BYU Beats Mercer & Moves on to Play Southern Miss

Tyler, Brock, Matt, Nate, & Cosmo getting ready to take on Mercer

Monday night's game against Mercer was really solid. For the first few minutes, I couldn't help but think, "Who is wearing jersey #10, and what has he done with the real Matt Carlino?!?" Whoever it was was calm, collected, and was sinking treys like nobody's business . . . and then he got a turnover, so I knew it was really Matty. :) Despite his 3 total turnovers (which I still think is borderline unacceptable, but it's an improvement for him, at least), I think it was one of the best and most complete games Matt has played since he came to BYU. Keep it up, Matt! You still need a haircut, though . . .

Triple team? No problem for Brandon.

As usual, Brandon Davies and Tyler Haws were also amazing. One of my favorite moments was when Brandon threw down a sick dunk and in mid-air gave one of the Mercer players this glaring look that said, "Yeah, I'm Brandon Davies, and that's what I do." BTW, that's another great reason to not be in the student section-- from where I was sitting, I could actually see the players' faces and hear what they were saying to each other. It makes for such a different experience. Anyways, Tyler was just his usual self, scoring a mere 24 points. That puts him only 4 points away from breaking Danny Ainge's record of having 1,130 points by the end of his sophomore season. Just to put that in perspective, Jimmer only had 780 points at the end of his sophomore season. Wowzers, Tyler is good.

I also heard Bill Walton was an awesome commentator. Since I was at the game, I didn't get to hear him, but I've got the game on my TiVo so I will probably re-watch it sometime in the next few days so I can hear his commentary. I'm sure it will be thoroughly entertaining. 

Craig may be married, but Tyler's not . . . hmmmm . . .  :)

My only real disappointment from last night was that while seniors Brandon & Brock both made good contributions on the scoreboard, Craig Cusick never got the ball in the hoop. My friend Kailee wisely put it in real perspective, though: "Craig is hot. He didn't score anything, but he's still hot, so it's ok." Yes, Kailee, it is ok. hahaha. Yeah, we'll just pretend he's not married. :)

Anyhoo, next up tomorrow night, we've got Southern Miss (27-9 overall this season) in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. If we can make it past the Eagles, we'll earn a trip to the NIT final 4 in New York, which would be soooo awesome. I'm cautiously optimistic . . . the Cougs are definitely the underdogs, and I think it will be a real challenge for them, if for no other reason than it's not a home game, they have to travel 1,700 miles to get there, and it's a super fast turnaround. But even if BYU loses tomorrow, I'll be satisfied. I think they've pulled a lot more out of this season than many people expected they would. No matter how much further they go in the NIT tourney, I will be there cheering them on. Let's go, Cougars!

Me, Kailee, & Melanie cheering on our Cougars!