Provo • There have been two additions to the BYU basketball roster for the 2018-19 season — OK, one’s a graduate assistant coach — and one notable absence since former Gonzaga guard Jesse Wade announced he was joining the program nearly two weeks ago.
It appears coach Dave Rose will head into his 14th season at the helm with 15 eligible players on the roster. That doesn’t include Wade, who won’t be eligible to play until the 2019-20 season.
The newest addition is junior guard Taylor Maughan, a walk-on from Fullerton, Calif., who played for BYU-Hawaii before that school dropped varsity sports.
Former BYU center/forward Nate Austin has joined the coaching staff as a graduate assistant, presumably taking the spot vacated by Lee Cummard when Cummard took Heath Schroyer’s post on the bench. Austin has been an assistant coach on the staff the past few years at Lone Peak High, his alma mater. He is the school record-holder for most games played (153) and second in offensive rebounds (289).
Missing from the roster posted on BYU’s website Monday is forward Braiden Shaw. The 6-foot-9 product of Eagle, Idaho, missed all but one game last season due to a persistent ankle injury and has been contemplating a medical retirement, Rose said last month. A BYU basketball spokesperson contacted Monday was not immediately to provide an update on Shaw’s status.
There was also some concern that 6-11 forward Ryan Andrus, who is listed as a sophomore, might have to end his career after a series of knee injuries caused him to miss the 2017-18 season. However, the American Fork product who played in 21 games as a freshman in 2014-15 before a church mission to Philadelphia is apparently ready to contribute again.
Andrus and guard Rylan Bergersen of Boise, Idaho, are the only sophomores on the roster. The only freshmen are returned missionaries Gavin Baxter, Connor Harding and Kolby Lee, who was added to the roster last December but never played.
The only seniors are guard McKay Cannon and forward Luke Worthington because rising senior Elijah Bryant left early for a shot at professional basketball. The juniors are Maughan, Yoeli Childs, Nick Emery, Jahshire Hardnett, TJ Haws, Dalton Nixon, Zac Seljaas and Evan Troy.
