Dick Harmon: News of Brandon Davies' dismissal comes at dramatic time for Cougars

It happened in January when Kyle's older brother returned missionary Chris Collinsworth suffered season-ending minor knee surgery for a microfracture.

It has happened when Jackson Emery suffered a foot injury and missed practices.

The two hottest players on the team right now are Abouo and Hartsock. They were stars in Saturday's exciting upset over No. 4 San Diego State in Viejas Arena. Hartsock had 15 points and blocked 4 shots. Abouo had 9 rebounds and 18 points.

Defense and rebounding: This is the dual challenge BYU needs in Davies' absence. Davies was just 2 of 6 from the field with 6 boards and 4 points in a foul-plagued, 27-minute showing at SDSU on CBS-TV.

A trademark of Rose-coached teams in six years are consistently displayed traits on the court. His teams are resilient, tough and flexible.

You would expect Rose to demand and receive all of that from his squad tonight against the Lobos.

But you cannot spin the loss of Davies. It is a significant vacancy on BYU's roster and his physical presence and personality will be missed.

And it couldn't have come at a more inconvenient time.

e-mail: dharmon@desnews.com