BYU basketball: Horned Frogs did not follow game plan

PROVO — BYU defense, transition game and best shooters all took off on first year TCU coach Jim Christian in his first venture to the Marriott Center where the Cougars won 73-61 on Tuesday night.

It didn't matter that the Horned Frogs outscored the Cougars by nine in the second half, Christian was not pleased with his debut in Provo.

"It doesn't mean anything at that point." said Christian. "You need to compete when the game is on and we didn't do that at all tonight. We didn't get done any of the things we wanted to do, we didn't follow our game plan, didn't focus.

"When the game was in the balance, we didn't do anything. We did some of it when the game was over."

The win elevated BYU to 14-2 overall and 2-0 in the Mountain West heading into a road trip at New Mexico on Saturday. The Frogs visit Air Force this weekend.

"If you don't play for the full 40 minutes, you have no chance of beating a team the caliber of BYU," said Christian. "We weren't focused to do the things in our game plan and I'm extremely disappointed in that."

Christian had the perfect plan for BYU. He wanted his Frogs, who just defeated league favorite UNLV at home and chiseled out a four-game win streak, to stop BYU's fast break and get a handle on BYU point guard Jimmer Fredette and Jonathan Tavernari.

Instead, BYU got a fast-break layup on its first possession and Fredette and Tavernari combined for 25 points, most of them in the first half of a 42-21 BYU lead.

Lee Cummard, who led the Cougars with 22 points, passed Alan Taylor (1,284 points) and Dick Nemelka (1,299) for the No. 17 spot on BYU's all-time leading scorers in the win.

"He's a phenomenal player," Christian said of Cummard. "You put tape on him, he's a fun guy to watch. He can hurt you in so many ways. He can shoot it, pass it, he runs the floor so very well and he's got such a quick release. That's the reason he's accomplished all the things he has."

Christian, hired to TCU out of Kent State, made his first trip to the Marriott Center Tuesday.

"It's a great venue and a great home court advantage for these guys. It's loud and they have great student support ant they feed off it," he said.

The Cougars out-shot the Frogs 48 to 40 percent in a game the Cougars essentially did most of the work in the first half. He had some players who were making their first visit to Provo but Christian hoped that didn't impact his team's slow start.

"I don't know," said Christian. "We were prepared to play but we didn't execute any of the things we worked on. We just played awful and you can't afford to do that against a great team.

"I give them a lot of credit," said Christian. "They had a lot to do with us playing awful from the onset of the game. BYU is one of the elite teams in the country, they have depth, they have balance and they can shoot the ball from any of four positions on the court. They are an excellent basketball team."

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E-mail: dharmon@desnews.com

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