BYU basketball: Struggling Y. hasn't 'abandoned ship'

PROVO — After suffering two consecutive home losses for the first time since the 2004-05 season, including last Saturday's humbling setback to nationally ranked Saint Mary's, the BYU basketball team is working hard this week to turn things around.

And the Cougars have a heightened sense of urgency because they host another ranked team, No. 24 Gonzaga, on Thursday (9 p.m. MST, ESPN2).

Senior forward Noah Hartsock said his team is "disappointed" with the way it played last Saturday.

"We addressed those problems," he said. "We're getting back to the basics. We're focused on really competing and playing harder than the other team … If we can continue to get better, we can do really good down the stretch of conference play and then in the West Coast Conference Tournament."

BYU (18-6 overall, 6-3 in WCC play) fell further behind league-leader Saint Mary's and it needs to win Thursday to stay close to Gonzaga (17-3, 7-1).

"There were a lot of plays we should have made (against Saint Mary's)," said senior Charles Abouo. "They outhustled us to a lot of important loose balls. We've got to have a sustained effort for 40 minutes. We need to cut down on the mistakes we made defensively. As players, we've got to take more accountability for that."

Coach Dave Rose likes his players' attitude despite their recent woes.

"Our practices have been good. They've been good mostly all year. That's not the problem," he said. "We're playing really hard and our guys are positive. They're obviously a little disappointed in the outcome of Saturday's game. But I know that they're working hard. That's a good sign."

Among the Cougars' issues is 3-point shooting. BYU has hit just 11 of its last 73 attempts from behind the arc.

"All of us are really good shooters," said freshman point guard Matt Carlino. "You just have to keep shooting, maybe not shooting as many, ease back into it. We have to take it inside and shoot more 2s."

Carlino said that his team knows there's time to bounce back.

"There's still a lot of basketball left and we're trying to keep on improving," he said, adding that the key is "to compete, play hard and keep improving. We haven't just abandoned ship."

LATE NIGHT: BYU and Gonzaga will tip off at 9 p.m. to accommodate ESPN2.