BYU basketball: San Diego State blows out BYU in MWC title game

"It's a big factor," White said of the Cougars playing without Davies. "He's a key player on that team, too. We took advantage and crashed the board, just played San Diego State basketball. We knew if we just tried to contain Jimmer and tried to make everybody else shoot, we knew that we had the game."

Were the short-handed Cougars spent after playing three games in three nights?

"We weren't tired, we were beat up," Emery said. "We never played three games before right in a row. It was tough on us. But I think we had stretches where we just didn't make shots. When we're not hitting shots and they're hitting shots, it's really tough to beat them."

For SDSU, finally beating BYU was sweet redemption.

"It feels great," said guard D.J. Gay. "I can't tell you those two losses weren't on our mind, because it definitely was. It was another thing that we can use as motivation. They're a very good team. We haven't really beaten them a lot in my career here. Just to go out with that win is huge for the team and myself personally."

e-mail: jeffc@desnews.com