BYU Basktball: Takeaways from the win over Westminster

BYU Basketball dominated Westminster College in the Cougars’ final exhibition game on Thursday night. It wasn’t a pretty game, but there were some good signs.

The next time BYU Basketball takes the court it will count.

Thursday night marked the final exhibition game for the Cougars, as they took down Westminster College 72-43.

Their next game counts, as they’ll travel to Reno to take on No. 7 Nevada on Tuesday night. That’s quite a way to start the season, and it will be the first real barometer for this BYU squad.

The win on Thursday night wasn’t pretty, especially on the offensive end, but the Cougars overpowered an undersized and underskilled Griffin squad for the full 40 minutes.

Here are the biggest takeaways from the win:

Shooting Woes

While BYU absolutely dominated Westminster in the paint (40-18) they struggled to hit jump shots, particularly in the first half. The Cougars missed their first eight three-point attempts, and the only three makes from beyond the arc before halftime came from Yoeli Childs (twice) and Kolby Lee.

Zac Seljaas missed both of his treys and TJ Haws missed all three of his. On the bright side, Jashire Hardnett hit two from distance, and if he can knock down threes consistently he’ll be a much more effective weapon for the Cougars.

In the two exhibition games BYU shot 12-37 (32.4%) from distance. However, they’re getting good looks and not trying to chuck up threes, so there’s reason to believe that their shooting will improve.

Good Defense, Not Great

BYU held Westminster to just 43 points on 25.9% shooting. They also forced 12 turnovers and blocked six shots.

However, the Griffins were able to get more good looks than their shooting percentage would suggest. They missed a lot of good looks, including a handful at the rim.

As BYU plays better teams in the regular season, better teams aren’t going to miss those easy opportunities, so there’s still plenty of room for improvement for the Cougars on defense.

Hello Kolby Lee

Lee only played five minutes in his first collegiate game, since he’s still working his way back from a foot injury, but he made those five minutes count.

His promptly hit his first shot attempt – a three pointer – and finished the game 2-2 from the field. He’ll provide much-needed post minutes as he gets healthy enough to play more, and it wouldn’t be surprising at all to see him take over at starter for Luke Worthington at some point in the season.

Freshman Impact

Lee wasn’t the only freshman who looked solid. Connor Harding played solidly, letting the game come to him and making heady plays on both ends of the court.

And Gavin Baxter played like a beast against the Griffins. He’s been up and down so far, and he’ll continue to make freshman mistakes, but he was all over the place on Thursday night, finishing with eight points on 4-4 shooting and added four rebounds, three blocks, and an assist.

Rotation Becoming Solid

The main rotation for the Cougars is taking shape. Expect to see BYU trot out Hardnett, Haws, Seljaas, Yoeli Childs, and Worthington as the starters at Nevada, while Harding, Baxter, Dalton Nixon, and McKay Cannon will see the bulk of the bench minutes.

Rylan Bergersen and Lee may see limited time, with Lee’s role growing as the season progresses.

Free Throws

We’ll continue to harp on this until improvement comes. BYU went 11-17 (64.7%) from the charity stripe on Thursday night. They’ve got to get that number above 70% if they’re going to prove to be an NCAA Tournament-caliber team.

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