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SALT LAKE CITY — Moving the emphasis of the Cougar from a fun half-time acrobat performer to the actual wild mammal with the greatest range in the Western Hemisphere, Brigham Young University is successfully clawing up against diverse opponents.
After a rather blurry start, the Cougars more clear identity and large turf was displayed in their 79-65 win in their neutral-site matchup in the EnergySolutions Arena against the University of Oregon Ducks Saturday.
BYU’s season began with only two true centers — both of which were freshmen — causing head coach Dave Rose to fill middle of the key with more experienced forwards such as Noah Hartsock and Brandon Davies. However, as the season has gone on one of the center cubs has shown an ability to fend in practice and excel in game time.
At 6-foot-11, freshman center Nate Austin not only impressively sunk down a 3-pointer but also three more jumpers against Oregon on Saturday. Receiving a career- high game time of 18 minutes Austin averaged one point on the scoreboard for every two minutes on the clock.
Austin has confidence in the success that BYU will increasingly see this season.
“Oregon is a great team,” Austin said. “They have great shooters, great big guys, great point guard. Our coaches had a great game plan for us and our players stuck to it and as we trust our coaches and we go out there and play hard (and) give a 100-percent effort every play we can beat anybody.”
In addition to Austin’s towering presence, the Ducks seemed to face some choking under the rim due to the big city pollution of other skyscrapers such as 6-foot-8 Hartsock.
Once again embracing the Cougar instinct, Hartsock inhibited his fellow predators from feeding the scoreboard by impulsively swotting the ball away from the rim. When asked if Hartsock showed such survival instincts in practice teammate Austin replied that it seems to be something saved for game time.
“No he doesn’t (block shots in practice like he does in games), I don’t get it,” Austin said.
In addition to Hartsock’s ability to perform under pressure, the senior captain himself was pleased with the way that everyone on the court played.
“The way we played tonight, the motion we had, just the way we played as a group — it really is a big step forward into what this team really can be,” Hartsock said.
Even greater than one of the team captains’ approvals is of course the approval of the coach. BYU coach Dave Rose expressed approval of the effort of many of his players after the game, including non-starters such as forward Stephen Rogers and Hartsock.
“Our effort had to be supreme tonight,” Rose said. “Stephen Rogers gave us a huge look — came in off the bench, came in got a 3, got fouled, got a four-point play, ended up with 16 points. That’s what we need him to do. … It’s the same thing with Noah, guys are starting to look for Stephen. You start shooting consistently from the 3-point line guys will start to look for you and then I think you got something.”
With Austin residing in his natural habitat at the center of the key and with Hartsock defending against fellow predators from receiving the meat of the game and scoring and Rogers skillfully jumping into an already escalated battle, the Cougars’ threat seems to be deepening.
According to Rose’s vision, BYU in reality might be going against the actual wild mammal natural habit of traveling their uniquely wide range alone.
“We need to play for each other,” Rose said. “If you get that in your mind that you can’t let down your teammate, then you have to play with a higher energy level. It makes everybody better. I thought that tonight, to a man, we were engaged and we played hard. We played 40 minutes and we had to because it’s a good Oregon team.”
