BYU offense clicks in blowout over winless Alabama A&M, 91-60

PROVO — It’s no secret that BYU’s 3-point shooting has been subpar over the first three games of the season. And perhaps nowhere is that more illustrative than with Zac Seljaas, the former Bountiful High sharpshooter who enter Saturday’s game just 7-of-19 from deep.

In the fourth game of his junior year, though, Seljaas may have found something.

TJ Haws poured in 19 points and six assists, and Seljaas dropped in five 3-pointers for 15 points to help BYU blow past winless Alabama A&M, 91-60, Saturday afternoon in front of an announced crowd of 12,206 fans at the Marriott Center prior to the evening's late-night football kickoff against New Mexico State.

Seljaas hit his most 3-pointers since his freshman year, when he had five March 22, 2016 against Creighton in the NIT.

"We were just moving the ball. Our offense was flowing really well today," said Seljaas, who was 5-of-8 from 3-point range and 0-of-3 from inside the arc. "From a long week, we were finally about to get that flow going and started playing more as a team.

"Shots were just falling."

Yoeli Childs finished with 18 points and 12 rebounds for the Cougars (3-1), who won their third-straight game since a season-opening loss at then-No. 7 Nevada. Childs, who also had four assists, ran his run of five-straight double-doubles to the seventh-longest such mark in BYU basketball history.

Meanwhile, Haws took the game by the scruff of the net, aggressively getting to the rim and setting up his teammates for open looks, chipping in the bulk of BYU’s 18 assists.

"He can see opportunities where he can create — for himself and for his teammates," BYU coach Dave Rose said of Haws. "It’ll be interesting to see how we move forward. We’re going to get some real resistance there on Wednesday and Saturday.

"Hopefully we can play at a quicker pace when we have bigger guys in the post."

Evan Wiley had 18 points to lead Alabama A&M (0-4), an HBCU from Huntsville, Alabama that competes in the Southwestern Athletic Conference. The Bulldogs shot just 35 percent from the field, compared to 50 percent for BYU.

Opponent aside, BYU captain Luke Worthington said the Cougars can take “whatever we want to get” out of a game against an overmatched squad.

"We play a team that may not be quite as talented, and it becomes more about us and what we are doing, how we are executing," said Worthington, who had nine points and six rebounds in 16 minutes off the bench for BYU. "The ball was moving really well today, and I think there are several guys who got better as the game went on.

"We did our job, got the win, and now can move on to the next game."

Haws nailed back-to-back jumpers to start a 13-2 run, and the Cougars punctuated the spurt with Childs' dunk for his first bucket of the game.

Even as BYU’s 3-point shooting woes continued — the Cougars made just 1-of-4 from deep, a Connor Harding trey nearly 10 minutes into the game — the school found its game on the inside, thanks to Haws.

Haws had 10 points in the first nine minutes of the game, all while only attempting one 3-pointer and going 5-of-7 from the field.

Eventually, the threes would fall.

Rylan Bergersen scored five-straight, including the Cougars’ third three of the first half, to push BYU’s lead to 20, 34-14. The Cougars went on to a 46-24 lead at halftime before cruising to the win.

BYU out-rebounded the Bulldogs 47-37 and assisted on 18-of-33 made buckets — which helped set up the Cougars’ 3-point shooters, like Seljaas.

“We spaced the floor really well, and he got good, open looks,” Rose said. “He rushed a couple of them, but the ones that were in rhythm, he delivered pretty good passes and he jumped up and shot them.

“He shoots that way a lot, and I think our guys expect it to go in.”

Next up

BYU continues the Men Against Breast Cancer Cougar Cup next Wednesday against Rice. They’ll conclude the on-campus tournament setup Saturday against Houston, which is Rose’s alma mater.

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