BYU’s offense ice cold in loss to No. 25 Alabama in first game of Barclays Classic

Brooklyn, N.Y. • The Steinberg Wellness Center on the Campus of Long Island University-Brooklyn is the smallest gymnasium the BYU Cougars will play in this year. On Friday afternoon here, it might have felt like the rims were smaller the normal, too.

The Cougars’ promise of a revamped offensive system — and their hopes of upsetting No. 25 Alabama — fell short as BYU struggled to find its shooting touch during a 71-59 loss to the Crimson Tide.

“It’s really hard to win when you shoot the ball like that,” forward Yoeli Childs said.

BYU hit on just 37.3 percent of its field-goal attempts, including a 4-of-17 effort from long range. And if that wasn’t rough enough, the Cougars converted only 11 of their 21 free throws.

“It just wasn’t our night offensively,” said Childs, whose 21-point effort was a bright spot for BYU’s offense. “We have dudes that make 70 percent of shots from 3 when they’re open. It just didn’t happen tonight. I shoot 100 free throws every day, usually make around 90 of them. I couldn’t hit. It just wasn’t our day.”

BYU and coach Dave Rose have implemented new offensive philosophies this season, hoping to help the Cougars get back to the NCAA tournament after a disappointing two-year absence. However, the end results Friday simply weren’t good enough.

“The way our team’s put together, we have to make those shots,” Rose said. “Especially against a team like Alabama, as physical as they are and as big as they are, you can’t just take the ball and get to the rim and expect that’s going to be your steady diet.”

Rose added, “I just feel like I need to be really complimentary of my guys for the fight they had in them, the competitiveness. [But] we didn’t execute as well as we needed to.”

Alabama jumped on BYU early, building a double-digit lead just six minutes into the contest behind freshmen guards Collin Sexton (10 points and three assists) and John Petty (16 points). BYU, which already was struggling on offense, compounded its problems with a flimsy defensive effort early on. Alabama’s wings either slashed to the rim with little resistance or found space to launch from deep.

“Give Alabama a lot of credit,” Rose said. “They’re talented and they’re deep. They’re really athletic. I thought that was the difference in the game.”

Childs, who also grabbed 11 rebounds and blocked two shots, was BYU’s best weapon, even against a bigger, stronger Alabama team. The forward had 15 points on 7-of-8 shooting heading into the locker room at the half.

“He’s tough, man,” Alabama coach Avery Johnson said. “At halftime, we really didn’t have an answer.”

The Tide instead hoped making Childs work in the paint would help limit BYU’s production on the perimeter.

“I felt like a lot of the stuff that we did, we’re very capable of making,” said BYU guard TJ Haws, who had nine points and six assists. “We made a few mistakes that we can control, but I think we’re very capable of beating a lot of teams. We just didn’t show it tonight.”

The Cougars will take on UMass on Saturday in their second game of the Barclays Center Classic.

“It sucks, but it’s still November,” Childs said after falling to 3-2 on the season. “We’re still a team running a new system. I think we’re going to figure it out because we have great coaches and great teammates that love to play with each other and love to get in the gym every day.”