Sam Morris / Las Vegas Sun
Sunday, March 13, 2011 | 3:05 a.m.
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BYU coaches and players insisted all week that they had put the loss of sophomore forward Brandon Davies behind them. Their opponents weren’t willing to do the same.
The absence of Davies, who the school suspended for the rest of the season because he violated the BYU honor code, had a glaring effect in the Mountain West Conference Tournament championship game Saturday afternoon.
San Diego State exploited BYU from the inside en route to a 72-54 victory.
“We’re a different team and we have a lot of confidence in the guys we have,” senior guard Jackson Emery said. “We believe we could have beaten them with these guys. We’re not going to put anything on not having Brandon.”
Davies was the Cougars' only established post presence and leading rebounder before the suspension came down two weeks ago. BYU, which had garnered attention as a possible No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, is only 3-2 since.
Frontcourt play proved to be the difference for the Aztecs in the championship game. San Diego State outscored BYU in the paint 40-16 and held a 21-9 edge in second chance points.
Aztec senior forward Billy White, who had 21 points and 12 rebounds, said it was easier to operate against the Cougars without Davies roaming below the basket.
“It’s a big factor,” White said. “He’s a key player on that team. We took advantage of that and crashed the boards.”
BYU is still expected to land a high seed during today’s selection show — most likely a No. 2 or No. 3 — and could be dangerous in the tournament with their talent. Although Jimmer Fredette had an off day by his standards against San Diego State, he still scored 30 points and had six rebounds.
But even coach Dave Rose mentioned how important matchups would be in the NCAA Tournament. It’s going to be tough for BYU to counter a team with size comparable to San Diego State’s.
“This group has been very resilient,” Rose said. “I expect them to continue to be resilient because we ran into a good team tonight that was playing with a lot of passion.”
San Diego State appeared as the more motivated team after dropping two regular season meetings to BYU. The Cougars are confident they’ll play with that type of emotion in the tournament.
BYU won its first NCAA game in 17 years last season with a double overtime victory against Florida in the first round. Ever since then, the Cougars have worked toward setting themselves up for a deeper run this year.
With that in mind, BYU won’t dwell on the San Diego State loss much.
“A good trademark of this team is how we bounce back from losses,” Emery said. “We would have loved to have won this game, but we’re going to move on. We have a great week ahead of us. We’re excited.”
Case Keefer can be reached at 948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.
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