BYU still 'a work in progress' after win over Mississippi Valley


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PROVO — One thing became clear to BYU head coach Dave Rose after the Cougars moved to 3-1 with a 75-68 home win over Mississippi Valley State on Wednesday night.

BYU (3-1) has plenty of work to do before West Coast Conference play begins in a month.

"I think that it's pretty obvious that we're a work in progress, trying to find ourselves for a consistent 40 minutes," Rose said. "We got off to a great start, and played really well offensively and defensively."

Nick Emery had 18 points and a career-high seven assists in his first collegiate start, but all but five points of his damage were done in the first half. After the break, the Cougars were lethargic and lackluster on offense and slow to rebound on defense against a Delta Devils (0-5) team in the middle of a 14-game road trip to open the season.

"We seemed to be a step slow the rest of the night," Rose said. "We made enough plays to win the game, and then we'll just get to practice tomorrow and come out on Saturday."

Kyle Collinsworth added 11 points and a team-high eight rebounds, and Kyle Davis finished with 13 points and seven rebounds to 12 points, four rebounds and four blocked shot from Corbin Kaufusi.

Things couldn't have started much better for the Cougars against the Delta Devils.

It took Emery just 89 seconds to score his first points as a collegiate starter, and about 32 seconds more to pull up with a 3-pointer.

"It looked good, and it felt good too," Rose said. "The guys shared the ball really well, and the post guys were really active. We had a couple of inside-out shots, and Corbin was 4-for-4 to start the game. As the game wore on, his game got a little bit looser."

BYU center Corbin Kaufusi (44) blocks a shot by Mississippi Valley State guard Isaac Williams (24) during NCAA basketball in Provo, Nov. 25, 2015. (Photo: Ravell Call, Deseret News)
BYU center Corbin Kaufusi (44) blocks a shot by Mississippi Valley State guard Isaac Williams (24) during NCAA basketball in Provo, Nov. 25, 2015. (Photo: Ravell Call, Deseret News)

Emery didn't let up much from there, totaling eight points and four assists in the first 10 minutes of the game as BYU built up a comfortable lead in the first 10 minutes against Mississippi Valley State and began shuffling its starting lineup with role players off the bench.

"I think we just played BYU basketball," Emery said. "That's how we play in practice every day. Then they hit a couple of shots and got momentum going. But we'll learn from this and keep pushing forward."

Kaufusi started the game hitting his first four shots, and his block with just over a minute to play energized the half-full student section before throwing down a dunk on the other end with 57 seconds left in the half.

BYU also distributed the ball well in the opening 20 minutes, dishing out 12 assists on 15 made shots with five helpers from Emery and two each from Collinsworth and Jake Toolson. But they got away from that in the second half, making just 11 of 25 shots after the break with only one 3-pointer.

Rose made some wholesale substitutions during the first half, eventually pulling every starter but Kaufusi with about five minutes to go, that he later admitted caused the Cougars to lose some momentum — and they never completely regained it.

"We were a little flat, but at the end of the day we won, and that's all that matters," Collinsworth said. "We won, and we'll get ready for the next game."

Damian Young, who averaged 10.0 points per game for the Delta Devils in the first four games of the year, exploded for a game-high 21 points and four steals, and he knocked down back-to-back threes to start the second half and pull Mississippi Valley State within four, 45-41 with 17:54 left in the game.

A BYU squad that only has three seniors — one of them redshirt reserve forward Nate Austin — couldn't seem to recover from the down situation, and it was all the young players could do to keep the lead that BYU held for all but 18 seconds of the game.

"We've done a pretty good job of limiting the best offensive scorer, and tonight was the opposite," Rose said. "I think that was discouraging to our group. But my goodness, everything isn't going to go exactly how you want it to go."

The Delta Devils outscored the home team 36-31 after the break, and BYU didn't make a shot from the field for seven and a half minutes until Kyle Davis' dunk with 43 seconds to play helped the Cougars stifle a late-rally attempt.

"It feels like the guys are fighting our system, and then fighting each other at times," Rose said. "We've got to find a way to get everybody playing together all the time.

"It's a young group, and young groups take time."

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