1977–78 BYU Cougars men's basketball team

1977–78 BYU Cougars men's basketball
1977–78 BYU Cougars men's basketball
Conference	Western Athletic Conference
Record	12–18 (6–8 WAC)
Head coach	Frank Arnold (3rd season);
Home arena	Marriott Center

1977–78 WAC men's basketball standings
	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 12 New Mexico	13	–	1	.929	24	–	4	.857
No. 14 Utah	12	–	2	.857	23	–	6	.793
Colorado State	8	–	6	.571	18	–	9	.667
Arizona	7	–	8	.467	15	–	11	.577
	6	–	8	.429	12	–	18	.400
Arizona State	6	–	9	.400	13	–	14	.481
Wyoming	3	–	11	.214	12	–	15	.444
UTEP	2	–	12	.143	10	–	16	.385

Rankings from AP Poll^[1]

The 1977–78 BYU Cougars men's basketball team represented the Brigham Young University as a member of the Western Athletic Conference during the 1977–78 college basketball season. The Cougars finished the season with a record of 12–18, 6–8 in the Western Athletic Conference

Roster

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown
G	20	Scott Runia	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	170 lb (77 kg)		Salt Lake City, Utah
G	22	Danny Ainge	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	188 lb (85 kg)	Fr	Eugene, Oregon
G	23	Greg Anderson	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	165 lb (75 kg)		Salt Lake City, Utah
G	24	Greg Ballif	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	190 lb (86 kg)		Provo, Utah
G	30	Mike May	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	185 lb (84 kg)		Canoga Park, California
F	31	Steve Anderson	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	212 lb (96 kg)		Rancho Palos Verdes, California
F	32	Keith Rice	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	200 lb (91 kg)		Portland, Oregon
F	40	Kevin Nielsen	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	190 lb (86 kg)		Provo, Utah
F	40	Mark Stroud	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	185 lb (84 kg)		Pocatello, Idaho
F	43	Glen Roberts	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	200 lb (91 kg)		Riverton, Utah
F	45	Larry Cheesman	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	190 lb (86 kg)		Provo, Utah
F	50	Paul Vos	7 ft 0 in (2.13 m)	220 lb (100 kg)	Sr	Waalre, Netherlands
C	52	Dave McGuire	7 ft 0 in (2.13 m)	225 lb (102 kg)		West Covina, California
G	53	Alan Taylor	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)	240 lb (109 kg)		Granada Hills, California

Head coach

Frank Arnold

Assistant coach(es)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

Roster

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular season
Nov 26, 1977*	at No. 6 UCLA	L 73–75	0–1	Pauley Pavilion (12,202) Los Angeles, CA
Nov 28, 1977*	Long Beach State	W 100–91	1–1	Marriott Center Provo, Utah
Nov 29, 1977*	at Nevada	L 66–100	1–2	Centennial Coliseum Reno, Nevada
Dec 3, 1977*	at Idaho State	L 87–94	1–3	ASISU Minidome Pocatello, Idaho
Dec 9, 1977*	Montana Cougar Classic	L 72–76	1–4	Marriott Center Provo, Utah
Dec 10, 1977*	Cal State Fullerton Cougar Classic	L 75–80	1–5	Marriott Center Provo, Utah
Dec 13, 1977*	McNeese State	W 78–68	2–5	Marriott Center Provo, Utah
Dec 16, 1977*	at Illinois	L 74–81	2–6	Assembly Hall (8,612) Champaign, Illinois
Dec 17, 1977*	at Bradley	W 86–79	3–6	Robertson Memorial Field House Peoria, Illinois
Dec 21, 1977*	at Utah State	L 89–91	3–7	Dee Glen Smith Spectrum Logan, Utah
Dec 23, 1977*	at San Diego State	L 88–104	3–8	San Diego Sports Arena San Diego, California
Dec 28, 1977*	vs. No. 2 North Carolina Rainbow Classic	L 81–94	3–9	Neal S. Blaisdell Center (4,794) Honolulu, Hawaii
Dec 29, 1977*	vs. Rhode Island Rainbow Classic	L 87–92	3–10	Neal S. Blaisdell Center Honolulu, Hawaii
Dec 30, 1977*	at Hawaii Rainbow Classic	W 88–78	4–10	Neal S. Blaisdell Center Honolulu, Hawaii
Jan 3, 1978*	Weber State	W 81–76	5–10	Marriott Center Provo, Utah
Jan 5, 1978*	Utah State	W 85–84	6–10	Marriott Center Provo, Utah
Jan 12, 1978	at Wyoming	L 82–89	6–11 (0–1)	War Memorial Fieldhouse Laramie, Wyoming
Jan 14, 1978	at Colorado State	L 66–76	6–12 (0–2)	Moby Arena Fort Collins, Colorado
Jan 19, 1978	Arizona	W 87–86	7–12 (1–2)	Marriott Center Provo, Utah
Jan 21, 1978	Arizona State	W 96–89	8–12 (2–2)	Marriott Center Provo, Utah
Jan 26, 1978	at No. 14 New Mexico	L 82–95	8–13 (2–3)	University Arena (18,211) Albuquerque, New Mexico
Jan 28, 1978	at UTEP	W 78–76	9–13 (3–3)	Don Haskins Center El Paso, Texas
Feb 4, 1978	Utah	L 76–89	9–14 (3–4)	Marriott Center Provo, Utah
Feb 10, 1978	Colorado State	W 98–81	10–14 (4–4)	Marriott Center Provo, Utah
Feb 11, 1978	Wyoming	W 76–56	11–14 (5–4)	Marriott Center Provo, Utah
Feb 16, 1978	at Arizona State	L 75–76	11–15 (5–5)	Desert Financial Arena Tempe, Arizona
Feb 18, 1978	at Arizona	L 90–104	11–16 (5–6)	McKale Center Tucson, Arizona
Feb 23, 1978	UTEP	W 73–64	12–16 (6–6)	Marriott Center Provo, Utah
Feb 25, 1978	No. 5 New Mexico	L 68–71	12–17 (6–7)	Marriott Center (22,998) Provo, Utah
Mar 4, 1978	at No. 14 Utah	L 74–81	12–18 (6–8)	Jon M. Huntsman Center Salt Lake City, Utah
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Mountain Time.

^[2]^[3]

References

^ sports-reference.com 1977-78 Western Athletic Conference Season Summary
^ "1977-78 BYU Cougars Men's Schedule and Results". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved 2025-03-23.
^ "1977-1978 Men's Basketball Schedule". byucougars.com. Retrieved April 3, 2025.

[1] sports-reference.com 1977-78 Western Athletic Conference Season Summary

[2] "1977-78 BYU Cougars Men's Schedule and Results". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved 2025-03-23.

[3] "1977-1978 Men's Basketball Schedule". byucougars.com. Retrieved April 3, 2025.

[1]

[2]

[3]

BYU Cougars men's basketball
Venues	Smith Fieldhouse (1951–1971) Marriott Center (1971–present)
Rivalries	Gonzaga Utah In-state Utah schools
Culture & lore	Cosmo the Cougar "The Cougar Song" BYU Pep band
People	Head coaches Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25