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Provo • BYU basketball coach Dave Rose is fond of saying that no two basketball games are ever alike.
He's hoping that is the case on Saturday night, even though the BYU-San Diego game at the Marriott Center (7 p.m., BYUtv) is a rematch of a game played two nights prior, and even though the Cougars scratched out a 69-67 win at Jenny Craig Pavilion.
The Toreros (8-18, 3-12 WCC) outshot and outrebounded the Cougars (20-8, 11-4 WCC), got the tempo to their liking and outplayed the visitors for most of the game, but committed 20 costly turnovers to remain in the league's basement.
"That's a great win, but we were very fortunate," Rose told the Cougar IMG Sports Network. "Our guys found a whole lot of different ways in which we can win a game, especially without making shots. We are a shot-making team. That's what we do. And when we don't hit perimeter shots, we haven't been able to find wins."
Somehow, the Cougars pulled it off, despite trailing by 13 points in the first half and shooting 35 percent (21 of 60) from the field. It was a reminder after last week's 114-89 win over San Francisco and 96-62 win over Santa Clara — teams ahead of San Diego in the league standings — that nothing comes easy for this group that lacks a reliable low-post scorer and depends too heavily on outside shooting.
That's been the theme of the 2015-16 season: just when it appears the Cougars have figured it out, they have a massive letdown. Had it been a more formidable opponent and not the WCC cellar-dweller, a team with an RPI of 302, they probably would have traveled back to Provo for Part II of the odd back-to-back affair with another inexplicable loss to try and explain.
"We knew this was going to be a real grind, a real fight," Rose said. "Things don't normally come as easily as they did last weekend. They just turn on you. We were really comfortable all last week. We were ahead most of the time and we were able to see balls go in the basket. I just really had a feeling tonight would be a lot different."
The Cougars got only seven points from their bench, and 12 points from their inside players, Kyle Davis (nine), Corbin Kaufusi (two) and Braiden Shaw (one). They were credited with zero fast-break points, although the statisticians must have been asleep after the 9 p.m. MST tipoff when Kyle Collinsworth made one of the biggest plays of the game. He stole the ball and raced downcourt for a two-hand slam dunk to give the Cougars a 54-50 lead with just over eight minutes left.
"Kyle was just terrific," Rose said. "Kyle was trying to win this thing all by himself for a while when we were really struggling. He was able to make a couple huge plays."
So what will happen Saturday when the third-place Cougars and 10th-place Toreros meet again? The weird arrangement is happening because BYU couldn't play the game before Christmas when the WCC schedule started because it had already agreed to play in the Diamond Head Classic in Hawaii.
Rose said Tuesday that neither program is excited about the way it worked out, but there were not any other viable alternatives and neither team wanted to play three games in one week.
Twitter: @drewjay —
San Diego at BYU
P Saturday, 7 p.m.
TV • BYUtv