You have to have a sound foundation and understand what shots you’re willing to give up and what shots you’re not. – Heath Schroyer

PROVO — For those who were around the BYU basketball program 20 years ago, there’s a familiar, shrill voice piercing the air at the Marriott Center again.

That would be the distinctive voice of new associate head coach Heath Schroyer, who is serving his second tour of duty at BYU. He was an assistant under Steve Cleveland from 1997-2001.

One of the Cougars’ weaknesses in recent seasons has been defense, or the lack thereof, and defense happens to be one of Schroyer’s specialties. His methods can’t help but catch the attention of both players and observers — that much was evident during BYU’s first official practice of the season Monday.

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To say Schroyer is vocal is an understatement.

“My AAU coach was a screamer, so screaming doesn’t get to me,” said guard Elijah Bryant.

With Schroyer on the coaching staff, playing strong defense is becoming a priority at BYU.

“You have to set a very high expectation. It’s not going to happen overnight,” Schroyer said. “When (the players) start to get mad when someone scores, you’re starting to get there. You have to have a sound foundation and understand what shots you’re willing to give up and what shots you’re not.”

Schroyer has introduced a new statistic to the team — a kill.

“Having goals of getting three stops multiple times during a game — we call that getting a kill,” he explained. “If you get seven of those in a game, mathematically, it’s almost impossible to lose. If seven times you get three stops in a row, it’s pretty hard. That’s one thing we’ll chart during the year. I guarantee if we only have one (kill), our defensive field goal percentage isn’t very good.”

The way practices are run with Schroyer in the mix involves certain drills that require aggressiveness, unselfishness and playing smart.

What does Schroyer want the identity of this year’s team to be?

“We have to have a chip on our shoulder defensively. We have to be able to win a game 68-65. BYU’s shown they can win a game 88-85,” he said. “Being able to have that grit defensively and manage the game. A team that’s smart and unselfish that makes the right play. We stress that from Day One.”

As part of the process, coaches are holding players accountable. When mistakes are made, players pay a price, sometimes in the form of running.

How does forward Yoeli Childs describe a practice with Schroyer on the floor?

“It’s very intense. He’s on every single guy, every single play. He’s kind of a perfectionist. I love that,” he said. “If there’s one little thing you do wrong, you’re running. It teaches to have a mentality that you need to attack every play, you need to be smart every play. You need to know what you’re doing and mix that with being super aggressive so it’s a great balance that he brings.”

Schroyer left BYU after the 2001 season to become an assistant coach at Wyoming. Since then, he’s been a head coach three times. Before arriving at BYU this spring, he was an assistant head coach under Mark Gottfried at North Carolina State.

Schroyer demands that his players play hard-nosed, high-level defense.

“You can’t get out of a drill until you get three stops. So it’s a big priority,” Bryant said. “We’re taking the same mentality from practice to the game.”

Yes, there seems to be a new approach to defense for the BYU basketball program.

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“Your defense has to complement your offense and your offense has to complement your defense,” Schroyer said. “It’s really hard to try to score 100 and hold a team to 60.”

By the time the first practice session ended Monday night, it seemed Schroyer might scream himself hoarse by the end of the year.

But he’s not worried about that.

“I promise you,” Schroyer said, “I haven’t had that problem.”

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