Coach Rose officially announces addition of L.J. Rose to BYU Basketball

A month and change later, BYU’s made it official: L.J. Rose will transfer from Houston to BYU for his final season.

Vanquish the Foe reported Jun. 15 that Rose would be making the switch from red Cougar to blue — that’s the same day L.J. tweeted an edit of himself in a BYU jersey from his Twitter account.

Coach Dave Rose made the official announcement Tuesday.

According to a press release from byucougars.com, Rose graduated from Houston in spring and will enroll at BYU as a graduate transfer.

“L.J. will add great experience and talent to our guard line,” Coach Rose said.

We agree. BYU has lost guard depth in Cory Calvert, Jake Toolson and Jordan Chatman over the course of a few months (and of course Zac Seljaas to one of those dang mission trips. What? No, I’m not crying). Especially with the most recent transfer of Chatman, things were beginning to look bleak as far as depth is concerned.

“We’re excited about the leadership he will bring on the court and in the locker room,” said Dave Rose of L.J.

Try and keep up with us here: Rose is from Houston. He started his college career at Baylor, and then transferred to Houston. (OK, it wasn’t that hard, right?)

Rose has some encouraging numbers, but due to a foot injury, he only played in two games last year.

In his career he’s averaged 5.7 points per game and 3.6 assists. In his sophomore season he shot 41.3 percent from 3 and 77.8 percent from the free-throw line.

Aside from missing all but two games his senior season, he was also limited by injury his junior year, playing in 19 games. His numbers were solid prior to that. He averaged 9.8 points, 2.5 rebounds and 5.3 assists.

Here’s hoping he can stay healthy, making us a “deeper and more versatile” team, as Coach Rose said in the release.

No, L.J. is not related to Coach Rose by blood but there is a fun connection there. L.J.’s father Lynden Sr. played ball at Houston with Coach Rose from 1980 to 1982; aka they were both members of Phi Slama Jama.

Bonus: Our friend Robby McCombs has nominated L.J. as a candidate for, “Best Tattoos of any Player in BYU Basketball History.” Feel free to leave any other potential contenders in the comments below.