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Brooklyn, N.Y. • Tyler Haws continued to perform at a high level offensively and BYU battled throughout its 88-70 loss to open the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic against Florida State.
But the positives, including 23 points by Haws, were few Friday night inside the Barclay Center.
Most glaring, not counting Brandon Davies' flurry of fouls, was how Matt Carlino and other Cougar point guards failed to handle the Seminoles' pressure.
On the stat sheet, Florida State had eight more turnovers than BYU. In that sense, the numbers were not revealing.
"We need better point guard play in order to compete with a team like Florida State," BYU coach Dave Rose said. "Matt tried real hard, but he wasn't real effective."
Craig Cusick had a few good moments at the point, and Cory Calvert saw valuable time. But the Cougars had a difficult time of running their offense.
Of course, it doesn't help when Davies picks up two fouls before the echoes of the national anthem died away.
"We run our offense through our post guy," Rose said. "We're not a real penetration kind of team. Everyone feels really comfortable getting the ball to Brandon. It hurt the confidence factor of our group."
Carlino missed all nine shots and had two turnovers. In all, the BYU playmakers were 5 of 25 from the floor with three turnovers.
"I think Matt is a lot stronger. I think he is in a lot better shape than he was a year ago," Rose said. "The pressure seemed to rush him a little bit. The more he plays, the more experience he will get and the more comfortable he will feel.
"For the most part, he took good shots. He just had a hard time making them."
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