PROVO — In BYU's second and final exhibition before Friday's official season-opener against Bradley, the Cougars put on a thrilling show Tuesday night at the Marriott Center with basket after basket in transition.

However, it wasn't totally BYU's offense that led to the easy 82-46 win over Central Washington at the Marriott Center. In fact, some of the Cougars' offensive numbers from the night weren't all that impressive. The defensive numbers, on the other hand, are very telling of why the Cougars were able control the game from start to finish in the lopsided win over the Division II Wildcats.

"Coach has made a huge emphasis that we're a talented team, and we have a lot to offer on the offensive side, and have so many weapons, but what he said is where we win games is when we play defense together," Cougar defensive specialist Jackson Emery said. "Last game we didn't click necessarily on defense, and we worked really hard this past week. And just working together and talking, and I thought tonight we did a lot better job."

The Cougars held the Wildcats to 17 percent shooting in the first half, and 15 minutes into the game, when BYU jumped out to a 32-12 lead, Central Washington had made only 4-of-21 shots. For the game, the Wildcats hit only 15-of-62 shots (24 percent), 6-of-23 3-pointers (26 percent) and turned the ball over 19 times. The Cougars outrebounded Central Washington 51-39.

But as good as BYU's defense was — and even though coach Dave Rose loved the effort level — he still feels the defense can get better.

"I think we sped them up just a little bit because we were always trying to contest their shots, but I think defensively this team needs to play with just a little more urgency on every possession. It seems like we take some possessions off," Rose said.

Offensively, the Cougars shot 45 percent in the first half on five assists, with 20 of BYU's 34 first-half points coming in the paint which helped the Cougars to a 34-16 lead at the break.

The Cougars finished the game hitting 50 percent of their shots, with 44 points coming in the paint, and on 19 assists. Rose was especially pleased with the level of urgency the Cougars played with in the second half as they attacked the basket and pulled away from the Wildcats and led by as many as 42 points. Of BYU's 20 second-half baskets, 14 were assisted.

"That's a lot more how we play," Rose said.

On the need-for-improvement side, the Cougars made only 1-of-9 from 3-point range in the first half and 5-of-18 long-distance shots for the game. They also turned the ball over 18 times and hit only 9-of-14 free throws.