Cougs 'playing even better' than hot start

PROVO — BYU posted a 5-1 record in November, including a win over Louisville and a near-upset of North Carolina.

But Cougar guard Lee Cummard says his team, which is riding a five-game winning streak — including a pair of road wins last week — is much-improved since then.

"I think we're playing even better than we were playing in November," he said. "We were really inconsistent back then. We're getting consistent play out of everybody and collectively as a team. Our defense is a lot better than it was then, and we keep getting better overall."

BYU is looking to keep on rolling tonight at 7, when it entertains TCU at the Marriott Center.

The Horned Frogs are considered to be one of the most athletic and physical teams in the Mountain West Conference. But will that be enough for TCU to snap the Cougars' five-game win streak and their 42-game homecourt winning streak?

Speaking of streaks, coach Neil Dougherty's Frogs, who started MWC play with a 3-1 mark, have lost three consecutive games.

"TCU is very athletic. They're a team that always causes us some matchup problems," said BYU coach Dave Rose. "They're tough-minded, they play hard and they compete. When they're shooting the ball well, they're difficult to cover."

"They've got great players," Cummard said. "We've got to come in here and match their aggressiveness and physicality. They're always one of the hardest-playing teams and most physical teams in the conference."

Still, the Frogs may be without their top player, junior Henry Salter, who is No. 9 in the MWC in scoring (14.1 ppg) and leads the league in 3-point shooting at 52.4 percent. Salter suffered an ankle injury against UNLV a week ago, and he did not play last Saturday against Air Force. He is listed as questionable for tonight's contest.

If Salter can't play, it will impact TCU. "You're talking about one of the top two or three 3-pointer shooters in the country, percentage-wise," Rose said. "It makes a real big difference. They played the last two games with one of their top three guys. That's a big factor."

Besides Salter, the Frogs have two other talented scorers, forward Kevin Langford (14.4 ppg) and guard Brent Hackett (11.8 ppg).