Provo • BYU basketball coach Dave Rose rarely tips off his starting five before the season begins, and this year is no exception.
After the Cougars wrapped up their final practice before Wednesday night’s Cougar Tipoff instrasquad game at the Marriott Center, Rose said he is still considering seven or eight guys for the starting five spots.
“That is a real part of what we do right now at this time of year, is trying to find groups of guys that can play together, play well together,” Rose said. “I think that we have got two or three different ways we can play. We can play with two post guys. We can play with one post guy and four perimeter guys, or a couple post guys with one skilled on the perimeter.”
Perhaps the biggest battle is at the five position, where recently returned missionary Luke Worthington and sophomore Payton Dastrup are the candidates to start. Another RM, Ryan Andrus, has been sidelined by a knee injury.
Projected starting wing TJ Haws said the Cougars are excited to play against each other in a more formal format Wednesday night. Admission is free to the event, which begins at 7 p.m.
“I feel like we’ve made great improvements in practice,” Haws said.
Return to The Pit
Thursday, the Cougars will travel to Albuquerque, N.M., for an exhibition game Friday against New Mexico at Dreamstyle Arena, the venue more commonly known as The Pit. Proceeds from the game will go to benefit victims of Hurricane Harvey in Houston, which is Rose’s hometown and the city where he played college basketball for the University of Houston.
Rose said he initiated talks with New Mexico to play the game there and is thankful the Lobos accepted the offer.
“When New Mexico expressed a real interest to take us, I thought it was a perfect fit because they will put people in there,” Rose said, mentioning that as soon as he learned teams could play exhibition games for disaster relief he started calling around for an opponent and a venue. Playing in Provo was not an option because BYU is already playing two exhibitions at home in November.
“I haven’t been there for seven years, but before that we were there every year and the Lobo fans love to come watch the Lobos play BYU,” Rose said of the former WAC and MWC rivalry BYU had with New Mexico.
Andrus still on the mend
Andrus watched practice from the sidelines in street clothes, and did some exercising on a stationary bike. Rose said the American Fork product who recently returned from a church mission is still experiencing soreness in both knees. He had one knee surgically repaired a few weeks before training camp opened, but now the other knee is bothering him.
“I am not really optimistic to see Ry [out there playing] for a month or so,” Rose said.
Briefly
Junior guard Nick Emery was not at practice on Tuesday because he was at a previous commitment scheduled more than a month ago, Rose said. The coach said Emery will be back Wednesday and participate in the scrimmage. … Rose said that aside from Andrus and Emery, no players have missed any practices during training camp.