After a 2-1 start to the season that featured a pair of close victories, BYU faced off with Nicholls on Saturday night looking to start its first winning streak of the young season.
As the double-digit favorite, the Cougars were able to pull out a win, although the visiting Colonels put up a good fight.
After a heavily contested first half of play, BYU was able to tighten up on defense in the second half to record its first back-to-back wins of the season.
First half
The first half of the game was very heavily influenced by both offenses. BYU had major struggles shooting the ball from three-point range throughout the game, shooting at only a 24.2% clip on the night. However, this did not stop them from scoring, as they shot 48.4% from the field throughout the game while the Cougars’ centers and forwards were able to score down in the paint often against the Colonels.
On the Nicholls side, the Colonels shot very well from beyond the arc in the first half. They were able to make an impressive eight three-point baskets in the opening half of play which helped them go into halftime leading 40-37.
The three-point shooting was not the only reason why BYU struggled in the first half of play. They also had nine first-half turnovers, allowing Nicholls to hang around in the game despite having the edge in roster talent.
For the Cougars to be able to pull out a win in the second half of the game, they had to tighten up their defense. They had struggled to guard the perimeter so they needed to focus on containing the hot shooting of the Colonels from deep in the second half. If they could force the visitors to take the ball inside they would likely have the upper hand throughout the remainder of the game.
Second half
In the second half, BYU was able to do just that. They were able to hold Nicholls to making just three-point shots which made it more difficult for them to score. The Cougars were able to continue shooting the ball well from the field overall, even while the deep ball wasn’t going down.
BYU was able to win the game off of their force inside on both offense and defense. The Cougars held the Colonels to 33 second-half points, while they countered with 50 to seal the win. This game may not have been the prettiest but BYU was able to make the proper adjustments at halftime to be able to pull out a double-digit victory in the second half.
One thing that you won’t see on the stat sheet was the second-half chippiness. After the Cougars started to pull ahead after the break, the Nicholls players started to get frustrated. The first case of this was when Colonels guard Lance Amir-Paul was called for a flagrant foul after grabbing BYU guard Rudi Williams unnecessarily. It continued after that as well, as Dallin Hall got into a held-ball situation with Nicholls guard Micah Thomas. Thomas then pushed Hall, and BYU forward Noah Waterman responded by pushing back against Thomas. Both teams came over for a brief scuffle, which concluded most of the conflicts for the night.
Up Next
After picking up two home wins this week, the Cougars are heading to the Bahamas for the Bad Boy Mowers Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament, with their first match-up being the USC Trojans. The Trojans are also 3-1 on the season so this should provide BYU with a tough challenge and it will be a measuring stick game to see how well this team can compete this season.
The Cougars will face the Trojans in the Bahamas on Wednesday, Nov. 23 at 3 p.m. MT and the game can be seen on ESPN2.
