BYU Basketball Defeats NAU with Solid Play from Guards

The BYU men's basketball team played at Northern Arizona University on Wednesday, and the Cougars pretty much dominated NAU, coming away with an 87-52 win.  That win boosted the Cougars' overall record to 5-2, with the only losses coming at Utah State and in a tournament championship game against Wisconsin.

In most of BYU's wins this season, the team was carried by the play of big men Brandon Davies and Noah Hartsock. 

Dave Rose was not getting great production out of his guards, so he shuffled the lineup around, moving Brock Zylstra from point guard to shooting guard, Stephen Rogers from shooting guard to the bench and brought Anson Winder off the bench to run the Cougar offense as the point guard.

If the NAU game is any indication, Rose made the right decision.

Zylstra went off in this game, scoring 23 points on 80 percent shooting.  Rogers shot 40 percent from three-point range when he came off the bench.  Winder had nine assists and only three turnovers, for a solid 3-1 assist/turnover ratio.

Hartsock and Davies still had solid games, scoring 11 and 14 points, respectively, while staying out of foul trouble.  The difference this time was that they weren't asked to carry the team, and the positive results were undeniable proof that BYU plays best when its offense is run through their guards and not through their post players.

Zylstra is a fantastic shooter, but appeared out of sync earlier in the season when he was asked to run the offense from the point-guard position, and his decision-making and shooting both suffered.  With Winder now running the point, Zylstra is obviously much more comfortable with his role as a shooter, and it showed in his play.

Winder does not take a high volume of shots, but is racking up the assists.  The Cougars offense is a lot more dynamic with him calling the shots, and his ball distribution is superb.  The predictability and turnover-prone passing game that plagued BYU in their first few games is no longer a problem, as Winder opens up the entire Cougar offense.

Rogers appears more comfortable coming off the bench, even though he still played a large number of minutes.  His shooting has improved since being used as a bench player, and it seems that he is playing a lot more relaxed than when he was a starter.

If BYU's guard play continues on like this for the rest of the season, the Cougars have a pretty good shot at winning the WCC and doing well in the NCAA tournament.