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Provo • In the first half of Saturday's West Coast Conference game, San Francisco coach Rex Walters roamed up and down his bench, screaming "They can't guard, they can't guard" and pointing in the direction of BYU.
Fortunately for the home team, Walters' bunch couldn't defend all that well, either.
In a thoroughly entertaining contest in front of an announced crowd of 16,616 at the Marriott Center, BYU raced past the visiting Dons 102-92 to improve to 9-1 against USF in WCC games since the Cougars joined the league in 2011.
"There are a lot of positive things that you take from this," BYU coach Dave Rose said. "We were able to play a different game, with a different lineup, and were still able to win."
Mostly, though, the coach's postgame comments sounded as if the Cougars (12-5, 3-1 WCC) had lost. He agreed with Walters' first-half assessment — BYU's defense took a step backwards and was bailed out by 15-for-30 shooting from 3-point range.
"I mean, this team has got a real mindset that we want to be a better defensive team," Rose said. "I think we have progressed into a better defensive team, but tonight we won this thing by making baskets. Hopefully we can get back to work on Monday and fix some things."
Rose was especially unhappy with how the Cougars played defense "at the point of attack." He said USF point guard Devin Watson "could get where-ever he wanted to get on the floor" and exposed the Cougars' lack of perimeter quickness.
Watson, a 6-foot-1 sophomore guard, had 25 points to match BYU's Chase Fischer for game-high scoring honors, and added five assists. Twelve of his points came at the free-throw line.
"We were scrambling [on defnese] quite a bit tonight," Rose said. "And then rebounding. Twelve offensive rebounds [for USF]? We are better than that."
The Dons (9-7, 3-3) won the rebounding battle 40-38, the first time this season the Cougars have won a game when they've been out-rebounded.
The Cougars led 51-45 at halftime, but "it didn't feel like it," Fischer said, because of how many easy, open shots at the rim the Dons were getting.
BYU tightened up the defense to start the second half and pushed out to a 12-point lead, but could never run away for good despite more great shooting in the final 20 minutes.
"When you play an uptempo team, they are going to score points," Fischer said, but generally agreed with Rose's concern over the defensive lapses.
Rose acknowledged what worked at the Marriott Center won't necessarily work on the road, and the Cougars now start a four-game road swing that includes a Thursday game at Gonzaga.
"The biggest concern for me is we will see how we respond in practice when we try to address this, see if the guys are really urgent about doing this and being better. Hopefully we will be," Rose said.
Offensively, the Cougars are doing fine.
The 102 points is a season-high, and BYU turned the ball over just eight times, remarkable considering the number of possessions it had.
The freshmen separated by two years in age — returned missionary Nick Emery and 18-year-old Zac Seljaas — combined to score 41 points, with Seljaas going 6 for 10 from 3-point range and Emery 3 for 6. Another freshman, Jordan Chatman, hit a huge 3-pointer off the bench when USF was seizing the momentum and finished with five points.
"Chat got to play" more because BYU went to a smaller lineup, Rose said. "The 12 minutes that he played really helped us."
The Kyles — Davis and Collinsworth — combined for 27 points and the point guard chipped in seven assists while the forward notched nine rebounds.
"We did play well offensively, shot the ball well, and were able to win the game, and we are happy with that," Rose said.
Twitter: @drewjay —
Storylines
R Chase Fischer leads five Cougars in double figures with 25 points and BYU breaks the 100-point barrier for the first time this season.
• Freshman Zac Seljaas goes 6 for 10 from 3-point range en route to 20 points.
• The Cougars go 15 for 30 from 3-point range.