BYU took its third win of the week after a 91-60 win against Alabama A&M on Nov. 17 in the Marriott Center.
After playing three games in five days and taking their fourth straight win, the Cougars have shown they have what it takes to keep up the pace.
Head coach Dave Rose accredits the Cougars’ win to their well-executed offensive plays. He said each player came out and played cohesively as a team.
“I think that it was good to see our guys really in a rhythm offensively,” Rose said. “It’s probably our best that we’ve executed and finished for the longest period of time as far as the season is concerned.”
Forward Yoeli Childs recorded his fifth-straight double-double of the season which has him tied for the seventh longest streak in the history of BYU.
Guard TJ Haws came out aggressively and led the team in scoring. He played efficiently with 19 points overall, six assists and two steals.
“It helps everyone when you have someone being aggressive — it sucks in that defense so that we can kick it out, find that extra pass, and do everything as a team,” guard Zac Seljaas said. “(Haws) was able to take his guy, drive past him and (have) everyone collapse on him. It was a lot (easier) for us to kick it out and hit shots.”
BYU came out with energy, winning the tip-off, and kept it up until the final buzzer. The Bulldogs’ coach could be heard from the sideline telling his team to pick up the pace on defense and even yelled, “Can we get one stop?”
Seljaas led the team with five consecutive three-pointers that propelled the Cougars to win the game.
“(The team) spaced the floor really well, and (Seljaas) got good open looks,” Rose said. “They were in rhythm, and (Seljaas) was delivered pretty good passes in a place where he could just jump up and shoot it.”
The Cougars boasted a shooting percentage of 50 percent from the field, also going 8-22 from the three-point line and 17-23 free throws.
BYU dominated the paint with 44 points compared to the Bulldogs’ 18 and pulled 26 points from the bench.
Guards Rylan Bergersen and Connor Harding made eight and nine points respectively.
Forward Luke Worthington was impressed with the way the newer guys have played this season.
“It’s a common thing with freshmen, they can get a step behind because of instead of immediately reacting they are trying to read it and then react,” Worthington said. “These guys came in ready. They are big-time contributors. They have a lot of confidence in their own game which helps.”
BYU hopes to take its fifth consecutive win on Nov. 21 against Rice University at 7 p.m. at the Marriott Center.
