BYU's men's basketball: Iowa State thumps Cougars, 83-62

Ames, Iowa • Brigham Young men's basketball coach Dave Rose called time out, gave a long exhale and stood silent and expressionless for a few seconds with his team huddled around him.

Rose eventually spoke but there was little to be said with Cougars deep into an 83-62 loss at Iowa State at Hilton Coliseum Saturday.

Another strong performance from Brandon Davies wasn't nearly enough to offset woeful shooting and a career high 32 points from Cyclone and former Utah Ute Will Clyburn. Davies tallied 20 points and drew several fouls but that was a small bright spot on a dreary day as the Cougars (5-3) shot 37 percent and had 18 turnovers.

Top-scorer Tyler Haws was well off his 22.6 scoring average, putting up nine points on 4-of-13 shooting. Iowa State's top defender Chris Babb shadowed Haws throughout, rarely letting Haws gain separation.

"He's not trying to take chances. He plays you straight up and makes you earn everything you get," Haws said. "They're tough defenders; big, strong dudes."

Haws and Davies both said those big, strong dudes outworked BYU in building a 48-37 halftime lead. Iowa State (5-2) was 7-of-14 on 3-pointers in the first half, and led by double digits the entire second half.

"At a certain part of the game they kind of broke us and guys stopped playing hard which is very frustrating," Haws said.

Clyburn, who played at Utah for one season (2010-11) before transferring after former Ute coach Jim Boylen was fired, made four 3-pointers and was 10-of-11 at the free throw line. He scored 22 points before halftime and left the game to an ovation with four minutes left.

"Will was terrific," Rose said. "It's hard to get him in a hurry. He plays with a great pace and with great confidence. I thought we did a better job against him in the second half but in the first half he torched us."

For the third straight game, BYU walk-on Craig Cusick started at point guard and Matt Carlino came off the bench.

In the opening three minutes, the Cusick was overmatched by counterpart Korie Lucious. Lucious, who had 12 points and nine assists, was fouled by Cusick on a drive and later blew past him for a layup that Lucious missed. After another Cyclones missed shot, Lucious stole the ball from Cusick and the turnover turned into an alley-oop dunk that induced a lusty roar from the crowd of 13,739. Cusick did not score and had three assists and one turnover in 22 minutes.

Rose made the move after Carlino shot just 1-of-14 with five assists in losses to Florida State and Notre Dame. He wouldn't say if the approach would continue, but he felt Carlino, who had 12 points, three assists and one turnover, was steady.

"I thought Matt played within himself pretty well. It was a tough matchup for our point guards because [Lucious] is so quick," Rose said.

Up next for the Cougars are a couple in-state rivalry dates at the Marriott Center. Utah State comes calling Wednesday. Utah visits Saturday. —

Storylines

It was another big game for Will Clyburn, a transfer from Utah, against the Cougars. While a Ute, he scored 23 and 18 points against BYU in two games during the 2010-11 season.

BYU sophomore Nate Austin had a season-best eight points and five rebounds. He was the only Cougar to shoot above 50 percent (3-of-5).

The Cougars' 62 points were a season low.