BYU basketball: Breakout performance by Michael Loyd Jr.

PROVO — For a good share of this season BYU sophomore Michael Loyd Jr. has been the odd man out in the Cougars' backcourt rotation.

Whenever guards Jackson Emery or Tyler Haws need a break, coach Dave Rose has tended to go with Charles Abouo to give the Cougars a more physical and better rebounding presence. Loyd hasn't received much time filling in at the two position unless the need has called for more speed and quickness.

Loyd also wasn't getting the first call to relieve starting point guard Jimmer Fredette whenever the Cougars' leading scorer needed a rest. That was going to senior Lamont Morgan Jr. up until Morgan suffered a knee injury in practice three weeks ago.

Through 25 games, Loyd was averaging about eight minutes per game — and many of those minutes came during mop-up time in BYU blowouts.

Loyd's role could change and become much bigger, however, following the eye-opening breakout game that he had Saturday against New Mexico. With Morgan still out and coach Dave Rose deciding to sit an ailing Fredette, Loyd played the point the final 19 minutes and a combined 24 minutes for the game.

In the second half alone Loyd scored 19 points on 8-of-9 shooting and by going 2-of-2 from the free-throw line. For the game he also added four rebounds, two assists, one block and one steal.

Does a performance like that tell BYU's coaches that they have more guard depth than they thought, and give Loyd's teammates more confidence in his ability to be a major contributor the remainder of the season?

"I hope so, but I really hope it helps Mike," Rose said. "Mike has kind of been up and down a little bit. And that was a great individual performance in a really big situation for us. It could really help our team down the stretch if he starts playing with a lot of confidence. He played really, really well early in the year, but it's kind of been hit-and-miss with him since. But if we can get some consistent play out of him, especially at that level, it will really help our team."

New Mexico coach Steve Alford said Loyd's play, on both offense and defense, was the main reason the Cougars came back in the second half and had a chance to win at the end. It was an effort that caught the Lobos off guard.

"I can't imagine Jimmer doing more in a half than Loyd did," Alford said.

Even Loyd himself was a little stunned at how confident he played, considering his limited role up to that point in the season.