BYU Basketball 24-25-Bring out the Jelly!

[myboynoah]

I went down to watch the ASU game. Best game of the year. Much improved defense. Offense was shaky but between Demin's rustiness and what I think has been an emphasis and time spent in practice on the defensive side of the court that was not surprising. Richie's best game at BYU and and Catchings was solid but I thought the rest struggled. I love the decision to play Mag over Boscovich. Boscovich has the athletic ability and skill, and has demonstrated at other levels he can play the game well, but for whatever reasons he just can't find it at BYU so far. Barring injury Mag has taken most of his minutes and he is out of the 9 man rotation for this year-I kind of expect he will go back to Europe and pursue a pro career there as while I think he could contribute at BYU next year I don't think the NBA is a likely and reasonable destination for him. Regardless, I am all in on Mag and what I think he will be able to do to help BYU the rest of this season.

For those who watched the game on TV-how bad was Catching's travel on that great move in the first half along the baseline just in front of the ASU bench? That move seriously made my nipples hard-even with the travel. I hope BYU can keep him a 2nd year cuz that kid is a fabulous 2 way basketball player.

Onto Houston. This is a great game for us. We are playing with house money. Very little pressure for us to win but competing well and learning to deal with physical in your face defense is what this team needs. I am interested how we respond.

I will say that IMO the improvements on the defensive end are the first indicator I have seen on the court that KY can be a good coach at this college level. Obviously, he has the executive skills, and financial backing, to put pieces in place. But bringing the pieces together on the court was not something I could see much of until Tuesday. Obviously, it will be a couple of years before we really have an idea if he can really coach, but as one looking for indicators I thought Tuesday was a step forward. Most of what I saw in the other games I went to was BYU just winning because we had much better players-but on Tuesday BYU's defense caused more problems for ASU than BYU's talent. Lets build on this trend against Houston-regardless of outcome.

Agreed.

Something I noticed, that as soon as we fed Fous, ASU was quick to double-team. A lot of respect for the Fous game.

[Green Monstah]

I think this team's best basketball is ahead of it.

Really promising win over an ASU team that the media seemed high on.

I wish I could make the Houston game on Saturday, but I have family in town for the weekend.

[Pelado]

I think this team's best basketball is ahead of it.

Really promising win over an ASU team that the media seemed high on.

I wish I could make the Houston game on Saturday, but I have family in town for the weekend.

Kick them out.

[BigPiney]

Kick them out.

Yeah that is dumb. Go to the game.

[falafel]

Kick them out.

No need for that. Just leave them at the house and go to the stadium.

[Moliere]

I think this team's best basketball is ahead of it.

Really promising win over an ASU team that the media seemed high on.

I wish I could make the Houston game on Saturday, but I have family in town for the weekend.

I’ll pick you up on the way down.

[BigFatMeanie]

In hindsight, missing the game was probably the thing to do. Houston is trashing BYU. BYU has no answer for the defense of Houston.

[beefytee]

Down thirty to Houston with their pace, scoring, defense, etc. is like losing by 60 to a standard team. This is so ugly.

[BigFatMeanie]

The frustrating part is that BYU seems to be playing scared and intimidated.

They're pressured on some shots but they're also bricking wide-open 3s (Saunders is 1-5. Trevin Knell's shooting is the only thing that's been good, currently 4-6).

BYU turned the ball over like crazy in the first half although they cleaned that up a bit in the second half so far.

They're getting blocked on layups and getting destroyed on the boards. Keita has stone hands and bites on every single pump fake so he spends half his time in the air. Fouss isn't having a good game. But it is interesting to see Keita and Fouss out on the floor together.

[Shaka]

So ugly.

[Moliere]

We were outclassed from the start. Their defense is incredible and we had no answer and couldn't adjust to fix anything. It also doesn't help that they shot well, which isn't typical of Houston teams. Hopefully BYU figures out how to play better together because they looked way out of sync.

[byufan4ever]

BYU loses by 31 to Houston. Houston had the better players, system, and coach. We were outclassed on offense and defense. Early TOs and horrible rebounding did us in. But, as a true basketball fan, I am in love with Houston's defense! I am probably one to normally cry about fouls, and when a team plays that type of intense defense, one of the drawbacks is they normally foul more. I know KY was really upset with the lack of fouls called on Houston. But, to be honest, I thought Houston played some great clean defense for the most part. And while a lot of Houston's 3s were uncontested, they were also hitting contested shots. We probably lose a best of seven to Houston 4-1, but I doubt we lose by that much again. While Demin was far from our worst player, color me unimpressed with him. Is he better than Hall? Yes. Does he look like an NBA lottery pick? No way.

It almost feels wrong awarding a Player of the Game, but Trevin Knell was our best player, for the second time this season. He didn't do much else besides hit 4 threes, but that's a lot more than anyone else did. And he didn't turn the ball over. GSc agreed that he was our best player, and he also had the best ORtg, thanks to his efficient 4/6 3P shooting. Hall had the best TS%, as he hit his only FG and all 3 FTs. Since that made shot was a 3FG, that makes his TS% go over 100%. Hall had some really dumb passes, but he should have shot more. Traore had the best DRtg and one huge plus for me was seeing Foos and Keita on the floor together, with Foos getting an assist to Keita. I'd like to see some more of that!

Struggled to Perform could go to several players, but the worst of the bunch was Dawson Baker. He shot poorly and had 2 TOs while contributing little that was positive. He also had the worst GSc. Traore had the worst TS% and ORtg. He simply could not handle Houston's intense defense. Hall had the worst DRtg. Earlier in the season I praised BYU on not leavin their feet when rotating to an open shooter. Well, we were back to bad habits in this game. Not only were our defensive rotations bad, but we bit on every ball fake. Neither zone nor man defense worked this game.

For the season, updating with the last two games, Saunders replaces Keita with the 3rd best average PER. Demin and Traore remain the top 2.

BYU is now 10-3 (1-1) and #45 in Kenpom (Kenpom loves margin of victory so this loss hurts in this ranking while really helping Houston) and was #39 in NET prior to today. Houston is now #3 in Kenpom and was #6 in NET. This should stay as a Q1 loss. Up next is Texas Tech, who is 9-3 (0-1) and #26 in Kenpom and #30 in NET. Q1 home games are just #1-30 so this is a borderline Q1/2 game.

13 Houston.png

PER Summary 2025-01-04.png

[Shaka]

BYU isn't used to that kind of physical defense. This is the problem with playing a weak preseason schedule. It wouldn't have mattered because Houston is just better but maybe we could have lost by ten rather than thirty one. Watching Traore fumble around made me want to claw my eyes out. How in the world does your big man come out of a game like that having committed zero personal fouls? Someone please show him some inspirational Laimbeer videos.

Hopefully, Demin will start to figure out that American ball is much more physical than what he's used to and he has to adapt. Until he does his draft stock is plummeting. Still, I have high hopes for him although I'd like to hang onto him for an extra year.

KY needs to empty the bench sooner and find out who actually wants to get after it. I'm still hopeful for this team but, to paraphrase Shoresy, they need to give their balls a tug.

With that said I'd like to announce that I will be entering the transfer portal.

[BigFatMeanie]

BYU isn't used to that kind of physical defense. This is the problem with playing a weak preseason schedule. It wouldn't have mattered because Houston is just better but maybe we could have lost by ten rather than thirty one. Watching Traore fumble around made me want to claw my eyes out. How in the world does your big man come out of a game like that having committed zero personal fouls? Someone please show him some inspirational Laimbeer videos.

Hopefully, Demin will start to figure out that American ball is much more physical than what he's used to and he has to adapt. Until he does his draft stock is plummeting. Still, I have high hopes for him although I'd like to hang onto him for an extra year.

KY needs to empty the bench sooner and find out who actually wants to get after it. I'm still hopeful for this team but, to paraphrase Shoresy, they need to give their balls a tug.

With that said I'd like to announce that I will be entering the transfer portal.

I hear Utefans.net is offering more NIL and a truck….

[BigFatMeanie]

Shooting a lousy 2-11 from 3 (was 1-10 until Trey Stewart made that last second shot to close out the half). Also 50% from the line so far. I like how the Cougs are getting to the basket (mostly) and being aggressive (mostly). I don’t like how the Cougs are getting outrebounded. It also seems like Tech had a lot of lucky bounces and tips go their way.

If BYU can make a few threes in the second half they should be able to win this game.