BYU Basketball: The blueprint for winning the conference opener at Pacific

Avoid Foul Trouble

There are two reasons that BYU has to avoid foul trouble against Pacific. First, the Cougars don’t have the consistent depth to make up for key players getting into foul trouble.

Just look at the San Diego State game. Yoeli Childs got into early foul trouble, and the Aztecs pulled away in the first half while he was on the bench.

Right now the list of bench players who can be counted on for productive minutes is pretty scarce: McKay Cannon, Nick Emery, and Dalton Nixon. The rest of the bench has played well in spurts, but that’s about it.

But there’s another reason for avoiding foul trouble on Thursday night that’s just as important. Pacific is good at drawing fouls, and good at hitting their foul shots when they have the opportunity.

The Tigers have attempted 376 free throws on the season so far, third most in the nation. That averages out to 25.1 attempts per game. And they’re No. 24 in the country with a 76.3% free throw percentage.

Now the Cougars are also good at getting and making free throws. They’re No. 23 nationwide in free throws attempted (338) and No. 38 in free throw percentage (74.9%).

But Pacific relies much more heavily on getting to the line than BYU does. Free throw scoring accounts for one-third of their total offense, compared to freebies being one-fifth of BYU’s total output.

The Tigers don’t shoot amazingly well, just 45.5% from the field and 35% from distance, so if the Cougars can keep the Tigers off the line they’ll force Pacific into a style of game that suits BYU much more.