The first win of the season wasn’t very pretty for BYU Basketball, but taking down cross-town Utah Valley is always sweet.
BYU Basketball picked up their first win of the season, and they did it against their neighbor to the west.
The Cougars took down Utah Valley 75-65 in a game played much closer than the final score would indicate.
BYU’s defense kept them in the game early on until the offense could catch up, but they never could comfortably pull away from the Wolverines.
Here are the biggest takeaways from the game:
Slow Start
Once again BYU’s offense started off slowly. It’s happened in every game this season, even the exhibitions. Fortunately the Cougar defense has kept them in games until the offense thaws out, but BYU can’t expect to keep starting slowly and beat better teams.
A Tale of Two Halves
Somehow neither team could hit a shot in the first half. The two teams combined for 51 points.
They combined for that.
BYU went 1-10 from distance, and UVU wasn’t much better at 2-13.
But both teams heated up in the second half, and the Cougars finally started hitting outside shots. They hit five of their twelve three-pointers after the break, their first half over 40% this season.
Rebounding Woes
Yes, BYU won the rebounding battle 47-46, but they allowed UVU to grab 16 offensive rebounds. They can’t allow that against better competition.
Most of those came in the first half, though, and the Cougars started grabbing offensive boards of their own late in the game.
The Good TJ
The good version of TJ Haws showed up against UVU. He led the Cougars in scoring and did it efficiently, shooting 8-13 from the field, including 3-8 from deep. When his shooting touch is there he makes the Cougars a dangerous team.
He desperately needs to cut down on his turnovers, though. He had four tonight, following his five against Nevada.
Man-Childs
Childs quietly had a big game, scoring 20 points and grabbing 15 rebounds. He wasn’t particularly efficient, though, shooting only 7-20 from the field.
A large chunk of those misses were either fade-away jumpers or three-pointers, both of which he could cut down on to be more effective.
Worthington Reduction
Luke Worthington has not looked good at all so far this year. There’s a reason that Dalton Nixon got the start against Nevada, and also started the second half against UVU.
With Nixon and Gavin Baxter both proving they’re capable defenders and better scorers than Worthington, don’t be surprised to see his minutes dwindle.
Free Throws
We’ll continue to harp on this until the Cougars have a game where they shoot above 70% from the line.
While they topped that mark in the second half, their first half dragged their percentage down, finishing 17-25 (68%).
Close, but not where they need to be yet.