PROVO, Utah — If Texas Southern appeared to run out of gas during a 73-52 loss to BYU on Saturday, it would be hard to blame.
Sure, there’s the factor of playing at just over 4,500 feet — something a lot of teams struggle with when visiting BYU, but considering the other extenuating circumstances, the altitude was just an afterthought.
Saturday’s game marked the 13th-straight game for the Tigers this season, compared with no games played at home. Since its season-opener, a 97-69 loss at Gonzaga on Nov. 10, Texas Southern has traveled across the country and back, making stops at such places as Syracuse, Kansas and Oregon.
But that’s just the travel.
Absent in Saturday’s game was leading scorer Demontrae Jefferson, who averages 23.4 points per game. The 5-foot-7 guard’s father passed away earlier this week, and therefore Jefferson was absent from the team, leaving a huge void in what the Tigers do offensively.
"He's seventh in the nation in scoring, and his points are true points because he's going against the No. 1 schedule in the country," said Texas Southern coach Mike Davis. "So it's not like he's padding his stats against some bad basketball teams. … I think he's one of the top 10 players in the country, offensively."
"I with them and their team the very best," added Dave Rose, speaking specifically about the loss of Jefferson and the difficult circumstances he's going through. "I think Mike's got a really talented squad and we didn't get to see the whole group tonight."
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