One of the other returners didn’t play last season due to a serious ankle injury that required surgery, but Nate Pickens is back on the court and thriving.

The 6-foot-3 fifth-year guard scored 15 points in Tuesday’s 98-82 victory against Queens at the Marriott Center, making 3 of 5 from the 3-point line and adding two rebounds and an assist in 19 minutes off the bench.

When Pickens took the floor for BYU’s opener against Ohio State in the Delta Center on Nov. 3, It’d been nearly 20 months since he had played in a game (for UC Riverside in a 101-62 loss to Santa Clara in the 2025 NIT). On Tuesday, he showed the result of how hard he’s been working to make his way back.

“I’m only going to say this one time, but it makes you wish you would have had him last year,” BYU head coach Kevin Young said. “That’s why we brought him here was because he can guard guys at our level and can make open threes. In terms of moving forward, he’s a guy that we trust. I think he’s done a nice job — and I say this respectfully — of dumbing down his offensive repertoire where we need him to do certain things, which is space the floor, crash the glass and play good defense. Tonight he had a couple of nice takes at the rim as well. That was kind of icing on the cake, but he’s solid. He’s an adult, You can trust him and I think he’s earned the trust of his teammates as well.”

Courtesy BYU Photo

Pickens played three years at UC Riverside, averaging 9.8 points per game in 2024-25 while shooting 39.2% (47 of 120) from the 3-point line and starting 31 of 33 games.

“(Tonight) meant everything,” Pickens said after the Queens game. “I’m just blessed to be out here. Sitting out so long from injury was tough, but I just trusted my work every day and it just showed tonight. I’m just happy for the team and myself to be just having fun and just playing with the guys finally.”

Pickens’ role for BYU is just as Young described: Coming off the bench to defend and hit open 3’s.

“I feel like ever since I’ve been in college, that’s always been my thing, just hanging my hat on defense,” Pickens said. “That just jump starts everything else for me. So just being a defensive anchor on the team has just always been my role, so I take pride in that.”

Dawson Baker, shot maker

Young said fifth-year guard Dawson Baker is getting closer to making his debut this season either Thursday against Montana State or next Wednesday against Northern Colorado before the Cougars make their trip to the Southwest Maui Invitational Nov. 23-25.

Baker suffered a serious knee injury against Miami last November.

“We’re going to see him before Maui,” Young confirmed. “Hopefully we’re able to get him in in the next game. He’s going to be a little limited minute-wise and so forth. It’s a challenge to work guys into an existing rotation. We’ll have to take a look at different things.

“Obviously, Dawson’s a heck of a player, so we’re we are really excited when his time comes to fully be back. Tonight we had 29 bench points. You look at what Dawson can do from a scoring perspective. You feel like he’s going to be able to give you a nice scoring punch off the bench, which we’re looking forward to.”

Baker joined BYU in 2023-24 after three seasons with UC Irvine. He was a key part of the Cougars’ Sweet 16 run in 2024-25, coming off the bench in 36 games to average 7.5 points per game while shooting 38% from the 3-point line.

Scouting Report

BYU takes on another formidable mid-major program on Thursday in Montana State, which was picked by both the coaches and the media to win the Big Sky this season.

The Bobcats got good news via the ongoing fifth year saga when 6-2 guard Jed Miller (14.9 points per game, 89 3s) was ruled eligible this season. Senior Christian King, a 6-8 forward who averaged 12.6 points last season, also returns.

Montana State is 1-1 this season, losing to Colorado State 84-74 and beating Long Beach State 83-70. Fifth-year guard Jeremiah Davis scored 17 points in both games to lead the Bobcats.

Montana State and BYU meet for the 65th time on Thursday. BYU leads the overall series 37-27 and is 22-9 against the Bobcats in Provo. The last time the two teams met was in November of 1987, a slim 90-89 Cougar victory in the season opener. Michael Smith and Andy Toolson scored 19 points each for BYU and Jeff Chatman added 18.