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BYU basketball: Cougars need to protect the rock if they want to improve

By Nathan Cunningham

Dec 22, 2016; Provo, UT, USA; Brigham Young Cougars guard Nick Emery (4) runs up the floor with Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners guard Justin Pride (51) chasing during the second half at Marriott Center. Brigham Young Cougars won the game 81-71. Mandatory Credit: Chris Nicoll-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 22, 2016; Provo, UT, USA; Brigham Young Cougars guard Nick Emery (4) runs up the floor with Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners guard Justin Pride (51) chasing during the second half at Marriott Center. Brigham Young Cougars won the game 81-71. Mandatory Credit: Chris Nicoll-USA TODAY Sports /
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BYU basketball has been inconsistent this season. But, if the Cougars want to improve, the answer is simple: protect the ball.

BYU basketball is consistently inconsistent. That’s a problem. But, as we’ve heard over and over again, the Cougars are young.

It’s true. They are. Their two seniors are both injured and done. The only active upperclassmen are three juniors (Corbin Kaufusi, Jamal Aytes and Davin Guinn).

But BYU basketball has played 27 games this year. The team can’t be young forever, but it looks like it’s taking the Cougars longer to gel than anyone would’ve guessed.

So while they might not be able to get older overnight, there is something the Cougars can do to improve drastically.

Protect the ball.

The Cougars leading assist man, L.J. Rose has likely played his final minute in Provo. Rose was averaging 4.7 assists per game. The strongest part of Rose’s game never showed up on the stat sheet. He was calm, cool, collected and made smart passes.

Without him in the picture, no other Cougar is averaging more than 3.2 (TJ Haws).

The lack of ball movement is due to the amount of hero ball the Cougars revert to. This is especially true on the road. Whenever things get dicey, Haws, Nick Emery and Elijah Bryant seem to take turns driving to the rack of jacking up 3-pointers.

One needs to only examine the first matchup against St. Mary’s.

Eric Mika scored 28 points in the loss, on 71 percent shooting. He was far and away the best player on the floor. Mika missed a shot with 10:42 remaining in the second half.

He never shot again.

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Hero ball took over. Rushed possessions, bad decisions and an offense that looked more like crazed frenzy killed the Cougars.

The trouble is, when BYU basketball is moving the ball, the Cougars are still in trouble.

BYU is averaging just a little over one assist for every turnover. That’s no good. In contrast, Gonzaga is 11th in the nation, averaging 1.5 assists for every turnover.

The Cougars are also averaging 13.9 turnovers per game, good for 240th in the nation.

If BYU wants a shot at beating St. Mary’s on Saturday, or Gonzaga next week, or anyone in the West Coast Conference tourney, then it needs to clean up its act.

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