This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Los Angeles • Thursday's game at Loyola Marymount was the third straight road game for the BYU basketball team, who will be rewarded in February with seven of their final 10 games at home.
The Cougars started the road trip last week, upsetting No. 25 Gonzaga but losing to Portland.
Coach Dave Rose said getting young players accustomed to playing on the road takes time.
"There is only one way, and that is to experience it, because you can talk to them and explain the urgency that people have, but they have to feel it," Rose said. "Especially our young shooters. You take [Jordan Chatman] and Nick [Emery] and Zac [Seljaas]. I don't know if I have ever been in a situation where I have two experienced guards [Kyle Collinsworth and Chase Fischer] and then we play three guys who are in their first year of collegiate ball, and really depend on them and need them." … The bottom line is you are dealing with a lot of pressure, because those young guys need to play well for us to win, and every guy handles it just a bit different."
Block party
The Cougars had blocked 80 shots this season heading into Thursday, while opponents had swatted away 59 BYU shots. Newcomer Kyle Davis has proven to be an effective shot blocker, and Nate Austin and Corbin Kaufusi also defend the rim well.
"A lot of it is just the size," Rose said. "When you are playing Corbin and Nate together, they have good timing and are good shot blockers. And then some of it is just the makeup of what we are doing defensively. We would be a different defensive team if we weren't blocking shots. Guys wouldn't be coming close and getting into those areas."
Rose said the new rules make it more difficult to draw a charge, so players are going for blocks instead of trying to draw offensive fouls.
"You have a better chance of making a play if you jump and make a play on the ball in your area, your vertical cylinder," he said.
Update on Aytes
Sophomore forward Jamal Aytes averaged 20 minutes per game in Hawaii, but his time has been reduced to where he played 13 minutes combined in BYU's past three games before LMU.
"He's been able to play consistently in practice, day after day," Rose said, noting the fewer minutes aren't due to injury. "What we need is we need to get him more real minutes in practice. This week, we kinda flipped things over, so he has had probably 25 or 30 more touches a day in practice in live settings, which will help him. He just needs to play. And his health is good."
Briefly
Referees on Thursday night were Bob Staffen, Dick Cartmell and Kelly Self. … Scouts from the Los Angeles Clippers, Indiana Pacers, Toronto Raptors, Miami Heat and Dallas Mavericks attended the game. … Austin played in his 136th game, fourth all-time at BYU.
Twitter: @drewjay