BYU Looks To Get Over Road Woes Against Pepperdine, San Francisco

PROVO, Utah – While they’ve been on the road plenty so far this season, the BYU Cougars haven’t had much success, winning just one true road game with five losses in opposing team’s gyms. They also lost to UNLV on the neutral floor, but that game was also in Las Vegas at the T-Mobile Arena.

They’ve struggled on defense on the road, and have had much more success at keeping the ball out of the basket at home. Away from the Marriott Center, the Cougars have been giving up an average of 90 points per game. At home that number deflates to just 67.7 points per game.

After a five-game stretch away from home, the BYU Cougars were happy to be back at the Marriott Center and it showed with wins over Portland and Santa Clara.

“It was great to get back home first and then to be able to win two games was really good for the confidence and psyche of our team,” said BYU head coach Dave Rose. “We were out on the road for a long time.”

Now the Cougars will hit the road again for a trip to California. They’ll take on Pepperdine on Thursday before heading up the coast to play San Francisco on Saturday.

NEXT ⤵️:

BYU at Pepperdine. Tomorrow. 9pm MST.#BYUhoops #GoCougs pic.twitter.com/xU18saQZ36

— BYU Basketball (@BYUbasketball) January 16, 2019

Struggles Against The Waves

BYU also hasn’t done very well in Malibu, winning just once in the last five years against the Waves on the road.

“We don’t shoot the ball very well in there. That’s one consistent thing,” said coach Dave Rose to Jeff Call of the Deseret News. “I hope that things can change. Last year we got a win in there, so this group of guys should have confidence going in there and winning. It’s a grind for us. Hopefully, guys will be on top of things. I think the confidence from this weekend (home wins over Portland and Santa Clara) should help — I hope.”

Congrats Yoeli for bringing home your 2nd WCC Player of the Week Award this year. Not a shabby weekend average for W’s over Portland and Santa Clara – 27.5 points-9 rebounds-60% from FG-55.6% from 3 Pt and 82.4 % from FT! pic.twitter.com/FrTWjdUdDX

— Tom Holmoe (@TomHolmoe) January 15, 2019

Pepperdine is led by four players averaging at least 10 points per game. Guard Colbey Ross is the team’s leading scorer with 19 points per game.

Still, despite facing a strong offensive team on the road, Rose is confident that his team can figure it out and come away with wins.

“I really believe that this group of guys can find ourselves and find success on the road. It’s just one of those things where you’ve got to find it, then believe in it and then do it,” Rose said. “We probably have to do it first and then believe in it and then execute from there. It’s going to be tough. If you look at the home records of the teams in our league, they’re all really good. At least the two we’re going to play right now are really good. We’ll deal with the other ones later.”

THIS WEEK

THUR:
🏀BYU at Pepperdine
⌚9pm MST
📍Firestone Fieldhouse
🎙️BYU Radio, SiriusXM 143
🎙KSL 1160AM/102.7FM
📺ESPNU

SAT:
🏀BYU at San Francisco
⌚9pm MST
📍War Memorial Gym
🎙️BYU Radio, SiriusXM 143
🎙KSL 1160AM/102.7FM
📺NBC Bay Area, https://t.co/TaQBOd9D7x#BYUhoops pic.twitter.com/WN9PXVhDuG

— BYU Basketball (@BYUbasketball) January 15, 2019

The game against Pepperdine will tip off Thursday at 9 p.m. on ESPN U. The San Francisco matchup will begin at 9 p.m. on Saturday and be broadcast on TheW.tv.