Provo, UT (My Sportsbook) - The nation's longest home win streak appears to be in serious jeopardy tonight as the BYU Cougars entertain the sixth-ranked Wake Forest Demon Deacons at the Marriott Center in Provo.
Off to their best start since 1987-88, the Cougars have won an astounding 53 consecutive games at the Marriott Center, with the last setback for the squad coming against Loyola Marymount in the 2005-06 home opener. This year, the squad is a perfect 6-0 in the building and 5-1 elsewhere thanks to a 74-68 victory against Tulsa on the road Tuesday. The win came 10 days after the Cougars suffered their first and only loss of 2008-09, a 76-75 defeat at the hands of Arizona State as a potential game-winning basket at the buzzer was waved off.
As for the Demon Deacons, they've maintained an unblemished record to this point in the campaign, thanks in part to a questionable non-conference slate that has included early meetings with the likes of NC Central, Winston-Salem State, East Carolina and Radford. Aside from the double-digit win over Baylor as part of the 76 Classic in Anaheim in late November, the team has cruised in almost every other outing. On Tuesday, Wake Forest easily dismissed Radford in an 83-61 final at home which means the Demon Deacons have scored at least 81 points in all but one of the last eight games.
Wake Forest leads the all-time series with the Cougars by a count of 3-1 after picking up a 79-62 victory at home in Winston-Salem a season ago. Against ranked opponents, the Cougars have an all-time record of 50-112 and are 14-20 versus such teams at the Marriott Center over the years. BYU is just 17-61 versus schools in the top-10, with Wake being the highest-ranked, non- conference opponent ever to face BYU in this building.
Wake had a little trouble with the Highlanders in the first half of their game on Tuesday, leading by only seven points at the break, but in the second half the offense opened up and the Demon Deacons cruised to the 22-point win. Jeff Teague scored a game-high 19 points for the home team, leading four players in double figures, while Al-Farouq Aminu was one of two with a double-double as he dropped in 18 points and cleared 10 rebounds. James Johnson came up with 12 points, 12 boards and five assists, followed by Chas McFarland who tallied 10 points, but on just 2-of-8 shooting from the field. Teague leads the team in scoring after 12 games with his 18.8 ppg, shooting not only 52.5 percent from the field but also 51.7 percent behind the three-point line. In addition, Teague is also first with 50 assists and 28 steals, which tells the story of a player who makes a full effort at both ends of the floor. Aminu, a 54.8 percent shooter from the field, checks in with 12.9 ppg and a team-best 9.1 rpg, followed by Johnson and his 12.8 ppg and 7.7 rpg. At the moment Wake is shooting an impressive 51.3 percent from the floor, one of the best marks in college basketball, while limiting the opposition to just 36 percent from the floor and 27.8 percent out on the perimeter.
Down by four at the break versus Tulsa at the Reynolds Center, the Cougars picked up the pace at both ends of the floor in the second half in order to land in the win column. In addition to holding the Golden Hurricane to just 34.4 percent from the field after the intermission, the visitors also converted 57.7 percent from the floor themselves. Lee Cummard led a trio of double-digit scorers with his game-high 26 points, but it was Jonathan Tavernari who put it all together with his 20 points, 10 rebounds and four steals. Jimmer Fredette managed to work through six turnovers by posting 13 points. Cummard leads the team in scoring overall this season with his 18.4 ppg, but now Tavernari is right on his tail with 18.3 ppg of his own. The former is shooting an amazing 59.9 percent from the field, 45.7 percent behind the three-point line and 82 percent at the charity stripe, all while averaging close to six rebounds per game and better than three assists per outing. Tavernari checks in with 7.3 rpg to lead the group and give them a rebounding advantage of more than five per game against the competition. Like Wake, the Cougars are also shooting the ball extremely well from the field at a 52.1 percent clip and are holding foes to just 28.9 percent out on the perimeter.
