LOS ANGELES — Less than six months ago, Jimmy Balderson was wearing a white shirt and tie and serving an LDS mission. Less than a week ago, he was redshirting.
Last Saturday at the L.A. Sports Arena, Balderson was sporting a Cougar basketball uniform, knocking down five 3-pointers and finishing with a career-high 22 points in 25 minutes.
Still, it wasn't enough as the Cougars fell to Southern California, 87-82. But Balderson's emergence was a positive sign for coach Steve Cleveland.
"I don't know if it will be like that every night for Jimmy, but I've known all along that he's a guy, offensively, that needs to play," Cleveland said.
The Cougars entered last week with a 1-3 record. His team desperate for an offensive spark, Cleveland decided to bring Balderson out of his redshirt.
In his debut against Utah State last Wednesday, the 6-foot-6 sophomore played well. But on Saturday, he turned in a breakout performance. Balderson gave the Cougars a huge lift off the bench, hitting a couple of 3-pointers during BYU's 24-5 run in the second half that erased a 17-point deficit.
"It's been the craziest week," Balderson said.
Balderson returned from his mission in August, and in October, he and Cleveland decided that redshirting was the best option. But while the Cougars struggled to score during their first four games, Cleveland was forced to re-think the decision.
"I knew in my gut two or three weeks ago this is what I wanted to do," Cleveland said. "He understands the game offensively and he gives a big help."
"Coach said, 'We've got a big gap here. We need a tall guard that can score,' " Balderson said. "There's no point sitting and watching. I wanted to come out and score baskets. I'm happy to do it. I wasn't having much fun watching the guys play."
The Cougars (1-5), losers of three games in a row, recorded an impressive second-half rally against USC, but all they want for Christmas is a win. BYU will try again when it hosts Boise State on Wednesday.
"Hopefully we can carry this momentum, even though we lost, to start getting some wins," Balderson said. "I hope no one gives up on us. We're just going to try to become a better basketball team until, come January or February, we're looking good. I think we are a good basketball team. We've got good individual players once we start playing together and everybody plays their roles."
Cleveland was disappointed with Saturday's loss, but he was pleased with his team's second-half effort.
"We just wanted them to compete and play hard," he said.
Cleveland is doing whatever he can to help his team turn things around.
"Sometimes we're yelling and screaming and sometimes we're not. We're trying a little bit of everything — every coaching technique and psychology thing you're trying to do to try to win. It's frustrating. I haven't gone through this in a long time. It's not fun. It's not easy. I think we're all a little bit on edge. But I think being on edge is what hopefully will help us turn the corner and help us become the team we can become."
E-mail: jeffc@desnews.com