BYU 92, Longwood 60: Grades

PROVO — It took the Cougars a while to wake up after Longwood jumped out to an early lead Friday night at the Marriott Center, but BYU's superior depth and talent eventually took over and the Cougars cruised to the 92-60 win.

Grades are in for every position group and other factors that contributed in the win.

Guards: A-

Charles Abouo played the game with his shorts on backwards, and considering how he played, he might do well to make a habit of it. The senior guard was the best player on the court, finishing with not only 19 points, but 16 rebounds, four assists and two blocked shots as well.

More importantly, Abouo provided a lot of energy with his play in the second half as the game broke open.

Craig Cusick started the game at point guard, but it was Anson Winder who made the biggest impact at the position. The offense and the team in general was stagnant until Winder came off of the bench to man the point. He finished the game with eight points, four assists, but most importantly, no turnovers in his 23 minutes of play.

Forwards: B+

Brock Zylstra got the start at small forward, which is his more natural position, but he had a quiet night, finishing with just six points in his 18 minutes of play. Noah Hartsock had another productive effort, scoring 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting.

True freshman DaMarcus Harrison provided some good energy off the bench, scoring 11 points with 3-of-5 shooting from three-point range. The most energy was provided by Stephen Rogers, however, providing the team with some of the instant offense that he's expected to provide. Rogers finished the game with 17 points in only 18 minutes of play.

Center: C

The center position wasn't a big factor with Brandon Davies having one of his more quiet nights. The junior post-man finished with just two points, but did hand out four assists. He was pulled early in the second-half as the size of Longwood's team dictated a smaller lineup for BYU coach Dave Rose.

Coaching: B+

The Cougars didn't look very well-prepared to play the game from the outset, but Rose managed the game very well after their slow start. The key move he made was in rotating Cusick with Winder at the point position, sticking with Winder for the majority of the night due to his inspired performance.

This team is a work in progress, and Rose is doing well in trying several different combinations to achieve the best level of play possible. He may have found what he was looking for with Winder at the point position.

He also did well in pulling Davies early in the second half, as the course of the game didn't benefit a player of his skill set.

Overall performance: B+

The game didn't start out like most expected, but the important thing is finishing as expected, and BYU did just that. The team showed some very good energy and played fast and efficient.

Most importantly, however, was the lack of turnovers. They finished with a 23-10 assist to turnover ratio which is a huge improvement from what they been producing so far in the early season.

Email: bgurney@desnews.com

Twitter: @BrandonCGurney