This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Provo • It has been like that crazy uncle nobody likes to talk about, and masked by some outstanding guard play and the versatility of 6-foot-6 point guard Kyle Collinsworth.
The lack of production from their inside players, their bigs, is really starting to hurt the BYU Cougars.
It was especially evident in Wednesday night's 65-61 loss to Utah at the Marriott Center, as the No. 13 Utes overwhelmed BYU in the front court. Utah claimed a 43-31 rebounding advantage and got to the free-throw line often when the Cougars chose to foul rather than give up easy shots close to the basket.
Facing BYU's soft interior defense, the Utes were 20 of 34 (59 percent) inside the arc.
"We need better balance," coach Dave Rose acknowledged when told that guards Collinsworth (17), Tyler Haws (23) and Anson Winder (10) accounted for 50 of the Cougars' season-low 61 points. "That's a big part of the growth of this team, is to get our front line to kinda catch up to where we are in other areas."
Obviously, it didn't help when 6-11 starting forward Nate Austin, the team's second-leading rebounder, with a 6.2 average, left the game shortly after the opening tip with an apparent hamstring injury. Rose said Austin "kind of felt his hamstring pop" while stretching before the tip and asked to come out as the referee was about to toss the ball up.
Results of an MRI scheduled for Thursday had not been announced as of Thursday afternoon.
Four bigs - Luke Worthington, Josh Sharp and freshmen Corbin Kaufusi and Isaac Neilson - combined to play 47 minutes but corralled just three rebounds, blocked one shot (Sharp) and scored just four points - two free throws by Worthington and a dunk by Kaufusi, the former football player and returned missionary who joined the team this summer.
The fact that the 6-10 Kaufusi, who played 18 minutes in a game for the first time since his junior year at Timpview High (he missed most of his senior football season and all of his senior basketball season with a knee injury) is seeing significant minutes is telling about how thin Rose's frontline has suddenly become. Worthington, Neilson and Kaufusi all missed shots from point-blank range.
BYU has traditionally had a low-post oriented half-court offense, dumping the ball to a big man inside and working inside-out to get open looks. Not this year. Eric Mika is knocking on doors in Italy, and nobody on the roster has the offensive skills to replace him.
"What we have always been is a team that when we throw it into the post we cut and fill, and right now we are not to that point, so we got a little bit scattered from there," said Rose, who has been forced to play four-guard lineups a lot and rely on Collinsworth to rebound. He leads the team with seven caroms per game.
In the 90-70 win over Hawaii last week, the guards combined to score 84 of the 90 points.
Up next for the Cougars is Saturday's game at Weber State (7 p.m., KJZZ). Like fellow instate foes Utah and Utah State, the Wildcats (3-4) will have had a full week to prepare for BYU, having last played Saturday in a 63-56 loss at Texas-Arlington.
Twitter: @drewjay -
BYU vs. Weber State
P At Dee Events Center, Ogden, Saturday, 7 p.m. TV • KJZZ