Sophomore Dalton Nixon’s return should boost BYU’s bench as tough road stretch begins

Los Angeles • BYU sophomore Dalton Nixon figured he would ease back into action when he played significant minutes last week against Saint Mary’s for the first time since returning from a foot injury. Then the 6-foot-7 forward found himself guarding the No. 13-ranked Gaels’ terrific big man, 6-11 behemoth Jock Landale.

“That wasn’t easy,” Nixon said with a laugh. “Baptism by fire. There were some consecutive possessions where I matched up on him. He’s a great player. I just tried to mix things up and use my speed and quickness to be able to get around him in the post and give him a different look for a little bit in that game.”

Landale scored 32 points on 13-of-19 shooting while playing all 40 minutes, but BYU coach Dave Rose thought Nixon did a decent job on the big Aussie.

“He actually changed two or three of their schemes,” Rose said about the Cougars’ most versatile defender. “They didn’t want Jock to be fighting anymore down there, maybe pick up a foul or something. They brought him to the high post and changed some things. A lot of that was just the energy that Dalt was playing with, trying to front him.”

For Nixon, an Orem High product, it felt great to just get back on the court. The regular cog as the sixth man in Rose’s lineup the first nine games of the season sustained a stress reaction in his foot during the Illinois State game Dec. 6 and missed the next 11 games.

“Not a stress fracture [as some have reported],” Nixon said. “Luckily it has healed now and it feels good. It has been pain-free since I’ve been back, so I feel good.”

Nixon played briefly in the 74-58 win over San Diego on Jan. 20, then logged 14 minutes against SMC, scoring 4 points and grabbing a rebound while doing most of his work on the defensive end. He made a key 3-point play to spur BYU’s comeback win over Pacific on Saturday.

“His energy and his physical presence is good,” Rose said. “He is missing [a few playmaking opportunities], but it has nothing to do with his heart or his mind. I think it just has to do with the feel of the game. He hasn’t played for a long time. Really glad to have him back.”

Having a healthy Nixon should do wonders for BYU’s bench, which hasn’t done much this season outside of occasional spurts by guard McKay Cannon and forward Payton Dastrup. The Cougars (18-5, 7-3) will need more contributions from everywhere as they enter perhaps their toughest stretch of the season.

Five of BYU’s next seven games are on the road, beginning with Thursday’s 9 p.m. MST rematch at Loyola Marymount (6-15, 1-9) and continuing with the big showdown Saturday at No. 14 Gonzaga.

Nixon has appeared in 12 games and is averaging 5.6 points and 3.2 rebounds. Despite missing more than a month, he is third on the team in offensive rebounds, with 17, behind only Luke Worthington and Yoeli Childs. Nixon is an effort-based, hard-nosed player that every team needs, Rose said.

“It was frustrating because I wasn’t really sure what had happened,” Nixon said about the injury. “It was just something that started feeling really sore after that Illinois State game, and so after taking a look at it, they thought it would be best for me to take time off. And that’s all I could really do is just stay off of it. It was hard, but I just tried to still stay engaged and still be an asset to the team.”

That Nixon even is contributing at all is a mild surprise, considering he averaged just 9.7 minutes a game his freshman year before his church mission to Boston. He worked hard on his body after returning last May, adding muscle and more offensive skill to his repertoire with the help of strength and conditioning coach Erick Schork and his father, former Cougar standout Kevin Nixon.

“Because I played a year before leaving on my mission, I knew what I needed to do to get my body back in good shape and improve my game,” he said.