BYU Basketball: How the Cougars can finally pick up a road win vs. San Diego St.
By Shaun Gordon
BYU Basketball is still searching for their first road win of the 2018-19 season, and they face another tough away game at San Diego State.
BYU Basketball is still searching for that elusive first road win. Yes, they’ve won one game away from the Marriott Center (Utah), but that was on a neutral court.
So far the Cougars have fallen to No. 6 Nevada, Illinois State, and Weber State on the road, plus a neutral loss in last week’s buzzer-beater by UNLV.
They’ve got two more chances to pick up a true road win before West Coast Conference play begins, but both are going to be tough tasks.
First up is a tilt with former conference foe San Diego State on Saturday, and while the Aztecs aren’t the same program that went toe-to-toe with Jimmer, they’re still a good team that doesn’t lose much at home.
San Diego State enters the game with a 6-4 record, and their only home loss came to cross-town rival San Diego two weeks ago.
The Cougars are headed into hostile territory, and they’re going to need to do three things well to finally win on the road:
Defend the Perimeter
BYU has a very good offense so far this season. They’re averaging 85.1 points per game, good for No. 16 in the nation.
Their defense has been less-than-stellar, though. They’re giving up 76.1 points per game, and that’s No. 267 in the country.
The Cougars’ defensive struggles stem from poor perimeter defense. While they hold opponents to just 40.4% shooting overall, they’re allowing 34.4% shooting from beyond the arc.
Just look at last week. The Cougars wouldn’t have been in position to lose on a buzzer-beater had they not allowed UNLV to get easy looks and makes from three-point range in the first half. The Rebels, one of the worst shooting teams from distance in the country, absolutely decimated BYU from deep.
And San Diego State is a very good shooting team, hitting 40.7% of their three-pointers. If the Cougars allow the Aztecs the same looks they gave the Rebels, San Diego State will blow BYU out of the building.