MALIBU, Calif. -- An in-game promotion Tuesday had a Pepperdine fraternity brother trying to win cash by making some close-range shots.

To a split mixture of mortification and delight, he cruised between the hoops and missed six layups. Like, good shooting pal.

BYU made sure the Waves -- the real basketball players a small crowd came to see at Firestone Fieldhouse -- were similarly clumsy and inaccurate.

"As long as they weren't getting the 3-point shot, we'd be all right," said forward Jonathan Tavernari. "We figured that out."

An 82-53 win for the Cougars, improving them to 2-0, felt good. A road win's a road win, even when it comes against a team that hardly held a homecourt advantage with just 1,642 fans in a building that was about half empty.

And for good reason, the way the Cougars made their team look early. Really, Pepperdine (1-2) did enough to look incapable by itself.

It trailed by 33 points with 2:23 left, just 11 minutes after cutting the margin to nine.

"We had to guard the outside shot, and that's what we got back to doing," said Tavernari, the junior power forward who had a sturdy game -- team-high 17 points on 7-of-13 shooting. He added nine rebounds.

Jimmer Fredette added 16 and center Chris Miles chipped in 10. Jackson Emery had nine points and as many assists.

BYU shot 52 percent from the field -- 60.9 (14 for 23) in the second half.

Put it this way: Lee Cummard, who saved BYU's season opener last Friday by scoring a career high, didn't even have any points until 6:15 remained in the first half.

He was focused, sure, but content to play defense, get a steal here and there and otherwise let his teammates fill the stat sheet. He finished with 13. Head coach Dave Rose wasn't thrilled with the early tempo, but he did like that some younger players began to find their wings, growing alongside Cummard.

It's not like the Cougars were under any real hurry to be great on this night, needing all the urgency of a day spent at the nearby coast to get by.

Pepperdine had 11 turnovers in the first half and trailed 32-21, unable to capitalize on poor outside BYU shooting (3-of-13 from 3-point range) and eight turnovers.

BYU jumped to a 6-2 lead after four minutes; nothing fancy. Pepperdine had turnovers on its first three possessions and the Cougars' defense set the tone. It did not allow the dribble-drive that Tom Asbury's team needs.

More often it had to walk. When it penetrated, bad things usually happened.

Associate head coach Marty Wilson, who spent the previous four seasons at Utah, knew what the Cougars often were going to try. He'd call out plays from the sideline, or gesture where Waves should go, but they didn't have the athletes to take advantage of the knowledge.

Only one stretch did they really threaten.

Asbury's two key outside shooters hit three 3-pointers in a 67-second span to cut BYU's lead to 46-37.

Rose tried to get in a couple of starter substitutions in before the last one.

"Obviously, he was mad," Fredette said. "We weren't following the scouting report."

A ruthless efficiency followed, though.

BYU played its best ball of the young season -- easy shots, streaking layups, a few 3-point plays mixed in, along with a circus shot by Fredette. A lot of players contributing.

It all came after Rose called timeout, and Cummard came out with a couple jump shots that sparked an 18-2 run.

"We know we can get our offense," Tavernari said. "We just had to limit theirs."