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Malibu, Calif. • Loyola Marymount and Pepperdine are separated by 19 miles of the Pacific Coast Highway in Southern California, but the way the BYU men's basketball team played offensively against the two West Coast Conference foes in the space of three nights couldn't have been more different.
After recording 28 assists on 32 field goals in Thursday's 91-80 win over the Lions, the Cougars came up with 10 assists on 23 field goals on Saturday and fell 71-65 to the Waves in front of a sellout crowd of 3,019 at Firestone Fieldhouse.
"I think Pepperdine did a great job of getting out in the [passing] lanes," said BYU guard Nick Emery, who had 17 points, but needed 17 shots to get there. "You know, the other day we got out on the break, and I found [Chase] Fischer on the break three or four times. But I think with Pepperdine today, they found us in transition and made it hard for us to get to the hoop or make shots that we normally do."
The Cougars took 65 shots against LMU and 64 against Pepperdine, but they could not get nearly as many to drop in their fourth straight road game.
"I think we just missed shots, honestly," Emery said. "We got a little bit too excited when we were open. Those shots, we just gotta knock them down, and we didn't do it."
Pepperdine had 16 assists on 30 field goals, so it wasn't like the statisticians were stingy on awarding assists, as they sometimes can be.
After getting 15 assists Thursday, a career high, Kyle Collinsworth was held to three, a season low.
'I think that is one thing they do a good job at, is taking away shooters and coming off the right guys," Collinsworth said. "Of course, we can do better. We will work on that and make the extra pass next time."
Coach Dave Rose continually shuffled his lineup, searching for the right combination that could click offensively, yet slow Pepperdine forwards Jett Raines and Kameron Edwards on defense. Raines was especially effective against Zac Seljaas in the second half, schooling the freshman on back-to-back possessions in the final four minutes.
"We obviously didn't shoot the ball our best, and it is difficult when that happens," Rose said. "You need all your guys to play well. You need your inside guys to play well, your perimeter guys to play well. It was kind of difficult shuffling that around tonight, because we were looking for the combinations that would work. You know, either on a lineup in there that could guard, or a lineup in there that could score."
The Cougars also had trouble keeping the physical Waves off the boards; Pepperdine had 15 second-chance points.
"The last four minutes, we just weren't very good," Rose said. "We got to a point where we could have won it if we [had] executed down the stretch."
drew@sltrib.com Twitter: @drewjay