BYU Flies Past Hawaii in Salt Lake City
By James Pigott
Dec 6, 2014; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Brigham Young Cougars guard Skyler Halford (23) fouls Hawaii Warriors guard Aaron Valdes (23) during the first half at EnergySolutions Arena. Mandatory Credit: Chris Nicoll-USA TODAY Sports
Tyler Haws scored 30 points, and Kyle Collinsworth added a triple double as the BYU Cougars defeated the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors 90-70 on Saturday at EnergySolutions Arena. Collinsworth filled the stat sheet with 20 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists, becoming the first Cougar to record a tripe double since Michael Smith in 1988. He also had an emphatic block that deserves to be watched multiple times by everyone right here. Haws scored his 30 points on just 17 shot attempts, while Chase Fischer added 20 points and 5 assists. Anson Winder also played well with 11 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists in 31 minutes off the bench. The Cougars picked up the pace and Hawaii wasn’t able to keep up for 40 minutes, as BYU cruised to a comfortable victory.
Hawaii was playing at a disadvantage right from the beginning when we found right before tip-off that starting guard Negus Webster-Chan was going to miss the game with an ankle injury. Aaron Valdes picked up the slack with 24 points, 7 rebounds, and a highlight alley-oop dunk. Roderick Bobbitt added 15 points, 5 steals, and 7 assists, while Garrett Nevels contributed 11 points. UH simply didn’t have enough depth to contend with BYU’s high paced offense for 40 minutes, and the Cougars were able to gradually pull away for the win.
In terms of BYU’s rotation, it was interesting to see Dave Rose go almost exclusively with the 4 guard lineup, as Winder, Haws, Collinsworth, and Fischer all saw between 31-35 minutes of action while no other Cougar saw more than 16 minutes. Nate Austin hardly played in the last 34 minutes of the game, and Isaac Neilson has seen just two minutes of action in the last two games. It’ll be interesting to see if he changes the lineup when they play a team like Gonzaga, where playing four guards would put them at a significant size disadvantage in the frontcourt.
Stat of the Night
Despite the 4 guard lineup, BYU still out-rebounded Hawaii 49-30. Since the rebound is the first step of a fast break, it was key for BYU to not give UH too many second shot opportunities, which would have slowed down the game considerably. Instead the Cougars kept it to one shot only for Hawaii most of the time, and Hawaii’s misses allowed BYU to run out in transition.
Moving Forward
The Cougars will play their second toughest home game of the season on Wednesday against their rival Utah. Fortunately for BYU, Utah star forward Jordan Loveridge, who scored 21 points against BYU last year, is out for the next month after knee surgery. Still, the Utes just knocked off Wichita State, and the matchup between point guards Delon Wright and Kyle Collinsworth should be the delight of this likely close game.