There were positives and negatives from the game last night. Since so may board members seem to focus on the negatives lets start with the positives.

First, we beat Stanford again. Last year it was a full blown shoot out and they were determined to keep the game at a slower pace this year. They partially succeeded but BYU was able to get the pace a little faster in the second half.

Second, in what was probably the most surprising statistic of the night (at least to me watching the game) BYU outrebounded Stanford 39-36 and by a 15-11 margin on the offensive boards. In the middle of the second half I would have sworn they were killing us on the boards. That is even more amazing given the fact they shot a higher percentage from the field.

Third, despite some mistakes down the stretch Anson Winder was again a spark to this team and provided both offense and defense.

Fourth, and for all the complainers, I thought this was a good game by Worthington. He hustled and blocked out. He scored 5 points. He only got 2 rebounds and I hear so many complain about that but it was his blocking out that allowed Collinsworth to get 10 boards. He made two great back to back plays. First was the strip of the ball from Nastic and then he got down on the floor for a loose ball that ended up in Fischer’s hands for an easy lay up.

Fifth, Tyler Haws played when so many of us thought he might have to sit another week to be ready for the Gonzaga game. He scored 24 points and while he was not 100% he played pretty good.

Sixth, Isaac Neilson is starting to improve. He had 6 rebounds and 6points. He also had a great block and BYU actually used a pick and roll between he and Haws that got two points.

Seventh, we seemed to attack the rim more in the second half and that put Stanford over the limit early. That accomplishes two things, it makes them more tentative on defense and it gets us to the line early.

Now the negatives.

First and foremost is a lack of clock management at the end of the game and this is a recurring problem. We seemed surprised at the full court press and not prepared for it at the end of the game. The result was two quick turnovers that led to quick baskets by Stanford. The shot by Haws at 1:10 in the game was unnecessary and this has to go to coaching. I know that Rose likes to keep an up tempo game but you have to know when to manage the clock to protect what should have been insurmountable lead.

Halford getting minutes (10 of them) continues to surprise me. I hold my breath every time he has the ball because he seems like a turn over waiting to happen.

Nixon came in and contributed little to nothing, including missing a wide open lay up.

Stanford is not a great team and not a bad team. This was a good game for BYU. They are not a small team with Nastic being 6’11, Travis at 6’8 and Allen at 6’9. They also have some skill sets for playing in the blocks. Randle scored over 30 last year against us and he is a good player. I am sure he thought he made the final shot to win the game. They will be in the upper middle of the pack in the PAC12.

Because it is Cougarboard it is impossible to make a post without some comment on officiating. Overall I think they did a good job and were pretty consistent. They must have talked about calling fouls away from the ball in the pregame because they certainly made a lot of those calls. I did not like the second offensive foul on Collinsworth. The first was close but the second was a block in my opinion. But I will admit both of those calls are the type they show in clinics and ask you to make a call. They are never unanimous.