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PROVO — The BYU Cougars enter Saturday’s game against Hawaii at EnergySolutions Arena with a record of 6-2 and coming off an impressive victory over Utah State this past Tuesday in Logan.
BYU has played 17 games at ESA dating back to 1993 and is 13-4 in those matchups. For college players, it’s an exciting opportunity to play on an NBA floor in an NBA arena. BYU head coach Dave Rose knows that the atmosphere, especially packed with Cougar fans, is something his player look forward to.
“Hopefully we get a good crowd,” Rose said. “When the crowd is there, especially when the lower bowl is full, it kind of shrinks that arena a little bit. … I think our guys enjoy playing in these venues.”
Besides the excitement of playing on the same floor as the Utah Jazz, there could be a tactical advantage for the Cougars at ESA.
“I think it’s fun because it seems like it’s a bigger floor, more spread out, guard Anson Winder said. “With our offense I think that can only help us because we love to get out and run and spread the floor. To get out and play on the Jazz arena, it’s fun and it’s exciting to say that you’ve played there.”
The Rainbow Warriors make their way to the mainland with a 7-2 record. Hawaii’s biggest win of the season so far is beating Pittsburgh in Maui. The ’Bows strength, according to Dave Rose is their balance. Hawaii has several players averaging in double figures and can spread the ball around and get production.
“With each of these guys having the capability of having a big night … you can’t just focus on one or two guys. … They usually have five guys on the floor who can shoot the ball, which makes your scouting report pretty difficult.”
Saturday’s game tips off at 4 p.m. from EnergySolutions Arena. Pregame coverage on KSL Newsradio 102.7 FM/1160 AM and BYUCougars.com will begin at 3 p.m.
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There have been several bright spots for BYU to start the season. One has been the play of senior guard Anson Winder. Winder is averaging 14.6 points and 4.1 rebounds per game off the bench. Winder began to assert himself towards the end of last season when he averaged 12 points over the final seven games. In total, Winder scored in double figures 10 times during the 2013-14 season. In just eight games this year, Winder has scored in double figures in all but one of BYU’s games.
“Anson has been so good for us over the years and this year he’s been as consistent as anybody on both ends of the floor,” Rose said. “I like these senior stories, guys that stay around a long time and maybe go through some stuff that is really tough on him. … In today’s really impatient world, Anson’s the kind of a guy that his patience has really paid off.”
When asked where he feels he’s made the biggest improvement, Winder said, “I think just growing older. Just the experience I’ve gained playing these few years at BYU and just adjusting to situations. Some things are out of your control; taking what you can and controlling the controllable and taking everything you can in stride and learning from every situation is kinda what got me to this point now.”
If there’s anyone on BYU’s team that knows what it’s like to be relied upon each and every night, it’s Tyler Haws. From Haws’ perspective, he’s in awe of what Winder is doing.
“I look at him sometimes after games, (and ) I’m just like, ‘I don’t know how you do it’ because he’ll play positions 1-5 … he’s the ultimate team guy and the ultimate glue guy; he’s doing a great job for us.”
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BYU will host the University of Utah next Wednesday night at the Marriott Center. After Utah’s win over Wichita State this past Wednesday, Ute head coach Larry Krystowiak made comments, apparently in jest, regarding BYU not being an elite team.
Those comments got quite a bit of play on social media and they made their way to the BYU basketball team.
“We’ve heard about the comments and seen the videos,” Winder said. “We’re trying not to pay too much attention to stuff that’s goes on in Salt Lake. We try to focus on what’s going on in Provo and our team and our situation. We’ll handle that when it’s time to deal with Utah.”
For Haws, he knows rivalry games can sometimes come with some extracurricular activities, but he’s not really paying much attention to the buzz.
“I heard about it. I don’t have too much of a reaction to it. It seems like there’s always something floating around with those games. The BYU-Utah game, it’s not a hard game to get motivated for, both teams want to win really bad. We’re excited and we’ll be ready to go.”
