.

"I think in the first seven minutes there were nine fouls that were called," Rose said. "We have to figure it out."

Then there was BYU's abysmal shot selection, especially from TJ Haws, Nick Emery and Elijah Bryant.

"A lot of those shots, our post guy needs to touch the ball [first]," Rose said. "We talked a lot about it at halftime. I thought we were better in the second half.

And we will learn. We are just letting [the other team] off the hook. And we can make those shots. I know that. I think that we have got a good plan and a good way to play, and we need to stay with it."

Rose added: " think when we break this down, there is going to be a real pattern to our successful offensive possessions, and I think there is going to be a real pattern to our non-successful offensive possessions."

Lost in the frustration over the loss was the play of BYU's bench. The reserves played well, and kept it close with Mika, Kyle Davis and Yoeli Childs in foul trouble.

BYU's bench outscored Valpo's bench 32-6.

"Davin [Guinn] and Payton [Dastrup] and Jamal [Aytes] and Braiden [Shaw], all those guys, gave us a pretty good lift, which was really important for us as a group, but also really important for them, and their confidence," Rose said. "But Dav, I think he had a perfect night from the field. That big three he hit tied the game for us. Maybe put us ahead one.

But they came right now and scored right after that. Those are the stops that we really needed to get, and we just didn't get them."