This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
As I noted in my BYU basketball notebook today, it is kind of ironic that Tyler Haws will likely break the school's all-time scoring record on Thursday night in the arena where he set his career-high. Haws, who needs seven points to pass Jimmer Fredette, scored 48 points last year at Chiles Center in Portland in a 114-110 triple-overtime loss to the Pilots.
The Cougars have defeated Portland twice since then, both times in Provo, including a 97-88 win on Dec. 29. But that game a year ago quickly became the theme of Wednesday's media session with the Cougars.
"I remember just that I was really, really tired at the end," Haws said. "It is hard to go that far and not come away with a win. But it was one of the funnest games I have every played in — just back and forth, back and forth. Each team wasn't going to give up on what was going on. We are excited to get up there and play again, and hopefully the outcome can be different."
Be sure to check out Tribune columnist Kurt Kragthorpe's take on Haws' career, which can be found by going here. Kragthorpe's extensive research produced a cool chart showing the "2,000-point club" — the list of players in the state's college basketball history who have scored 2,000 points or more in their careers. BYU is well-represented, with five players on the 12-player list.
As Kragthorpe notes, Haws has scored just eight points in NCAA Tournament wins. That came against Florida when he was a freshman and was coming off an eye injury suffered during the MWC Tournament the previous weekend in Las Vegas.
In case you are wondering, Haws scored 14 points two days later in an 84-72 loss to Kansas State. The Cougars went to the NIT his sophomore season.
Last year, he had 19 points while playing without the injured Kyle Collinsworth in an 87-68 loss to Oregon at the NCAA Tournament in Milwaukee.
Thursday's game could be considered a trap game for BYU, because they finish the regular season on Saturday at No. 3 Gonzaga, but Haws said that triple-overtime loss in the Rose City last year will keep them hungry and focused. Besides, the Cougars can't afford to look past anybody, especially on the road, where they are just 4-3 this season in WCC games.
"And this time of year, you gotta take it just one game at a time," Haws said. "Every conference game is big, and every team is fighting for something. You gotta just take it one game at a time. We are hungry for that next win."
BYU coach Dave Rose said he has watched that 3OT loss to Portland "so many times." The Pilots made 14 3-pointers and overcame the 48 points from Haws and 25 from Matt Carlino.
"I remember the big shots, the big shots that put us into the overtime to start," Rose said. "Then thinking you have the game [won], and there were big shots on their part to get it to the second overtime, and it was a game that was full of great individual plays and I remember the emotions at times when you think, 'this one is going to get away from us.' And then you are right back in it. The emotion of when you think this is going to end well, and then you are tied again.
Hopefully we can do a better job of managing the score up there, but they are tough. They are really good at home. The challenge, I think, for us, is what makes us really successful is what they are really, really good at not letting you do.
They are the best offensive rebounding team in the league, and we have to defensive-rebound to win. And they have the top two offensive rebounders in the league in their starting lineup, so that will be our challenge, if we can move those big guys around, and get other guys in to actually secure the ball and get clean stops and be able to get off and run."
Portland's Brett Bailey did not play in the loss in Provo in late December, but he's fully healthy now, having scored 30 points last week in Portland's overtime loss at Pacific. The 6-5 guard is averaging 14.5 points per game.
"He's a scorer, a real athletic scorer," Rose said. "He can hit threes. He is really good off the bounce. I think that might be what he is the best at, is putting the ball on the floor and dribbling into a shot, which is kind of a lost art. He's really good and better at jumping up and shooting it than finishing at the rim, and so he's got a little hesitation to his game that makes it tough to block his shot and easy to foul him. That's a big part of his game."