College basketball: BYU's Tyler Haws finds way to contribute

Provo • Tyler Haws is getting used to being a marked man.

As one of the leading scorers for BYU, the sophomore has seen defenses geared to stop him for consecutive games, with Iowa State being the first and Utah doing the same on Saturday night at the Marriott Center.

It worked in large part, as Haws shot just 2 of 10 from the field in the Cougars' 61-58 win. But he made his mark on the game anyway by becoming aggressive and taking the ball to the basket when his jumper was failing him.

"Utah was really physical," BYU coach Dave Rose said. "Tonight was a good night for Tyler to figure out how he was being played and still be effective."

Haws did just that by getting to the free-throw line and going 10 for 10 once he was there. He made the two foul shots to give BYU a three-point cushion down the stretch. His basket and a foul with 2:47 remaining supplied the Cougars with the advantage for good.

In the zone

Utah did fine against BYU's man defense. Once the Cougars switched to zone, they found an easy way to get back into the game.

The Utes shot 6 of 23 from 3-point range, and 3 of 15 from that distance in the second half. Much of that was due to BYU's ability to force Utah into long and contested jumpers that consistently missed their mark.

"I think their zone stunned us a little bit," Utah guard Glen Dean said. "We stopped moving and got stagnant, and that cost us. When they were in man defense in the first half, we were moving and guys were getting open. That stopped when they switched up."

On the rebound

Saturday night marked the first game of the season in which Utah freshman Jordan Loveridge failed to get a rebound. The rookie forward scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half. ... BYU made 17 of its 23 free throws in the second half.

tjones@sltrib.com

Twitter: @tjonessltrib