PROVO — As a freshman, BYU senior guard Zac Seljaas established a reputation as a 3-point sharpshooter.
And, no doubt, he still is a 3-point sharpshooter.
But now, as a senior, Seljaas has embraced his role as a spark plug off the bench and has developed his game in a bunch of different ways on both ends of the floor.
And Saturday night at the Marriott Center, Seljaas once again showed how far he’s come.
“We’re all going to step up and play for each other. That’s my goal and that’s everyone’s goal — to fight and to play together.” — BYU’s Dalton Nixon
While he scored a game-high 21 points, including 5 of 5 from 3-point range and 8 of 11 overall, he also added six rebounds and a solid defensive effort to help lead the Cougars to a resounding 96-70 win over Portland.
“You talk about an endless font of intensity. Every time he jumps on defense, he’s clapping and you see his eyes bulging. It never goes away,” coach Mark Pope said of Seljaas. “It doesn’t mean he plays perfectly, but every minute out on the floor, our team can feed off of his energy. With that backdrop of what he’s given to this team, for him to come make a bunch of shots and have a game like he did tonight, we knew he would. He’s going to win us more games. It’s really wonderful for him because he’s getting some payoff for all the capital he’s put into the game.”
Seljaas has enjoyed becoming an all-purpose contributor.
“It’s been a journey, I guess. It’s been doing different things each year and changing positions. It’s been awesome. I’ve loved it,” he said. “I’ve loved to be able to learn new things and to be able to be like Dalton (Nixon) and basically be a Swiss Army knife. It’s been nice.”
With star forward Yoeli Childs sidelined indefinitely with a hand injury, BYU needs other players, like Seljaas, to fill the void — and a total of six Cougars scored in double figures Saturday.
Aside from Seljaas’ performance, TJ Haws and Dalton Nixon both recorded their first career double-doubles.
Haws scored 13 points to go along with a career-high 14 assists (and zero turnovers) while Nixon had 14 points and 11 rebounds.
Haws also tied the school record for most assists without a turnover set previously by Randy Reid at Texas Tech in 1995.
“It feels good. I was talking to Yoeli (who has 41 career double-doubles) at the end and I was like, ‘Man, this really does feel nice,’” Nixon said of his first career double-double. “It was cool but at the same time, I had a little bit of Kyle Collinsworth in me, missing my own layup to pad my stats or whatever. I wasn’t trying to miss but that’s just kind of how it happened tonight. We’re all going to step up and play for each other. That’s my goal and that’s everyone’s goal — to fight and to play together.”
Jake Toolson, meanwhile, scored 12 points and added eight assists and zero turnovers.
Kolby Lee added 13 points and Alex Barcello chipped in 11. As a team, BYU had 29 assists on 37 made baskets.
“Yoeli is a big emphasis to our team. He has a great presence. There’s a lot more rotation with me, Dalton and Kolby at the big spot,” Seljaas said. “We just have to be able to make that position open to contribute and do all of those things. It just works and our team comes together really well with that.”
Coming off the bench, Seljaas made an impact early against the Pilots, knocking down back-to-back 3s to lift BYU to a 24-2 advantage with 13:52 left in the first half.
The Cougars made their first six shots while Portland missed its first seven. BYU hit 9 of their first 11 shots. The Pilots started 1 of 11. BYU quickly built a 15-0 lead before ballooning to 24-2.
Portland roared back from there to cut its deficit to seven, 62-55, with 11:25 remaining. But later, the Cougars went on a 17-2 run to build up another big lead.
With the win, BYU improved to 13-5 overall and 2-1 in West Coast Conference play. Portland fell to 9-9 and 1-2.
The Cougars host San Diego Thursday.