BYU hopes to be healthy against a tough Pepperdine team


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PROVO — The BYU Cougars are riding a three-game winning streak into Thursday night’s home game against Pepperdine. The 13-4 Cougars return to the Marriott Center after a 2-0 road trip that saw the team’s offense come to life. In wins over Santa Clara and San Francisco, BYU jumped out to big leads early on the strength of hot shooting.

In the game against the Dons, the Cougars hit 15 3-pointers and finished the game shooting 60 percent from the field. Freshman center Corbin Kaufusi said that while the team is happy that they played so well on the road, they can’t sit back and expect it to carry over.

“That’s one thing that is a little bit difficult, because you come off of those wins, and they’re big wins and they’re on the road. You’re happy with the win but you have to stay hungry … every game is just one game at a time.”

With Pepperdine, BYU will face a team that is known for its defense and post scoring. Head coach Dave Rose likes what he’s seen from the Waves.

“These guys can do almost everything,” Rose said. “They’re all good shooters, they’re good ball handlers (and) they can pass. Then on the defensive end, they’re really intense … these post guys, they just play really well in this system together. … I really like their guards, and Stacy Davis is as good a scoring post (player) as we have in the league … I like their team.”

Pepperdine leads the West Coast Conference in 3-point defense, allowing teams to shoot just .236 percent.

“They defend really well, especially the 3-point line,” Kaufusi said. “That’s of course one thing that we like to do, is we like to shoot threes, so finding other shoots is gonna be one of the challenges for us.”

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Not only has BYU dealt with the injury bug this season, it is also dealing with the flu bug. Several players and coaches have been sick the past few days, and it’s something that the team is trying to overcome as it prepares to host the Waves.

“We’ve really been trying to manage some sickness issues, the flu,” Rose said. “Today was our best practice as far as with all of our guys. Monday and Tuesday we had some guys that practiced half the time and then sat out. We’ve been managing some minor injuries. … I hope we go into this game tomorrow night as healthy as we’ve been for quite a while.”

In terms of injuries, Anson Winder has been diagnosed with a bone bruise on the side of his knee, but Rose doesn’t believe it is anything that will keep Winder out of practice or any games.

Nate Austin, who has been out since the Utah game with a torn hamstring, has been doing more in practice the past two days. Rose said that there’s a chance that he might see the floor next weekend, but that a more realistic date would be the San Diego game on Jan. 24.

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Thursday night’s game against Pepperdine can be heard on KSL Newsradio 102.7 FM/1160 AM. Pregame coverage begins at 8 p.m. MST; tipoff at the Marriott Center is set for 9 p.m. MST.

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Jason Shepherd

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