Lack of familiarity no advantage this time

With 33.3 seconds left, Utah had the ball and an important chance to erase a one-point deficit.

The situation brought up a lot of intrigue about a situation that could arise many times in the Mountain West Conference over the next couple of months. Do five new coaches, including the Utes' Jim Boylen, have the advantage when it comes to scripting final plays, because there isn't a lot of scouting to be done of those situations?

Not on Saturday at the Huntsman Center, as Utah's Tyler Kepkay airballed a short baseline shot with about five seconds left off a convoluted play.

"We just didn't get what we wanted," Kepkay said.

BYU forward Lee Cummard, the star of the game, got the rebound on the overdone shot and added a pair of free throws to seal the win.

Boylen called timeout to set up the final moment. There is some regret to the execution.

"I probably would have gone (for a score) earlier," he said. "I wanted to just get us settled, get us into our thing, get a good shot. I thought we had one crack at it, and then we were going to have to foul. I think we waited too long, we wanted to drive the ball -- high stack, drive the ball, something we've worked on. And it didn't work."

There's a little debate about how the Cougars did on guessing what Utah would try. Cummard thought the coaches were "right on."

BYU head coach Dave Rose and his staff have looked at a lot of tape of Utah to try and get a feel for Boylen, who has never been a head coach before.

"We thought it would be similar to the play they ran a couple of possessions earlier, where they set the double screen up top and then they ran (Kepkay) off of that," Rose said. "We didn't step up quick enough and he hit a nice, little shot. So we made a little adjustment, but they went to another look."

That may have been forced by the Cougars. Rose praised the defensive effort and execution of his guards. Ben Murdock limited Kepkay to 1-of-8 shooting. Sam Burgess "was just right on in the execution of our game plan," Rose said. "He switched up top, got good matchups as far as keeping guys away from the basket."

Rose felt comfortable for the most part in how his team prepared for Boylen.

"There were some things out there that had little twists, but that might be players reading how we were guarding."

Said Burgess of Utah's last true possession: "We thought they might try to run the shot clock down and get a good shot. Ben did a great job on Kepkay. He didn't let him get around that screen and I didn't have to come and help, which might have left my man open."

Truth is, though, there was a lot of scrambled play going on because both teams seemed to know each other so well. The Cougars had more turnovers (10) than assists (8).

• Speaking of tape: The Cougars just about threw out the one of their 29-point loss at UNLV on Tuesday. While the coaches watched it, Rose got the team together the next day and held a bon voyage for the DVD. It was chucked into the Marriott Center stands.

No word yet if it's been found, sold on eBay or retrieved from a trash bin by other Mountain West Conference coaches.

"That last game was so not us," Cummard said. "We wanted to come out, put a game together and get back in the swing of things."

Rose has stressed consistency lately, particularly at the defensive end when the Cougars aren't hitting shots. He called Saturday's 40-minute tenacity -- "probably the best performance we had this year (competing)" -- a mixture of playing a rival, plus wanting desperately to prove they were better than the last outing.

Asked to describe the change in how he felt after losing to the Runnin' Rebels to now: "You can't describe it. There is no way you can describe the difference."

• Shut out: Sophomore forward Jonathan Tavernari went 0-for-6, half those misses from 3-point range, to wind up scoreless in 24 minutes with five rebounds.

For the first time in recent memory, J.T. wasn't such a quick shooter. He waited three minutes to hoist the ball.

"We just wanted Jonathan to take shots that we think are good shots for him," Rose said. "And I think he's doing a much better job of understanding. We're working on a couple things with him: space, where he has space. And then the pace of the shot; make sure it's at his pace and he doesn't get rushed. ... And when he does, that he's very good."

Tavernari had solid backup. Chris Collinsworth scored six points in 16 minutes, along with eight rebounds. The freshman from Provo High scored consecutive baskets that ran the Cougars' lead to 43-38 with about 10 minutes left. He followed his own short miss after getting a rebound off Cummard's clanked jumper, then he swished a baseline shot.

Tavernari, counting the loss at UNLV, is one for his last 15 from the field.

• The last word: "Coach just pulled me aside and said just be aggressive. He didn't say shoot a lot or do anything special. ... He said just be aggressive and get others going and I tried to do it the best I could." -- Cummard on Rose's pregame instructions.

• Tip-ins: Rose is 4-2 against Utah as a head coach and has won the past three meetings. ... Utah decided to start sixth man Johnnie Bryant in the second half. He finished with eight points on 3-of-10 shooting, while starting forward Carlon Brown missed his only attempt in 11 minutes (after the first half he had only one rebound and a missed shot to his credit in nine minutes). ... Utah forward Kim Tillie, who missed the last five games (stress fracture in leg), had four points and five rebounds, including a putback basket that caused coach Boylen to run up to hug him after the Cougars called timeout. ... Jimmer Fredette, who had eight points, added a career-best four rebounds. ... Collinsworth had eight rebounds, and he's averaging 6.7 in the last six games. ... BYU will return to the Marriott Center to face San Diego State on Wednesday at 6 p.m.

• Jason Franchuk can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it