McGregor gives BYU heads-up showing

ALBUQUERQUE — One day after BYU senior center Gavin McGregor had his head split open by teammate Noah Hartsock so bad it required 12 stitches, McGregor was sporting a fancy headband and produced his career-best performance in a loss at New Mexico.

McGregor scored 11 points and hauled in seven rebounds in just 16 minutes in the 81-62 loss to the Lobos in The Pit on Saturday. The day before, he was "spurting blood" all over the place in practice.

"It was pretty bad," said McGregor in the hallway outside BYU's locker room where the team recovered from its worst loss of the season.

"Gavin has been playing better than I've ever seen him in practice," said BYU coach Dave Rose.

Said McGregor, "I've been trying to put a lot of work into my game, getting pointers from a lot of people. Changing and adapting helps me gain confidence and I continue to progress in practice and in games. I am trying to get as good as I can to contribute to my team the best I can. I try to do everything in my power to be a team player.

"I always think about what I can do to contribute, and I always think about offensive rebounds, and I'm glad that I had a few of those today."

McGregor could take little consolation that he'd played so well because the Cougars had their tails handed to them by the Lobos.

"They had a lot of energy and seemed to want it more than we did," said McGregor.

CUMMARD SHUT DOWN: The Lobos all but stopped scoring leader Lee Cummard who had one field goal and seven points.

"Lee is going to get himself in a dog fight in every game. They will try to make him do things that he doesn't like to do, but he's good all-around, so they won't be able to shut him down completely," said Rose.

BYU's staff had plenty of matchup problems with UNM. One was a banged up Jackson Emery on Lobo guard Tony Danridge.

"Jackson is pretty banged up right now," said Rose. "He's got a pad on about every joint on his body."

BIGGEST LOSS: Coming into The Pit, BYU had trailed by double figures just once this season when the Cougars fell behind 11-0 against Western Oregon at home. It was the team's first double-digit loss this season (81-62).

The Cougars host UNLV on Wednesday.

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E-mail: dharmon@desnews.com