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Is Yoeli Childs the new face of BYU men's basketball?

Sophomore is making Cougars fans forget about departures of Eric Mika, Nick Emery

BYU forward Yoeli Childs (23) scores the winning basket during the final seconds against UMass earlier this season in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

Provo • The departures of center Eric Mika and guard Nick Emery from the BYU basketball team this season for totally different reasons left the Cougars with huge holes to fill in their starting lineup.

Drastically improved sophomore Yoeli Childs, with plenty of help from a selfless supporting cast, is causing BYU fans to forget about two-thirds of the famed Lone Peak Three through 10 games this season.

Thanks in large part to the play of the 6-foot-8 Childs, the supposedly rebuilding Cougars are a surprising 8-2 heading into Saturday’s long-awaited rivalry game with 7-2 Utah. Tipoff is at 9 p.m. at the Marriott Center, and the game will be televised by ESPN2 with Roxy Bernstein and Bill Walton on the call.

“Yoeli is the man,” said guard TJ Haws, the lone remaining third of the Lone Peak High graduates. “I’m not sure where we would be without him.”

After a strong freshman year that saw him start in 26 of 33 games and average 9.3 points and 8.2 rebounds, Childs is not experiencing a sophomore slump like Emery did before he withdrew from school a day before the season opener. The Bingham High product has improved in every facet of his game, coach Dave Rose said, and leads the team in rebounding (8.9) and blocked shots (2.4).

Childs and guard Elijah Bryant both have scored 162 points (16.2 average) and are tied for the team lead in scoring.

Childs is playing nine more minutes a game this year because he is a slightly better free-throw shooter so he can stay on the court in crunch time and because he’s learned how to stay out of foul trouble — a troublesome habit last year, Rose said.

“Yo is way more disciplined in shots that he tries to block and shots that he just contests,” Rose said. “A lot of it has just come with playing the game and learning how the officials officiate.”

Childs didn’t show much shooting range last year, but hours and hours in BYU’s new basketball practice facility, the Marriott Center Annex, have paid off, he said at media day.

“A lot of it is confidence,” he said. “I put in the time. I paid the price. I was a decent [long-range] shooter in high school, but working on it full-time has taken me to a different level.”

Childs is just 3 of 12 from 3-point range, but just showing teams he can hit that shot has opened up the floor for the Cougars’ other shooters, like Bryant, Haws, sixth-man Zac Seljaas and newcomer McKay Cannon.

“I feel like I have grown so much from the experiences I had last year,” Childs said. “I was a totally different player at the end of the season than I was at the beginning, and I hope I can show that same type of growth this season.”

Rose said Childs’ biggest improvement has come in his ability to step away from the basket and function in the Cougars’ revamped offense.

“He opens things up for us with our spacing on the floor,” Rose said. “His ability to get out and screen and roll and catch, finish, handle the ball, those are all things he has become a lot more confident doing.”

Cougars fans hope Saturday’s game is the first of three times that Childs goes against the Utes, who didn’t offer him a scholarship out of high school. Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak said Tuesday that was a “mistake” on his part.

“If you could go back in hindsight right now, he’s a heck of a player,” Krystkowiak said. “But at the time, we weren’t involved with Yoeli. We followed him real closely. Some of it had to do with who we thought we had in the lineup at that time and what fit.”

Childs was born in Logan, where his mother, Kara, was a teacher at Utah State. They moved to Washington shortly after he was born, and he lived there until he was 7. They’ve lived in Orem, Salt Lake City and South Jordan, where he went to middle school and high school and blossomed into a dominant player for the Miners.

“Can’t wait for the day I can pay her back,” he said about his mother, who raised him and his younger brother Masay alone. “I could talk about my mom forever. She is my hero. She always puts us in the best possible situations to succeed.”

BYU assistant Tim LaComb was his primary recruiter, discovering Childs when he was 15 or 16 and offering a scholarship shortly thereafter. Childs said it took a lot of persuading because he wasn’t LDS at the time. He is now, having joined the summer before his freshman year.

“Probably the No. 1 reason I came to BYU is the staff,” Childs said. “Just great men, and really good coaches. … It is really a blessing to be here.”

YOELI CHILDS <br>• Started in 26 of 33 games as a freshman in 2016-17 season and averaged 9.3 points and 8.2 rebounds per game. <br>• Is averaging 16.2 points and 8.9 rebounds though 10 games this season. <br>• Led Bingham High to a 24-2 record and the Class 5A state championship by averaging 18.5 points and 10.7 rebounds as a senior in 2016.