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There is probably no such thing as a must-win in December in college basketball, but tonight's game against Colorado is darn close to that for the BYU Cougars.
Coach Dave Rose's 6-3 club takes on the 7-2 Buffaloes at 8 p.m. at the Marriott Center, and is favored by 4.5 points, according to vegasinsider.com. That's a bit surprising, considering that CU routed the Cougars 92-83 in Boulder last year and is coming off a 68-66 win over No. 13 Xavier at home.
Coincidentally, Utah is playing at Xavier today, a game the Utes presumably added when coach Larry Krystkowiak reneged on the contract to play at BYU on the second Saturday of December. That massive overreaction has been well-documented.
So the Cougars host the Buffs tonight desperately needing a win over another mid-level Pac-12 team to boost their meager NCAA Tournament resume after falling 91-84 at USC last Saturday.
"Every game is important," BYU's Eric Mika said Wednesday after the Cougars held off Weber State 77-66 at the Marriott Center. "We are trying to win every game, obviously, but what I know of Colorado is they are a good team. If we can build our resume beating teams like that from the Pac-12, it is going to help us a lot in the long run."
The only Cougars on the floor last year at Coors Event Center who will be on the court tonight are Kyle Davis and Nick Emery, unless Braiden Shaw (back issues) plays, which is unlikely.
Josh Scott led CU with 22 points and 10 rebounds, but he's playing in Europe now. George King had 23 points and five rebounds, and he's back as CU's third-leading scorer, averaging 11.2 points per game. CU's two losses were against Notre Dame (89-83) and Colorado State (72-58).
"I am excited. It is a big game," BYU coach Dave Rose said Wednesday night. "They just beat Xavier tonight on their home floor. Tad [Boyle] has got himself a really good team. They are different than they were last year. A couple of guys are gone. For years, they have been a really fast-paced team. We will have to see how they are playing right now, but that's a big win. I have seen Xavier play three times. Chris Mack's teams are always really good defensively. But I am looking forward to this game. Hopefully we will play two halves and really compete on both ends of the floor."
Rose said he doesn't expect another high-scoring game like it was last year at Coors Event Center.
"It was pretty loose over there last year — a lot of possessions," he said. "The thing I remember the most is that we found Zac Seljaas. He came in in the second half and really played well, and from that point on he was a real player for us for the rest of the year."
Unfortunately for BYU, Seljaas is now on a church mission in Iowa. BYU's guards have not been able to shoot effectively from 3-point range, and Rose said it is just a matter of confidence.
"Right now it's a team, especially our perimeter guys, that needs more confidence," he said. "We need more confidence in our ability to race the ball up and get it in and get it out and get it back in again. It seems like our guards are a little tense right now. Hopefully we can find a way for them to break through."
After tonight, BYU takes six days off for finals before taking on Illinois at the United Center in Chicago. That's another potential resume-building game, but first things first: Colorado.
"The guys will be excited [to play a Pac-12 team in the Marriott Center], but this group right now just needs to block out all of that stuff and just concentrate on us and where we are and where we need to be. This was a really good win for us [against Weber State] and it would be really good for the confidence of the group if we could put another win behind it, back to back. I don't think we have won back to back games in a couple weeks. So it would be good if we could."
Especially good for BYU's NCAA Tournament hopes.