It is never easy to go into BYU and win a game, and Northern Arizona found this out on Thursday night. The Cougars jumped out to a huge first half lead and never looked back, winning the game 84-54.
For the Lumberjacks, senior guard Michael Dunn was the only one producing. He finished with 17 points on 7/9 shooting. Nobody else scored in double figures.
DeWayne Russell had about as good of a start as you could ever hope for from a freshman, but has cooled down a bit in his past few games. He was just 4/14 from the floor, with 9 points and 4 turnovers. Those kind of nights will happen.
What has to be more concering for head coach Jack Murphy is the play of senior guard Gabe Rogers. He is among the Big Sky leaders in scoring, but don't let that fool you - he has struggled this season. He finished 2/13 on the night (0/6 from downtown), and had 10 turnovers. He was shooting 31% from twos and 32% from threes, and that was before the game. He doesn't create offense for others with his low assist rate, shoots a ton (18 highest shot percentage in the country), and has been extremely inefficient when he has shot. That is a bad combination all around.
For the game, NAU had 24 turnovers, and had no answer for Brandon Davies down low, who was 13/16 from the floor. They drop to 4-8 on the season.
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Jacks have looked bad the last 5 quarters after playing well vs MSU and the first half vs UM. Games on the road vs. Colorado and BYU are tough matchups but it hasn't even been close to competitive. Turnovers concern me the most. The lackadaisical approach taken to possession is a death knell for quality basketball. Dunn stepped up tonight and put the ball in the hoop when no one else was. Jacobsen stepped up a few games ago. But nobody is stepping up as a consistent third option. Rogers shot has been off but at least he's showing the fortitude to take shots, albeit, ill advised at times. This team seems thoroughly hesitant on offense. The mid-range jump shot is truly a rarity...I miss Cameron Jones. -MTJack
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