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BYU less-than-thrilled with setup for game in Brooklyn

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Brigham Young Cougars forward Yoeli Childs (23) shoots as the BYU men's basketball team plays a scrimmage game known as the Cougar Tipoff, in Provo, Wednesday October 25, 2017.

BYU basketball coach Dave Rose clearly isn’t thrilled about his team’s next game.

The Cougars are headed across the country to New York City to take on Alabama on Friday afternoon in the Barclays Classic. But instead of playing a top 25 team at Barclays Center, the home of the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets, BYU is being forced to play on a much smaller stage: the 2,500-seat gym at Long Island University-Brooklyn.

“It just happened about four weeks ago, five weeks ago, we found out,” Rose said this week. “Not a very good explanation from the promoter, but we are stuck. That’s what we got. So obviously we wouldn’t have signed up for this thing if we would have known we were going to play the Barclays Classic at LIU. It hasn’t turned out like we really thought it would.”

While the Steinberg Wellness Center is tiny, the task ahead of the Cougars certainly is not. Alabama will enter the game ranked No. 25 in the nation, having won its first four games, including topping a UT-Arlington squad that just beat the Cougars in Provo.

“I think we are ready for it,” forward Yoeli Childs said. “I think being able to travel and play on the road already at Princeton and getting the win there and playing New Mexico there in the preseason, I think that has helped this team figure out how to get it done on the road.

“We are in a great position right now mentally. We are in a great position when it comes to trusting each other, trusting our coaches, that we can go out and get some wins there.”

Crimson Tide star freshman Collin Sexton scored 29 points in Alabama’s victory over UT-Arlington. Sexton is averaging 25.3 points per game to start his college career.

“That’s somebody that we will [prepare for] and we will start from there to see if we can get him under control,” Rose said.

The Cougars are coming off a 95-88 win over Niagara on Tuesday. Junior guard Elijah Bryant helped lead BYU in that bounce-back victory, scoring 22 points thanks to a strong night from the free-throw line. Bryant, however, still is dealing with the effects of a foot injury he suffered during the loss to Arlington.

“Well, he is one of our captains and one of our most experienced guys. So, enough said. He’s a good player, and we need him. We need him on the floor,” Rose said after the win over Niagara. “We will see how his foot responds after this game tonight because it is pretty sore. But structurally all the X-rays and the MRI [were negative]. He just has to deal with a lot of pain and hopefully we can get him back ready to help us on Friday.”

In addition to Bryant’s play, the Cougars came away from their win over Niagara feeling confident heading into Friday’s game against Alabama and Saturday’s contest with the University of Massachusetts.

“We made those adjustments from this last game until now, and I think those things are going to carry over to this weekend,” junior forward Luke Worthington said. “Those aren’t just short-term things. We talked about a lot of schematic things that we can improve on, and those are going to carry over to Alabama and UMass, so we are excited.”

BYU VS. ALABAMA <br>At the Steinberg Wellness Center, Brooklyn, N.Y. <br>Tip • Friday, 12:30 p.m. MST <br>Watch • Stadium College Basketball on Facebook <br>Listen • 1160 AM, 102.7 FM