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Provo • BYU's easy 78-57 win over Santa Clara on Saturday night at the Marriott Center not only kept the Cougars tied for third place in the West Coast Conference, it proved they can survive, perhaps even flourish, without their four-guard lineup.
"I hope it is kind of a turning point for us," coach Dave Rose said. "… I do believe that four-guard lineup at times can help us, but it can't be what it has been. We need to really use it at times, but get back to playing our bigs and playing more physical and taking up more space in there."
Because star point guard Kyle Collinsworth missed the game with a bruised tailbone, Rose started two bigs — freshmen Corbin Kaufusi and Dalton Nixon - along with guards Tyler Haws, Anson Winder and Skyler Halford — in an effort to get better rebounders on the floor in their leading rebounder's absence. He stayed with two bigs most of the game, and freshmen Ryan Andrus (eight rebounds) and Isaac Neilson (nine rebounds) delivered career outings.
"Hopefully it is a step in the right direction," Rose said, hinting that even when Collinsworth returns he will probably stick with the three-guard, two bigs approach. "We really need to go back to what we are, what we've been [in previous seasons] and how we do it."
The dilemma will be which guard sits the most, because Haws, Winder, Chase Fischer (who came off the bench Saturday) and Collinsworth have been the four most productive players, and Halford has been playing the best basketball of his career lately. Halford ran the point well against the Broncos and posted Collinsworth-like stats: 13 points, seven assists, five rebounds and a steal.
"These past couple of weeks our No. 1 focus has been rebounding," Halford said. "We are starting to get to where we want to be. … Hopefully we can keep that intensity during practice this upcoming week, leading into the Pep game."
Yes, the Cougars are now saying Thursday's game at Pepperdine (9 p.m. MST, TWC) is their most important game of the season. The Waves (7-4 WCC, 14-8 overall) upset Saint Mary's 67-62 Saturday afternoon in their fourth-straight road game, after having been swept by San Francisco and Santa Clara the previous weekend, and will be looking to sweep the Cougars.
The difference between a third seed and a fourth seed will be huge in the conference tournament as teams try to avoid being on the same side of the bracket as No. 3-ranked Gonzaga. Another loss to the Waves will be devastating to BYU's hopes of avoiding the fourth seed.
Certainly, it will be tough to win at Firestone Fieldhouse without Collinsworth. Rose said he doesn't know if the junior guard will be available.
"Kyle has got a couple of issues that he is dealing with," Rose said. "Right now, it is just a severe pain in his back. But he's a warrior."
Rose said the other players gained confidence that they can win without the versatile playmaker, but acknowledged that Pepperdine is much better inside than Santa Clara, as the Waves showed in their 67-61 win over BYU on Jan. 8.
"Hopefully we can build on what we did tonight," Haws said. "I thought we had a lot better mindset. Our intensity was better. And in most of our losses, rebounding was one of the main issues, and we definitely brought it tonight in that aspect. Guys were really rebounding the ball well on both ends of the floor."
Twitter: @drewjay —
Thursday's game
P BYU at Pepperdine, 9 p.m. MST TV • TWC