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Medicine Ball Rebounder

AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. -- Steve Cleveland believes his players won't flinch tonight when they play battle-tested Air Force in Clune Arena.

Yeah, he knows the Falcons won 24-straight games here until Utah spoiled the run Saturday. He knows AFA is in a bad mood and his squad is struggling, skinned up and nursing scabs. He knows odds favor the Falcons by a long shot.

BYU is 9-17 overall and just 3-8 in the MWC. They appear ready for the fork and the pronouncement that they are done.

Cleveland, however, doesn't see the plug pulled.

"They'll be ready. They're trying. You don't see these guys quitting," Cleveland said.

The Cougars arrive at Air Force fresh off a whipping at the hands of New Mexico, a 19-point decision. They've lost leading rebounder Keena Young with a broken hand and Jimmy Balderson, a streak shooters who's had his moments, is nursing an ankle sprain.

"We've all seen enough basketball to know when a team just checks it in. This team doesn't have that personality. We may lack some issues regarding talent, ability level, experience and some of those things, but this team has a good heart and they'll keep competing. Let's get to the tournament and see if we're better in three weeks."

The Falcons tonight? Not good medicine for the Cougars. The Falcons were stung by the Utes and saw one of the nation's top home win streaks snapped. AFA shot just 3 freethrows to 29 for Utah and they are not pleased at 15-10 overall and 6-4 in league play.

"I'm going to be realistic," Cleveland said. "We have to play really, really well and it can't be one or two of us, it's going to have to be six or seven in order for us to be successful and compete. You have to eternally believe and hope that's possible and that's what we'll prepare for."

The Cougars did find some light in Saturday's whipping from the Lobos. BYU had been scoring to the tune of 58, 58 and 50 points and averaged 33 percent shooting in the last two home games with Young, a very good offensive rebounder, healthy.

Against the Lobos, BYU scored 72 points on 52 percent shooting. It helped that senior post man Jared Jensen hit his first six shots and finished 9 of 10 from the field.

"You come out and try and be as efficient as possible," Jensen said. "We seemed to focus on getting the ball to where we know we can be successful. Coaches have talked to us about not forcing shots," Jensen said.

Cleveland continues to pull rabbits out of his top hat, trying to get some momentum. Over the weekend he inserted walkon Brock Reichner, who played at Salt Lake Community College. He continues to toss Sam Burgess some time when it appeared Burgess was vanquished to the bench a week ago. He's instilled a pesky press he hopes to throw at teams like a speed bump of sorts, and in practice, the Cougars have gone back to fundamentals.

"We're doing a lot of things right now in evaluating this team," Cleveland said. "We've got three games left against the best teams in the league. It isn't going to be easy. But if we make some improvement, we're trying to do a few things to get better in these last games and in the tournament, then we'll evaluate the season and see where we need to improve."

Cougars on the air

BYU (9-17, 3-8) at Air Force (15-10, 6-4)

Today, 7 p.m.

TV: KPNZ

Radio: KSL 1160 AM

E-mail: dharmon@desnews.com

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