BYU rediscovered its offensive prowess in easy wins over Pepperdine, Santa Clara

Provo • After sustaining two losses in their first five non-conference games last November, the BYU Cougars reeled off nine straight wins.

Can they do that again, after starting West Coast Conference play with a similar 3-2 record?

They are certainly on the right track, erasing the bitter memories of last-second failures in losses to Saint Mary’s and Pacific with a pair of dominating performances last week against Pepperdine and Santa Clara. Behind a pair of sensational outings from sophomore Yoeli Childs, the Cougars crushed the Waves 83-63 after a slow start and then played their best overall game of the season in an 84-50 pummeling of the Broncos at Leavey Center on Saturday night.

“Sometimes, you get games like this,” coach Dave Rose said after the Cougars rolled out to a 46-28 halftime lead over Santa Clara and then outscored the Broncos 38-22 in the second half. “Hopefully it will [continue] This is what we talk about as a coaching staff. We play nine minutes, eight minutes, little segments like this throughout games at times. And then as a coaching staff you want to be able to put a whole game together.

“I was telling my guys, as far as a 40-minute game, to continually stay connected, and stay with our game plan, and continue to rely on each other, it might be as good as I’ve seen from our guys,” Rose continued.

Childs set himself up for WCC Player of the Week honors by averaging 21.5 points, 12.5 rebounds, 7.0 assists and 1.5 blocked shots in the two victories. He shot 63 percent from the floor and was just two assists away from a triple-double against the Broncos.

“It is interesting — he goes back to back nights with his career high in assists,” Rose said. “That just shows you that he is getting better, he is feeling way more comfortable with the ball in his hands and then [seeing] what other people are doing to him.”

Another positive sign for the Cougars was the play of TJ Haws, who busted out of a mild slump with 4 of 5 shooting from the 3-point line and 14 points to go with four assists.

“My mentality going into the game was I am going to play my game and shoot good looks,” Haws said. “Seeing that first one fall was really good for me. Then they just kept coming. I got good looks and I stayed aggressive.”

Childs said most teams have “chased TJ all over the court,” but Santa Clara chose to give the sophomore guard some space and he made them pay.

“He just always makes the right play,” Childs said. “If he takes two shots in a half, he is the happiest guy in the world if we are winning and he is making the right plays.”

For the first time since the 85-71 win over Idaho State on Dec. 21, four Cougars reached double figures in scoring as Elijah Bryant added 14 points and 12 rebounds in just 29 minutes and new starter Zac Seljaas chipped in 11 on 5 of 8 shooting.

“We have played six [league] games,” Rose said. “The first four games, we had a hard time getting to 70 points. We scored [at least] 80 the past two. That will really help us, as long as we keep playing hard defensively and continue to score a little bit more. Obviously, that’s a good formula.”

Tied for third with Pacific and San Diego, the Cougars (15-4, 4-2) play host to Loyola Marymount (6-11, 1-5) on Thursday and much-improved San Diego (13-5, 4-2) on Saturday. League leaders Saint Mary’s (17-2, 6-0) and Gonzaga (16-3, 6-0) tangle on Thursday in the Kennel.

This is the first time BYU has been 15-4 through 19 games since its first season in the WCC (2011-12), when it went 16-4 before losing its 21st game.

“When you start winning games, and you win big like this, you can’t ease up,” Haws said. “So hopefully it is good for us and hopefully we can keep that mentality heading into next week.”