No. 9 BYU working on slow starts, bench help with Cal Baptist on tap

No. 9 BYU has turned the Delta Center into a tough environment for opponents this season.

The Cougars (6-1) will play on the home court of the Utah Jazz for the third time this fall when they host California Baptist on Wednesday night in Salt Lake City. BYU hosted North Carolina there in an exhibition game in October and then faced Wisconsin at the Delta Center on Nov. 21.

Both times, the Cougars emerged victorious. They dealt the Tar Heels a 78-76 loss and blasted the Badgers 98-70.

BYU enters Wednesday on a three-game winning streak after defeating Miami and Dayton to win the ESPN Events Invitational. In both games, the Cougars rallied from halftime deficits with strong second-half performances.

In those tournament games, BYU averaged 48 points on 61.1% shooting after halftime. That included an average of 6.5 made 3-pointers on 61.9% shooting from the perimeter.

"We started off pretty slow and I feel like we picked it up in the second half," guard Rob Wright III told KSL.com after BYU's 72-62 win over Miami.

A lack of bench depth is a culprit behind slow starts necessitating second-half rallies. The Cougars are getting plenty of offense from Wright, Richie Saunders and AJ Dybantsa, but the drop-off is sharp after those three.

BYU had zero bench points in its 83-79 win over Dayton -- the first time that's happened in a game since 2018.

"Hopefully it's a one-off thing. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried about it," BYU coach Kevin Young told the Deseret News after the game.

Points will be harder to come by after sixth-man Dawson Baker suffered a season-ending knee injury against Miami. Baker shared the news in a post on his Instagram account on Monday, revealing he had torn an ACL, torn a lateral meniscus and suffered other major injuries in the knee.

"My body has been tested and tried since being at BYU," Baker wrote on Instagram. "This will now be the fifth time that I've had to start everything all over again. Through all the heartbreak, tears and surgeries, this has been the hardest on me by far."

California Baptist could offer a tougher than expected test to a depth-challenged BYU squad.

The Lancers (7-1) will be taking on the second of three Big 12 opponents they will face in a six-day span. California Baptist played Colorado on Monday night and will also play at Utah on Saturday.

Judging by their performance in Boulder, facing the Lancers will not be a pleasant experience for any of these teams. California Baptist led for much of the game before Colorado rallied for a 78-70 victory.

The Lancers led by as many as 14 points in the first half before Colorado cut the deficit to a basket by halftime. Then, the Buffaloes went ahead for good on a 16-0 second-half run.

Dominque Daniels Jr. paced California Baptist with 25 points on 7-of-19 shooting. Colorado finished with a 41-35 edge on the glass, becoming the first team to win the rebounding battle against the Lancers this season.

This is the first meeting between BYU and California Baptist.

--Field Level Media