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PROVO — The BYU Cougars, fresh off a convincing WCC road swing in the Bay Area, are feeling confident heading into a week of home games. BYU, which won both games against Santa Clara and San Francisco by at least 30 points, has now won three games in a row since switching to a four-guard starting lineup. BYU head coach Dave Rose discussed his team’s improved play last week during his weekly radio show on Tuesday night.
"I think our guys can be really proud of what we did," Rose said. "It was really fun to watch … you can see the defense, they are trying to figure out which guy to stop, and the ball just moves.”
The Cougars, who lead the nation in scoring at 88.3 points per game, continued to show off their offensive prowess in victories over the Broncos (81-46) and Dons (99-68).
“We shot the ball well, we shared the ball well, we rebounded the ball well, we attacked the basket, got to free-throw line, and those are all really good signs for our team,” Rose said.
Senior guard Anson Winder started both games over the weekend, his third consecutive starts in BYU's four-guard lineup. Rose explained his decision to play primarily with four ball-handlers on the court.
“We just were not getting very good starts in the game,” Rose said. “You can tell just by the numbers that our most comfortable lineup is with Anson at the four. Without a lot of preparation time, we come into the Portland game and say let’s just start with that group and see if we can get off to a better start, and we did.”
The Cougars are known for their fast and attacking style of basketball, and with an additional guard in the starting lineup, it allows BYU to push the tempo even more.
“It seems like that the 40 minutes that we are playing, we’re playing with a really skilled guy at that (four) position, that can play at the pace we are playing at,” Rose said.
Rose made sure to mention that a key of the successful small-ball lineup is the outstanding rebounding of junior guard Kyle Collinsworth, who despite starting as the team’s point guard, is the team’s leading rebounder at 8.5 per game.
“If Kyle can keep rebounding the way he is, it takes a lot of pressure off of that four spot, as far as those responsibilities,” Rose said.
Collinsworth has excelled at more than just rebounding, as he registered his third triple-double in the last nine games, with 12 points 12 rebounds and 10 assists at USF. Previous to Collinsworth’s spate of triple-doubles, no BYU player had recorded one in over 25 years.
“You see a guy out there who is playing with extreme confidence in all the areas of the game,” Rose said. “I think there was one game where he had more assists and more rebounds than he had points. Most triple-doubles, the points are the easiest thing, but Kyle has been so consistent in assisting the ball and rebounding the ball, and we got a lot of good scorers to go with him.”
In addition to Collinworth’s record-breaking play, senior guard Tyler Haws is poised to break some records of his own. This weekend, Haws will likely pass Michael Smith for third place on BYU’s career scoring tally. Rose touched on the remarkably consistent play from his senior guard.
“Ty is a really special player,” Rose said. “We have talked about so many of the qualities that he has that make him special, but to watch that consistently night after night after night is just amazing.”
Haws’ consistent play over the past few weeks has been particularly impressive to Rose, since Haws has been battling an ankle sprain suffered in mid-December in a win at Weber State.
“He still deals with that every single day,” Rose said. “He says walking up the stairs early morning on campus that he can really feel it … he just surprised the heck out of all of us when he played against Stanford (in BYU's first game after Haws' injury), and then how good he was against Stanford (24 points in 33 minutes of play).”
As BYU prepares for home games against Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount this weekend, Rose hinted at the possibility of opposing teams changing their defensive strategies, in response to the Cougars' recent success with a four-guard lineup.
“I think we will see a lot of changes in how people guard us,” Rose said. “It’s been pretty consistent for the last two years in this league, where they have taken a player and a half and guarded Ty … that leaves a lot of guys open, and right now we have a lot of guys benefiting from that. So if they decide to go back to a more conventional defensive plan, we will see how we adjust to that.”
This week’s player guest on "BYU Basketball with Dave Rose" was senior forward Josh Sharp. While Sharp has been in and out of the rotation, Rose praised his leadership and value to his team.
“I love seniors on our team … I love the experience that they bring,” Rose said. “The ability to move on to what’s next is what they are so good at. Josh is really good at being the constant hard-nosed, hard-working guy, no matter what happened the night before.”
Sharp discussed the importance of his leadership position, particularly helping younger players through the long season.
“I think helping the young guys out with learning the plays, and knowing what is expected of them, has been a big part of my role.”
Despite an early season loss to Gonzaga, Sharp announced that BYU’s goal remains the same: to win a WCC championship.
“I think we found our stride these last few games, and our goal is to win the conference,” Sharp said. “I think it’s just to keep the momentum … take each game seriously, and at the end of the time hopefully we’ll have a championship.”
Trevor Woller is a public relations student at Brigham Young University and sports enthusiast.
