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Kind of a strange game tonight for the BYU Cougars in front of 17,771 at the Marriott Center, but a productive one nonetheless.
Tyler Haws scored 21 points and the Cougars walloped Santa Clara 78-57 after a sluggish first half. The Cougars led by just 35-29 at the break, then made 10 of 20 3-point attempts in the second half — their first second-half 3-pointers since the Pacific game — and won going away. Santa Clara is still the only WCC team that has not defeated BYU.
The big news tonight was that Kyle Collinsworth's injury is significant enough that it kept him from playing. BYU's Mr. Triple-Double dressed for the game, but never got off the bench. The Cougars didn't need him, but it sounds like coach Dave Rose would not have played him even if they did.
Here's what Rose said when I asked him whether Collinsworth is day-to-day or could be out for awhile:
"We don't know. Kyle's got a couple of issues he's dealing with. Right now, it is just a severe pain in his back. He's a warrior, and I think this will be really good for him and for our guys, just to know that if he is out for an extended period of time — I hope that's not the case. I don't think that's the case. But if it is, I think our guys can get confidence from the guys who stepped up tonight and really contributed that I think have the potential to consistently do that for us."
Before the game, a BYU official called the injury a "bruised tailbone."
Without Collinsworth's rebounding ability in the lineup, Rose went with Dalton Nixon as the starting four and brought Chase Fischer off the bench. It was the first time Fischer hasn't started, but Rose said it was only for rebounding reasons, and nothing else.
The Cougars out rebounded the Broncos 45-37 and the biggest surprise there was that the two most seldom-used big guys — Ryan Andrus and Isaac Neilson — did the dirty work. Neilson had 9 boards in 12 minutes and Andrus had eight boards in 12 minutes as well.
In his opening statement in the post game news conference, Rose said the coaching staff has realized the four-guard lineup is not sustainable for longterm success.
Here's this:
"I hope it is kind of a turning point for us. We got two of our bigs, one with nine rebounds, one with eight rebounds, in limited minutes. That was the whole key to tonight for us. We were going to be really aggressive on the boards, and wanted to get someone besides our guards rebounding the ball. I do believe that the four-guard lineup can at times help us, but it can't be what it has been. We need to really use it at times, but also get back to playing our bigs and being more physical and taking up more space in there."
In perhaps the strangest stat of the night, the Cougars shot 51.7 percent from 3-point range (15 of 29) and just 28 percent (7 of 25) from 2-point range. So they still live and die by the 3-point shot, and tonight they lived well.
The Cougars have made 15 3-pointers in three games this season, and a school-record 17 in another (Chaminade). Before this season, BYU had made 15 or more 3's in a game exactly three times.
Of course, the other big news tonight was that Tyler Haws passed Danny Ainge for second on BYU's all-time scoring list. Haws has now got 2,486 points. Next up is Jimmer Fredette, who had 2,599.
"I am sure he's got one more in his sights, and hopefully we can get to that pretty quick and move on from there," Rose said.