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| Photo Credit: BYU Photo |
Boy, that escalated quickly. I mean, that really got out of hand fast.
Behind their most impressive all-around performance of the season, BYU repeatedly bludgeoned Loyola Marymount right up until the final buzzer sounded on Thursday night, walking away with a dominating 41-point win in their first game of West Coast Conference play, 92-51.
It all just worked for the Cougars in this one — the offense finally started clicking on all cylinders, shots started falling for once, and the boys in home whites cranked up the defensive heat, holding the Lions to a paltry 30.8 percent from the floor. It was as in-sync and functional as I've seen the team this year, and the performance was made even more special because of the opponent.
Loyola Marymount isn't the Little Sisters of the Poor. This a good program — one that beat BYU by 14 points at the Marriott Center in their last meeting. (Think the Cougars remembered that one?) They were essentially the same team this year, with nearly all of their key personnel returning. So this wasn't the Cougars beating up on yet another cream puff D-II team.
This was a statement win against a very solid squad. Perhaps it isn't a "statement" in terms of NCAA tournament ramifications (BYU is still severely lacking in marquee wins that will excite the selection committee), but it certainly sent a message to the rest of the conference — "We're still here, and the rumors of our demise have been greatly exaggerated." Every other team in the WCC knows what a handful the Lions can be, and BYU just annihilated them in every facet of the game. That says something.
It should also say something to the disillusioned BYU fan base. With many casual fans still hungover from the Jimmer years and therefore toting exceptionally high expectations, there has been no shortage of grumblings this season. To be sure, many of those complaints are valid — this team has its fair share of flaws. However, the last two weeks should hopefully help quiet some of the serial doomsayers for the time being. When you pair tonight's destruction with a very solid performance against Virginia Tech last week, it appears that this year's squad may finally be figuring it out. Of course, it's always possible that this is just an aberration and they will never truly round into a tournament-caliber team, but wins like these have to leave a good taste in the mouths of Cougar fans everywhere.
What was most interesting about this win was that it came with a hobbled Brandon Davies. The BYU big man still racked up 12 points and 9 boards — a testament to his consistent excellence, if nothing else — but he was quite clearly not feeling 100 percent healthy. He looked tentative testing his ankle, and he couldn't really plant hard on that foot when trying to fight for position. Nobody can or should blame him (after all, he suffered a pretty nasty tweak), but this obviously was not his best game ever. And yet the Cougars still dominated.
Tyler Haws and Matt Carlino deserve the lion's share of the credit for that. With Davies' game limited by his injury, both stepped up their games and carried the team, particularly as BYU build their lead in the first half.
Haws continues to do Haws things — and by that I mean amazing things that no human being should do. He is just so efficient with the basketball, and he continues to improve in important ways. Tyler has always been smart with the ball, refusing to force shots when he is well-covered. But now he is finding ways to get himself open looks more often, even when faced with physical man-to-man defense. Great scorers have to learn how to create openings for themselves, even when the opponents' defense is centered around denying them those opportunities. Haws is taking big steps in learning how to do that, and it is beautiful to watch.
Similarly, Carlino seems to be finding a bit of a rhythm as well. Matt has long been a favorite scapegoat of some BYU fans, and he certainly has had some bad stretches, including earlier this season. Then, he seemed uncomfortable in his point guard role, having trouble striking the balance between setting up his teammates and creating his own offense. Often this internal struggle resulted in him playing passively and rarely shooting, which is usually a recipe for a lack of accuracy when the time does come to fire up a shot. However, we've seen a different, more confident Carlino in the last few weeks. After exploding offensively in the Utah game, he seems to be coming to terms with his identity — he's looking to score again, and doing so assertively, while also working to create opportunities for Haws, Davies, and the rest.
This progression was on full display tonight, as Matt finished with 21 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, and 4 steals, picking up some of Davies' slack. Sure, he wasn't perfect. There were some ill-advised passes and one or two forced shots, but those things happen when a player has the ball in his hands all the time. On the whole, Carlino had a tremendously positive impact on the game, both as a distributor and as a scorer. If he can continue to strike that balance on a more consistent basis and truly become the third threat BYU so desperately needs, the Cougars could really be ready to start putting things together.
All in all, this was a great win for the team. Beating a solid opponent like Loyola Marymount like a drum — and doing so with such strong performances on both ends of the floor — can only help to boost the Cougars' confidence as they head into the meat of their conference schedule. And for a team that has struggled all season to find some mojo, a little more swagger could be just what BYU needs.
Stray Thoughts:
• While it certainly seemed like the offense was going bananas and every shot was going in, the numbers say otherwise. BYU actually only shot 43 percent from deep — a vast improvement over their recent performances, but not necessarily a record-breaking number. They shot 50 percent from the floor overall, which is definitely good but not unbelievable. So while it felt like we were watching the Mormon reincarnation of Magic Johnson's Showtime, we were actually just seeing some pretty good offense for a change. I'm choosing to take the positive spin on this: There's even more room to improve! Imagine the possibilities!
• The points are sexy and fun and all, but the thing that impressed me most about this game was the Cougars' defense. It helped that the Lions couldn't hit the broad side of a barn for much of the game, but BYU's zone defense looked excellent. Their rotations were quick and crisp, their closeouts were under-control, and they actually did a nice job of stopping dribble penetration. The zone has been excellent in the last few games, and I feel like things are finally rounding into form in that area. Thank goodness.
• Carlino threw some unbelievable passes tonight. Just stunning court vision and execution. For example, the 60-foot bounce pass to Haws? Or the picture-perfect half-court lob to Nate Austin for the dunk? I want all of those, please.
• Another poor outing for Brock Zylstra. He just looks lost out there, with no confidence whatsoever in his abilities. It's a sad thing to watch, because you obviously want him to succeed. On the other hand, his stat line was nearly identical to that of Raul Delgado, but many observers on Twitter felt like Zylstra played his worst game ever while Delgado was generally solid. While Brock certainly isn't in a good place right now, it seems some of the vitriole directed towards him has more to do with unmet expectations than his raw output.
• Josh Sharp is a machine, and I love it. The kid just never stops hustling. I've said this before, but every team needs a Josh Sharp — the guy who is always on the ground scrapping for loose balls or diving out of bounds to get his team an extra possession. He makes good things happen. It doesn't always show up in the scorebook (although it did tonight — 7 points and 12 rebounds!), but he is so vital to this BYU team. Also, it's an added bonus that he has some pretty ridiculous hops and absolutely posterized another dude in this one. That stuff should be illegal.
• Nate Austin has been filling a similar role as of late, and it's been working for him. He and Sharp have both brought relentless energy every time they step on the floor, and it positively impacts the game. I love everything about this development.
• Craig Cusick and Agustin Ambrosino were on fire, despite neither having hit a shot in seemingly forever. That's the kind of night it was for BYU.
• Anson Winder's minutes are all over the place. There is no rhyme or reason. He played just four minutes against the Lions, scoring 4 points and creating 2 steals. However, despite his strong play, I'm not sure he endeared himself much to Dave Rose. With just seconds left in the game and BYU up by 39, Winder stole the ball and raced toward the basket on a fast break. Rose tried to signal for him to pull the ball out and let the clock expire — you know, the gentlemanly thing to do. Instead, Winder took it all the way to the rack and dunked on a defender. Rose appeared to apologize profusely to LMU coach Max Good for the late dunk in the postgame handshake line (and Good seemed to tell his BYU counterpart not to worry about it), but I'm sure he'll have a few cross words with Winder about running up the score.
• OK, I've held out this long — let's talk about Bronson Kaufusi. The freshman football star saw his first playing time tonight, and he looked pretty good. Granted, it was only three minutes of garbage time, but he exceeded my (admittedly low) expectations. It's hard to overstate just how much thicker Kaufusi looks than every single player on the court. He is a huge human being, and he used his mammoth body to his advantage. He set a bone-rattling ball screen that resulting in a wide-open corner three for Delgado, and he muscled his way into a nice six-foot bank shot for his first collegiate points. He was also extremely active in his help defense, with his feet constantly moving (like a running back!) as he rotated to literally and figuratively scare offensive players out of the lane. It was all rather enjoyable to watch. I am in favor of Kaufusi getting another opportunity in the near future to see if this was all just an illusion or if he can actually play at this level. I am intrigued, to say the least. I'm on the Bronson bandwagon for now.
UP NEXT: BYU at San Francisco, Saturday, 8:00 p.m. MST
I really enjoyed this. Thanks!
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