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SANTA CLARA — When the Cougars lost four straight games on the road in December, their chances of making the NCAA Tournament looked bleak.
Now, after winning five straight West Coast Conference games — the most recent a 91-81 victory at Santa Clara — BYU looks poised to make a run at the conference championship.
“We did so many things in this game that were a little bit different than what we had to do,” coach Dave Rose told KSL’s Greg Wrubell in an interview following the latest win. “It kind of reminded me of last week when Eric (Mika) can’t play for a couple of games and then guys just figure out ways to come through and win a game.”
Junior guard and Cougars leading scorer Tyler Haws was charged with his second foul just 44 seconds into the contest, forcing junior reserve Anson Winder to adopt Haws’ role.
Winder scored 16 first-half points on 5-for-7 shooting, including two 3-pointers, and helped hold the Broncos to just 2-of-13 from behind the arc in the half.
“These guys bailed me out,” Rose continued. “When that happens you have to make some adjustments, you have to find ways to maybe change your lineup, change your game plan a little bit, and this was really easy as a coach because we put Anson in and he was terrific.”
Rose credited Winder and his fellow reserve junior Matt Carlino with the ability to stifle Santa Clara’s 3-point shooters. And when Carlino wasn’t contesting jump shots, he was busy sinking threes of his own and setting up teammates for easy buckets on his way to finishing with 15 points and nine assists.
Something did change. I'm more calm, I think all my shots are way more in balance than before. I was shooting off-balance threes — really tough shots — compared to the threes I'm shooting now are in rhythm, on-balance shots.
–Matt Carlino on the difference in his shot
“Something did change,” Carlino told Wrubell of his shot. “I’m more calm, I think all my shots are way more in balance than before. I was shooting off-balance threes — really tough shots — compared to the threes I’m shooting now are in rhythm, on-balance shots.”
The stellar bench contributions more than made up for Haws’ absence, much like it did when Mika missed 2½ games.
“His (Mika’s) presence in the middle for us and kind of the rise of Josh Sharp — his play — has given us a really solid rotation in that post,” Rose said.
Mika recorded his 17th consecutive game of double-digit scoring, the second longest mark by a BYU freshman. Only Danny Ainge had a longer streak.
Sharp chipped in four points and six rebounds to continue his increased workload.
Some fans may scoff at the idea that the Cougars are back in the mix of teams competing for a WCC championship and even a potential at-large bid come March, but BYU has controlled the tempo of each contest since snapping its December skid, scoring 83 points or more in each of its last five wins.
With upcoming games at Portland — the only WCC team to beat Gonzaga this season — and the raucous “New Kennel” against the seemingly annual league-favorite Zags, the Cougars again have a chance to prove they can compete nationally.
“We’re feeling good,” Carlino added. “I think we’re really level-headed right now. … It’s the best feel I’ve had since I’ve been here, in the locker room. We need to just keep building on everything we’re doing. I think we’re playing well right now, but we have so much to improve on.”
BYU wins the battle at the 'War'
Thursday night in San Francisco, BYU faced some tactical challenges and statistical anomalies that forced the Cougars to excel in recent areas of struggle, and they responded, holding on for an 83-76 win at War Memorial Gymnasium--BYU's first true away win since a Nov. 11 victory at Stanford.Rose said that finishing is still a concern for his maturing team, which was evident near the end of the game in Santa Clara. The Broncos, down 24 twice, were able to climb back into the game, thanks in large part to lackadaisical defending.
BYU doesn’t have any remaining matchups with power-conference opponents. However, if the Cougars can maintain their run of success, they could lock up a first-round bye in the WCC tournament and even potentially avoid a third meeting with Gonzaga until the finals.
As Carlino pointed out, the team has plenty it can improve on — 40 minutes of disciplined defense, unforced turnovers, foul trouble — but compared to how dire its chances looked just a month ago, the uphill climb isn’t nearly as daunting a task.
The Cougars (13-7, 5-2) take on the Portland Pilots (11-8, 3-4) Thursday at 8 p.m. MST. Kyle Spencer is a writer and a content manager for ksl.com. You can follow him on Twitter @kyledspencer.
