Provo • Facing a first half of their Mountain West Conference basketball schedule that included five road games and an opener at a place where they had not won in six years, the BYU Cougars went 7-1 and beat a previously undefeated, top-five team.

Hard to quibble with that.

The No. 8 Cougars (21-2) aren't complaining as they prepare for the second half of the league schedule to begin Saturday with a 2 p.m. contest against UNLV at the sold-out Marriott Center. But there's certainly a sense of what might have been had they held onto a 13-point second-half lead at New Mexico a week ago.

"I think we did pretty well," said star guard Jimmer Fredette when asked to give the team a letter grade for the first half of league play. "I would give ourselves a B-plus or A-minus. We did lose a game, so we can't [say] we were perfect. … We have had some tough road games, and some tough tests, and we have been able to do pretty well. And we lost one, so we need to correct that and continue to win. This second half we have to play better than we did in the first half."

The 89-77 win at UNLV on Jan. 5 snapped an eight-game losing streak to the Rebels at the Thomas & Mack Center and, coupled with the 71-58 win over then-No. 4 SDSU, instantly put the Cougars in control of the conference race. But a loss at The Pit, where SDSU won, kept the team from "getting that full A we wanted," said reserve forward Logan Magnusson.

"We did pretty well for how many road games we had to play the first half," said Magnusson, a team captain. "We let one slip away at New Mexico. So we did pretty much what we needed to do in the front end, we just weren't perfect, so I would give us an A-minus. We have a lot to look forward to in the second half."

Coach Dave Rose said UNLV has improved a lot since losing to BYU a month ago, although the Rebels (17-5, 5-3) have not shot the ball well the past few games. He said the Cougars have taken strides as well, and that he's happy with how the first half went, and how the team is playing now.

BYU's "inside scoring has become a lot better," Rose said. "We can throw the ball into the post more. Defensively in the post we are playing a lot more physically, without fouling. Our wing play is a little bit deeper, where we can get good minutes off the bench from Charles [Abouo] and Stephen Rogers."

Guard Jackson Emery said the first half was "acceptable" because the Cougars got better each game.

"A big thing that stands out to me is we only have three away games, and five home games," he said. "We have to take care of our home-court advantage now, because we have a couple tough games here. We can't get complacent thinking the tough part is over, because it is not."

UNLV has won three straight, including Wednesday's 67-54 win over Utah.

drew@sltrib.comTwitter: @drewjay ­—

Halfway there

First eight MWC games:

BYU

Record • 7-1

Field-goal pct • 45.1

3-point FG pct • 40.0

Free-throw pct • 77.3

Points per game • 82.9

Turnovers per game • 10.4

Rebounds per game • 37.0

Opponents

Points per game • 72.5

Turnovers per game • 13.8

Rebounds per game • 36.4