Provo » This time, Idaho State coach Joe O'Brien had nothing to get excited about.

His travel-weary Bengals couldn't even make things mildly interesting at the Marriott Center on Tuesday night, and were blown out 87-53 by BYU in front of 8,637 fans. Jimmer Fredette and Jackson Emery combined for 41 points, and BYU's bench outscored Idaho State's 30-12 in running away with the easy win.

"We got better tonight, and that's a good sign," said BYU coach Dave Rose, whose 2-0 team now embarks on a trip to Hawaii for its first road test on Friday.

Last year, the Cougars won 85-65 in Pocatello, but only after O'Brien went berserk a couple of times at both the officials and BYU's bench. No such fireworks this time, as BYU took a 43-24 halftime lead and cruised in the final 20 minutes.

Having been to Iowa State and Bradley the past five days, O'Brien thought his team was worn down by BYU's superior depth.

"I think fatigue played a big part in this game," he said.

It is depth -- 12 players scored -- that Rose said he hopes eventually "defines the personality of our team."

While Fredette had 22 points to go with the 25 he had in Friday's 70-60 win over Bradley, it was freshman Tyler Haws who gave the Cougars a boost in the first half when they really needed one. He finished with nine points, six assists and five rebounds.

"Tyler's got a really good feel for how we like to play," Rose said.

If there was a downer for BYU, it was that Jonathan Tavernari struggled again, shooting 2-for-12 from the field and scoring four points.

"Tonight, he took really good shots for him," Rose said. "He's just having a hard time making them."

Emery made up for Tavernari's lack of offense, however, shooting 5-for-8 from three-point range.

"Like I told you, I got all my misses out the other night," Emery said.

O'Brien said "Jimmer has gotten a lot better," from last year's game and "Jackson really played better than we have seen him play."

With Emery and Haws on the bench with three fouls each, the Bengals put together an 8-1 run midway through the second half to trim the big lead to 56-42 and cause Rose to take a timeout. Emery hit a couple three-pointers coming out of the break, after Haws missed one, the Cougars were back up by 20, and that was that.

Rose continued to tinker with his lineup, although he started the same five guys who started against Bradley. In the second half, he started Haws and Noah Hartsock (six points, five rebounds) in the place of Tavernari and Charles Abouo.

"We're still trying to get a lineup figured out that we're comfortable with to start the game," Rose said. "But I think it's a good thing. It really helps our intensity and competition [in practice]. We can't keep shuffling people around, though. We've got to work it out pretty soon."

drew@sltrib.com