PROVO — Sure, the BYU basketball team has stunk it up at times this season. But there have also been times when the Cougars have come up smelling like a Rose.
Mike Rose, that is.
After a slow start, the sophomore sharpshooter has been on fire the past month, including last week's 26-point performance (tying his career-high) in a victory over Santa Clara at the Marriott Center. He knocked down four 3-pointers and, what's more, played solid defense.
"That's the best Mike Rose has played in a BYU uniform on both ends of the court," said coach Steve Cleveland.
It's a stark contrast to the way he was playing early on in the season, when he barely contributed. In his first five games, he hit only 6-of-19 3-pointers, about 31 percent.
Since then, though, Rose has managed to turn things around. In his next eight games, he connected on 27 of 51 shots from behind the arc, nearly a 53 percent clip. In fact, Rose, who averages 9.9 points per game (second-best on the team), is shooting 46 percent from 3-point range and 45 percent overall.
Rose scored in double-figures in four straight games, against USC (13), Boise State (19), Washington State (15) and Utah State (14).
If the Cougars hope to be in the Mountain West Conference race, they'll need Rose to continue filling it up from the outside.
As a sixth-man, Rose provides BYU with instant offense. Part of his success as a shooter has to do with his quick release and his 37-inch vertical leap, which allows him to get his shot off over taller defenders.
Last year, as a true freshman, he led the MWC in 3-point percentage (.459), draining 28 of his 61 3-point attempts. He came off the bench and became an solid role player on a team full of veterans.
This season, BYU, which lost three starters to graduation, opened this season at the Maui Invitational. Rose started all three games there, with little to show for it. After the Maui trip, Cleveland decided to bring Rose off the bench, and Rose has seemed more comfortable in that role. He has started only one game since.
So why such a slow start? And how did he he overcome it?
"In the first few games the (3-point) line was extended and it was kind of a double line and it really bothered me. It's an excuse, but it really did," Rose said. "Then, in the Cal game, the line was back to normal — I just shot bad.
"Once I had one good game — I had kind of a breakout game against Southern Cal — I was OK. I thought, 'I'm fine now.' I was hitting the same shots that I was shooting in the game in practice every day. I knew they would fall. I wasn't that worried."
Now, BYU's opponents have to be worried about Rose's ability to score points in bunches.
E-mail: jeffc@desnews.com