Inspired Cougs hold Granger to season low

PROVO -- Last month, New Mexico forward Danny Granger was a one- man wrecking crew in the Lobos' 65-63 "Big Monday" victory over BYU in Albuquerque.

The highlights from that Mountain West Conference basketball matchup -- officials' whistles at the game's end notwithstanding -- were almost all Granger's: a game-high 27 points on 7-of-12 shooting; a career-high 13-of-16 from the line; eight rebounds; three assists; a season-high six blocks; and the game-winning layup at the buzzer off a long heave from backcourt.

Fast forward to Saturday night, where highlights turned to frustrating lowlights for the league's leading scorer (20.8 points a game) in BYU's 88-71 MWC victory at the Marriott Center.

The 6-foot-8 junior transfer from Bradley logged season lows of nine points on 3-of-9 shooting and three rebounds, earning the deriding "airball" tag from the BYU student section for a couple of shots that missed everything -- a far cry from the 71 percent shooting he had amassed over the previous two games and the 53 percent for the season.

Credit for the Cougars is shared several ways. First, start with the stifling defense applied by Mike Hall, who faced Granger much of the game.

"Mike Hall played an outstanding all-around game," said BYU coach Steve Cleveland, noting Hall's 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting as well as his defense against the Lobos. "To guard Granger isn't an easy process."

Next, credit Cougar teammates like center Rafael Araujo, who often slid over to help double-team the player who has reached 30 points twice this season and 20-plus another eight times.

"He's bigger than Mike," said Araujo of the five-inch difference between Hall and Granger, "so when he tried to post up Mike, I helped out."

Hall took over defending Granger less than four minutes into the game, when the Lobo forward drew BYU freshman starter Garner Meads into two quick fouls and scored an old-fashioned three-point play and a 3-pointer. From there, Granger added a free throw three minutes before halftime and a single bucket five minutes before the end of game, after the Cougar lead had already exceeded 20 points.

And, finally, as Hall explained, credit -- or blame -- the Lobos for not involving their team leader as much as one might expect. In other words, Hall's defense frustrated Granger, but so did the UNM offense.

"Half the time I was guarding him, they weren't even looking for him," Hall said. "They would look at him one time and then reverse it the other way, so they made it easy for me."

E-mail: taylor@desnews.com

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