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After coming off a hot start against the then #22 Arizona State Sun Devils, Aztecs fans had hoped their team had figured out how to start faster. BYU had other ideas. At the half they led 35-20. The Aztecs couldn’t get the ball to go through the hoop.
For the first time this season, the slow start turned out to be too much.
The Aztecs had a brief glimmer of hope in the second half. Led by Matt Mitchell who scored 25 points in the second half alone, the Aztecs managed to tie the game at 61-61 with a Matt Mitchell steal and slam.
They were only able to score one point after that though. They lost to BYU by a final score of 72-62.
The Aztecs just couldn’t get shots to fall. The game was characterized by missing open 3’s, blowing layups in transition, and not winning any 50-50 balls.
On the defensive end, despite limiting skilled players like Kolby Ross and preseason All American Remy Martin, the Aztecs couldn’t slow down BYU guard Alex Barcello, who finished with 22 points on 11 shots, 7 rebounds, and 7 assists. Adam Seiko was able to slow him down for stretches towards the end of the game, but it was too late.
https://twitter.com/BYUbasketball/status/1340065845901283329?s=20
Mitchell finished the game with a career high 35 points on 17 shots, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals.
Jordan Schakel, the MW player of the week for the previous week, finished with 3 points on 9 shots, with 3 rebounds and an assist. Nathan Mensah, who finished the game against Arizona state with 17 points and 15 rebounds, was held to 8 points and 3 rebounds, and was in foul trouble for much of the game.
The Aztecs have a few days to find their groove again before playing a good St. Mary’s team on a neutral court on Tuesday Dec. 22nd.
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