BYU Basketball: Takeaways from the Saint Martin’s win

BYU Basketball took down Saint Martin’s in their first exhibition game of the season, but it wasn’t a dominant outing by any means.

It wasn’t a pretty game, but exhibitions usually aren’t. They’re a chance to shake off rust, experiment with lineups, and face another team for the first time.

BYU Basketball took down Division II Saint Martin’s 92-71 on Wednesday night, jumping out to an early lead and coasting to the win.

The Cougars took advantage of a size advantage to dominate in the post, shooting a surprisingly low number of three-pointers (16).

Here are the biggest takeaways from the win:

Uptempo but in Control

BYU is definitely playing at a quicker pace than they did last year, but they’re doing it smart. The Cougars pushed the ball well off of turnovers and missed shots, but slowed it down if they didn’t have numbers. Their half-court offense needs fine-tuning though.

Different Defense

The Cougars played a different kind of defense than they did last year. They’re switching, trapping, and jumping passing lanes more. It worked well for the most part, as BYU forced 23 turnovers with 15 of those being steals.

However, that kind of defense requires discipline and communication, and there were several breakdowns that lead to easy buckets.

Starting Strength

BYU’s starting lineup consisted of Jashire Hardnett, TJ Haws, Zac Seljaas, Yoeli Childs, and Luke Worthington.

The starters played well on both sides of the ball, jumping out to an early lead. Child’s was amazingly efficient, scoring 20 points on 7-10 shooting and added nine boards.

Haws looked more like his freshman self, playing within the offense and finishing with 11 points and seven assists.

Seljaas looks much more comfortable back on the perimeter.

Worthington has got to cut down on his fouls.

Depth an Issue

Outside of the starting lineup there are a lot of question marks. No one off the bench is a true playmaker…yet.

It may be best for Nick Emery to come off the bench once he’s able to play. The second unit needs some scoring punch that they don’t have right now.

Dalton Nixon and McKay Cannon play solid ball but aren’t going to provide a scoring punch. Rylan Bergersen and Gavin Baxter both made plenty of mistakes, but they’ll get minutes and have to improve on the job.

The bright spot was Connor Harding. He played smart basketball, hit a three-pointer, and had four assists. He’s going to become a mainstay in the rotation sooner rather than later.

Free Throw Woes

If BYU’s free throw shooting doesn’t improve they’re going to lose some close games. They shot 17-29 (59%) in the Cougar Tipoff and 21-31 (68%) against Saint Martin’s. They need to get that average up above 75%.