Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
PROVO — It hasn’t always been easy for Braiden Shaw to make an impact on the 2016-17 edition of the BYU men’s basketball team.
Shaw averaged 0.6 points and 0.8 rebounds in 2.9 minutes per game a year ago, but his playing time looked to diminish even further as the sophomore from Eagle, Idaho, entered this season.
It isn’t his fault; playing behind BYU posts Eric Mika, Kyle Davis and former Bingham High star Yoeli Childs will do that to a lot of people.
But in Wednesday night’s 77-63 win over Utah State at Vivint Arena, Shaw found his place in the lineup with a career-high 10 points and five rebounds in just 14 minutes off the bench for the Cougars (5-2).
And it’s something Shaw plans to do a lot more going further, beginning with BYU’s L.A. Hoophall matchup against undefeated Southern California (7-0) at 6 p.m. MST Saturday on ESPNU and KSL NewsRadio.
“I think rebounding is a big one for me,” said Shaw, who is averaging 3.3 points and 1.8 rebounds in the first seven games of the season. “I’m just doing everything I can to give the team a boost when I get in.”
Shaw’s impact on the game was noticed by his teammates, including Mika, who had a game-high 20 points, seven rebounds and four blocks against the Aggies.
“We knew they had a lot of athletic dudes, and if we execute on defense and made them take tough shots, then we had to finish it out,” Mika said. “We had a lot of bigs come in, and Braiden Shaw and Jamal Aytes gave us huge minutes and got some huge rebounds.”
The challenge of BYU’s season became even more difficult after last Saturday’s 114-101 home loss to Utah Valley, it’s second-straight loss in the early part of the season.
Defense was a problem against the Wolverines. Three-point shooting was a problem. Rebounding was a problem.
And while the Cougars’ issues didn’t magically go away in one night thanks to a win over the 3-3 Aggies, there were a few answers after the game.
“The most impressive thing to me was how the guys responded as far as the energy that we played with,” BYU coach Dave Rose said. “The first 5-6 missed shots that we had, we got a hand on or we got it and put it back in. We sustained that pretty much for the full game. We had good energy, and contested things pretty well.”
BYU outrebounded one of its longest-standing in-state rivals 55-31, including a 23-8 margin on the offensive glass. For a team that missed 44 shots on the evening, getting 23 of them back and converting 20 second-chance points will help on any occasion.
“Coaches said to play hungry; if you’re tired, we’ll sub someone in,” said point guard L.J. Rose, who had nine rebounds to go along with 18 points and six assists. “It came down to trust, and the next guy stepped up. Braiden Shaw played phenomenal, and that’s what we had to do.”
Related Story
Mika, BYU hold off Utah State to snap 2-game skid
Eric Mika had 20 points, six rebounds and four blocks, and the Cougars outrebounded the Aggies 55-31 to help BYU snap a two-game losing streak with a 77-63 win over Utah State at Vivint Arena.BYU’s 3-point shooting wasn’t particularly good, either; the Cougars made just 4-of-20 3-point attempts.
“We didn’t shoot the ball well, and we can still win games,” coach Rose said. “This was a grind-it-out game, and that’s what league games are like. All of these in-state games are like that.”
But BYU found an unlikely secret weapon in its point guard, whose struggles from the field evaporated as he knocked down 3-of-6 shots and scored 10 points in the final 4:28 of the contest.
Not bad for a player whose greatest advantage was averaging 6.3 rebounds and 6.2 assists per game prior to Wednesday night.
“The scouting report seems to be that he is the one they give the most space to for shooting the ball, and he busted a couple of big threes,” BYU’s coach said of the other Rose on the roster. “He got fouled late, and he showed he’s a really good free-throw shooter. He had a pretty good line.”
Who: BYU (5-2) vs. USC (7-0)
When: 6 p.m. MT Friday
Where/Broadcast: Staples Center; ESPNU and KSL Newsradio
