A few happenings were there Wednesday to signal the end of BYU's home-court dominance. Its leading scorer was hardly to be found, as was the leading rebounder.

But looks can be deceiving. Even the final score, 83-72 Cougars, really didn't express the kind of game it was.

The Cougars led by as many as 20 points at the Marriott Center, running their overall winning streak to six games and the home-court version to 43.

Nonetheless, it looked like the kind of team that survived a track meet and needed a breather. BYU (18-5 overall, 7-1 Mountain West), which now has sole possession of first place after UNLV lost at Utah last night, will get a week off before playing at Colorado State.

"It's going to be nice to relax a little bit, take a day off, get my body rejuvenated," said center Trent Plaisted, who tied his career high with 27 points to go with a surprisingly low four rebounds -- five short of typical -- as he's continued to convalesce from illness. "I think you could tell the way our team was, as far as energy, I think we were a little worn down. This bye week came at just the right time. We should be able to come back and go to work once this bye week's over and hopefully pick up right where we left off."

Lee Cummard, BYU's top point producer who's put up at least 20 the past three games, had just four -- 12 shy of his average.

BYU coach Dave Rose and Jonathan Tavernari (20 points, career-high five assists) agreed that it wasn't BYU's best defensive night. Especially at home, the Cougars are usually better at helping each other. TCU shot 43.9 percent.

But not nearly good enough to fire away with BYU's 60-percent showing, which trailed only its performance against Hartford (60.4) on Nov. 20.

BYU scored on 33 of its 55 shots, and had 27 assists -- the unselfish style Rose craves.

Even Horned Frog coach Neil Dougherty enjoyed it.

"It's such a well-balanced team full of complements, it's ridiculous," said Dougherty, who has lost all six meetings to the Cougars but has befriended Rose since joining the MWC three years ago. "And when they're shooting the ball in the hole like they did tonight, it's times 10.

"The way that they play is the way the game should be played. They get up and down (the floor) with great intensity. They move the ball about as well as any team."

TCU (11-10, 3-5) had five players in double digits, led by Ryan Wall's 14 points. He hit all four 3-pointers in the first half, including a couple of bankshots that came from well beyond the painted line as the shot clock wound down.

Tired from the fast pace, which offered very few fouls -- BYU had just nine in the game, its lowest total since 2000 -- Rose called timeout with 3:52 left in the first half.

The Cougars led by 10 points, then Plaisted added a free throw. But Wall kept his team around with his final trey and the Frogs were down just eight at halftime. By then, Plaisted had 17 points, which was a career high in the opening 20 minutes.

Sam Burgess, who languished in foul trouble the previous two games, scored the first seven points and BYU never trailed.

He recorded a couple of uncontested layups to open the game, the second one coming on a pretty Tavernari backdoor bounce pass, then a 3-pointer made it look like a sure-thing blowout was coming against a visitor that is now 1-7 away from Fort Worth, Texas.

Chris Collinsworth's layup with about 7 1/2 minutes remaining gave the Cougars their biggest lead, 69-49. But TCU hung around, continuing to attack and hustle and wear down a first-place team that just wanted to rest.

Well, sort of.

"It's an interesting deal, personally I'm going to be bored," Tavernari said. "I don't have anything to do. I don't go out a whole lot, so I'm going to get up, come and work out with one of the coaches. But it's good, we get a rest, get our legs back and start the second half of conference in the right way."

• Keeping a sense of humor: Rose isn't a fan of uncontested shots. But he had to smile as he discussed his anger when Wall drained a few 20-plus-foot shots, as the shot clock approached zero, in the first half.

"I told the team you get really mad at guys for letting them get a shot off from 44 feet and banking it in," Rose said. "But that's the process, that's what we do; and we could've contested that shot a little better, I thought."

A crowd of 16,042 groaned a little louder each time Wall shot, as he made his first four attempts. He finished 4-of-5 from long range, 5-for-7 overall. A pair of banked conversions even agonized the BYU bench. Some team members who weren't suited up sarcastically murmured for Wall to bank a shot a few times more after the first two.

"That's just something that's part of basketball, I guess," Plaisted said. "You just have to live with that. I thought they were defended well, I mean we got them right to the end of the shot clock and he hits. ... I don't even know where that was from. And off the glass and in. Sometimes luck is better than skill."

• Swoop to the hoop: Tavernari got the crowd going with a sweet move as he drove to the hoop. He faked a behind-the-back pass, then glided to the basket for an underhanded shot and a 73-57 lead.

It was similar to a move he had last year against Utah, when he faked out defender Shaun Green and big man Luke Nevill, who was coming in to help.

"I definitely prefer not dribbling, just catch and shoot, obviously," the sophomore power forward said.

But he's getting better at his all-around game. Tavernari praised Rose and the coaching staff for helping him be better at moving within the offense, without the ball. When he does have the rock these days, he's prone to think of more choices besides shooting. He set his career high in assists again with five, just two games after he had four at Air Force.

He's also showing potential at faking the shot and driving to the hoop, which sets up other things for the Cougars.

• Tip-ins: BYU has held a double-digit lead in 18 of 23 games and has led wire-to-wire 10 times. ... Plaisted went 7-for-9 from the foul line and counting the last game (at Wyoming) is 14-of-20 (70 percent). He came in as a 51.6 percent maker.