Turns out, one of the reasons the Cougars were able to wallop UNLV in Las Vegas last night was because of Jackson Emery's masterful plan to halt the Rebels' first-half momentum by getting a contact lens displaced.
Brilliant.
At least, that's one of the theories being tossed around here in Las Vegas, according to some reports in the local newspaper.
Here's my game story from BYU's 89-77 win at the Thomas & Mack.
The Cougars are back at it today, practicing around 3 p.m. in preparation for Saturday's game against Air Force.
Coach Dave Rose said he was impressed with the Falcons home win over Utah on Wednesday, and believes the Cougars will have their hands full at the Marriott Center.
"Air Force got a big win tonight, and we've got them on Saturday," Rose said. "San Diego State, I haven't seen a lot of them. But what they just did tonight, going to TCU and I think they were up 20 in the second half, they are pretty good. Because TCU is a much-improved team."

Here's more from Rose after the UNLV win:

On Jackson Emery's injury:

"He's a rhythm kind of a guy. When you watch him play in a game, that's how he practices. So I think it was harder on him [not to practice]. It was hard on his conditioning. First time in the four years we coached him that he needed to come out was in that UTEP game a few weeks ago. He asked to come out because he was winded."

On falling behind early:

"We got stopped. I mean, defensively, they were really, really good. We were stuck on 15 for awhile. And then Jimmer hit some big shots. And then defensively I thought that we caused them some problems. We gave them a different defensive look, and we switched a little bit more, went into zone for a couple of possessions.
But that's a good team we beat. Anthony Marshall is a really, really good player, and he was hard for us to contain."

On the delay when Emery was hit in face and lost a contact lens:

"I mean, we didn't go real deep on our bench tonight, so that was like a timeout where they could rest a little bit. But coming out of that, we actually caught a spark. Our guys got some energy from that, and going in at halftime ahead was really a big factor for the confidence of our guys."

On whether Jimmer ever ceases to amaze him:

"Tonight, I was happy for Jimmer. He was in that rhythm, where he was in that zone. But I think the difference in the game was Jacks. This was probably his best shooting night for us, on the road, in a place where we really needed to score points. We average 80 points a year, but we would come in here and score 60 some odd. Tonight we got 89, and that was big."

On how big it was to finally get a win at UNLV:

"I am happy for our players. We got a great group of guys in there who have been through a lot of positive experiences as players. We've won a lot of big games. This is one they wanted to get, and they came out and got it tonight."

On how preparation played a role in the win:

"I think their concentration level this week was really, really good. Like I said, we had to change some things as coaches because they guard so differently. And we kind of spread the floor a little bit. We put our wings down in the corner, which is not like us. That made it harder for them to get back and recover.
That shot Noah made in the first half, that three-point shot when Jimmer was kind of dribbling all around, that was one of the things we designed for the guys to just have space. And they made plays."