BYU basketball: Cougars' bench comes up big again

FORT WORTH, Texas — The BYU Cougars have promoted their depth all season long.

Never has that depth been more evident, however, than the past few games.

Against Utah last Wednesday, BYU's bench scored 44 of the Cougars' 71 points. Saturday against TCU, the reserves scored 61 of BYU's 107 points. That's two straight games in which BYU's bench has outscored the starters.

Saturday's game, which the Cougars won 107-77, turned in BYU's favor when coach Dave Rose sat starters Jimmer Fredette, Noah Hartsock, Chris Miles and Tyler Haws less than four minutes into the game with the Cougars trailing 18-4.

"I think they're playing at a much higher level right now, which I think is really good for the chemistry of your team," Rose said of his reserves. "It's good to push those guys that have got a lot of regular minutes, and it makes your team better."

Senior Jonathan Tavernari hit 9 of 12 shots for a game-high 23 points. But the biggest spark came from freshman Charles Abouo, who doubled his previous career high with 22 points on 8-of-11 shooting. The former Logan High star also had five rebounds and three assists.

"It's pretty simple," Abouo said. "The coaches have a lot of confidence in all of the players … you have a pretty good comfort level where they allow you to make plays and get involved. So when you come off the bench, you're not tentative or anything. You just get a chance to get out there and get a chance to play your game."

Rose felt Abouo was a big difference maker in the game on both ends of the floor.

"He was a big, physical, active presence," Rose said. "And the way we game plan (the Horned Frogs), you have to be able to guard multiple players, and Charles did a very good job of that."

Guard Jackson Emery, who saw the most minutes (31) Saturday of BYU's starters, said the Cougar reserves have been playing with a lot of confidence recently in practice, and they're simply transferring that confidence to the games.

TOUGH STRETCH FOR THE SENIOR: Starting center Chris Miles scored only two points, on two free throws, late in Saturday's game — marking the second straight game he has gone without a field goal. In fact, he made only one basket last weekend against New Mexico.

So in the past three games, Miles is 1 of 7 with six total points in 21 minutes. But Rose said he has not lost confidence in his starting post player.