BYU Basketball: The blueprint for another upset against Gonzaga

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LAS VEGAS, NV – MARCH 03: TJ Haws #30 of the Brigham Young Cougars drives to the basket against Isaiah Wright #22 of the San Diego Toreros during a quarterfinal game of the West Coast Conference basketball tournament at the Orleans Arena on March 3, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Cougars won 85-79. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /

3 – Catch Fire

BYU boasts a Top 40 offense. They’re 33rd in the nation in scoring and 44th in field goal percentage. They’re good at scoring, just not Gonzaga-good.

It’s actually remarkable that they’ve been so efficient with sub-par three-point shooting. The Cougars shoot just 32.2% from distance, and that’s a significant improvement from the first two months of the season when they shot below 30%.

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McKay Cannon now leads the team with a 38.3% average from beyond the arc, followed by TJ Haws at 37.1% and Zac Seljaas at 35.3%. After that only Yoeli Childs and Connor Harding shoot above 30%.

Three-point shooting is the great equalizer in basketball, especially in the college ranks. When UMBC made history last year by knocking off No. 1 seed Virginia in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, they did it by hitting half of their three-pointers (12-24) while the Cavaliers hit just 18.2% (4-22) of theirs.

When BYU stunned the No. 1 Zags in 2017 they 37.5% of their threes (9-24) and held the Bulldogs to just 18.8% (3-16) from distance.

BYU has to shoot better than average if they want to pull off another upset. Not just better than their average, but better than the national average. That’s roughly 35%. Plus they’ll have to hold the Bulldogs well under their norm from distance.

It’ll be up to Haws, Cannon, Seljaas, and Nick Emery to hit their shots from deep and keep the Cougars in this game.

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