The BYU basketball team practiced in the Smith Fieldhouse Monday afternoon because the Marriott Center has been taken over by the Christmas Around the World production, an annual late-November/December event.
And the news after practice was not good.
BYU senior F Noah Hartsock twisted an ankle early in practice and watched from the sidelines most of the way.
With a few minutes remaining in practice, junior wing Stephen Rogers tweaked his right knee, and spent the last bit of the workout having it examined by trainer Rob Ramos.
After practice, coach Dave Rose couldn't say whether either guy will be available when the Cougars play Northern Arizona in Prescott Valley, Ariz., on Wednesday night at Tim's Toyota Center.
Another big man, Chris Collinsworth, did not make the trip to Chicago last weekend, but practiced a little bit on Monday and is feeling better, Rose said.
Collinsworth will make the trip to Arizona, but is doubtful to play.
Rose got on the guys a little bit in practice today, but afterwards he praised their effort.
"I thought we had a great practice today. The guys competed, went hard," he said. "We have a long ways to go to get better, but I think that our biggest issue on Saturday night -- we dealt with that today in practice, because we weren't standing around."
Regarding Wednesday's game, Rose said NAU is a tough, physical team that crashes the boards and seems to be improving with each game. The Lumberjacks feature a Utah player -- former Judge Memorial guard Stallon Saldivar, who is a junior at the Big Sky Conference school.
Rose said BYU coaches watched Saldivar play a lot in high school, but didn't offer him a scholarship.
Although this game is technically being played on a neutral court (NAU's main campus in Flagstaff is more than an hour's drive away), the coach said the Lumberjacks will return the game next year in the Marriott Center.
