BYU's Collinsworth, Fischer, committee to fill scoring void


Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

PROVO — BYU guard Chase Fischer had a "love-hate thing" when he showed up to BYU men's basketball media day Tuesday afternoon at the BYU Broadcasting Building.

It wasn't opening up practice ahead of his senior season next Monday. It wasn't trying to replace the scoring volume of former Cougar Tyler Haws, BYU's all-time leading scorer who now plays in Spain.

It was for a pending appointment a half-hour after the media event ended: He had a hair appointment.

"I've got to get it cut," he said, glumly. "We've got a lot of stuff coming. I don't want to get it cut, but I think it's time."

If that's the worst thing on Fischer's mind, BYU may be well off this year.

A mix of athletic, highly touted newcomers like former Lone Peak scoring sensation Nick Emery, UNLV transfer Jamal Aytes, former Utah State swing man Kyle Davis and 7-foot-3 Pleasant Grove native Alan Hamson have the Cougars excited for another season in the West Coast Conference, and beyond.

Even head coach Dave Rose expressed excitement about the opening of fall practices Monday.

"I'm really excited about this team," Rose said. "Some years you're a little more apprehensive. This year with the chance we had to travel (to Spain) and coach our team in August, we have a good feel for the group, what we need to do and how we're going to do it."

Of course, the return of senior Kyle Collinsworth helps chase away a lot of anxiety for the coach. The Provo High alum who averaged 13.8 points, 8.7 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 1.8 steals per game and also set an NCAA record with six triple-doubles in 2014-15 is back for one more year, bypassing on potential NBA draft speculation for one final shot at the Cougars' first WCC title and a run in the NCAA Tournament to rival that of his freshman year in 2011.

Kyle Collinsworth addresses the media during BYU men's basketball media day Tuesday. (Photo: Mark Philbrick/BYU Photo)
Kyle Collinsworth addresses the media during BYU men's basketball media day Tuesday. (Photo: Mark Philbrick/BYU Photo)

With a full season under his belt following surgery to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament, Collinsworth is as healthy as he's ever been.

"This is as good as I've ever felt in my career," he said. "My knee feels the same as my other one. It's no longer a mental issue. I don't think about it at all; I don't feel it at all. Everything else is good. I feel really good and explosive."

His senior year could also develop an even more dangerous version of Collinsworth, if Fischer is to be believed.

"I think he's more comfortable in the pick-and-roll, not that he wasn't great at it before. But I think he's found more ways to exploit it and get guys involved," the senior from Ripley, West Virginia, said. "His shooting has gotten better, off the dribble and mid-range. He's pretty tough; we played a lot this summer. It's tough to guard him with the new aspects he's added to his game."

With the return of offensive talent like Collinsworth and Fischer, the newcomers don't feel a need to make a massive offensive impact.

That includes players like Emery, who led the Knights to three-straight Class 5A state championships and Deseret News' Mr. Basketball honors in 2013.

"My first thought was that I needed to come in and score," Emery said candidly during media day. "But after playing in the summer and now, I know any of us can score the ball.

"We are all scorers. I think it's just a thing we need to put together now. We need to prove to ourselves that we can do it."

There are areas to improve on, like several sub-par defensive efforts by the Cougars a year ago. But BYU's defensive issues have been aided by the hiring of former Lone Peak coach Quincy Lewis as one of Rose's assistants, replacing current Utah Valley head coach Mark Pope.

Lewis, in conjunction with assistant coach Tim LaComb, will help run the defense, while top assistant Terry Nashif will contribute to the offense.

"He's definitely brought a defensive mindset," Fischer said of Lewis. "I think we really wanted to make that a point of emphasis this year and improve on that. We always want to be high-scoring; that's just the system we run. But if we can hold teams to a couple more stops, it will show with a lot more wins."

The score-by-committee and defensive emphasis has Rose reminded of another former season, when he also had to replace BYU's all-time leading scorer — the guy before Haws.

"This reminds me of four or five years ago when we were trying to replace Jimmer (Fredette) as far as scoring is concerned. Tyler (Haws) was such a consistent scorer for us," Rose said. "The way we'll do this is similar to that year. We'll have a lot of guys share that role."

Listen to interviews from BYU men's basketball media day with Rose, Collinsworth, Fischer, Aytes, Davis, Emery, Nate Austin and Corbin Kaufusi in the "Cougar Cuts" section below.

Related stories

Most recent Sports stories

Related topics

SportsBYU Cougars
Sean Walker

    ARE YOU GAME?

    From first downs to buzzer beaters, get KSL.com’s top sports stories delivered to your inbox weekly.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast