BYU Basketball 24-25-Bring out the Jelly!

[Omaha 680]

Haha love the fire by Keba there at the end. It's hard to win on the road in the Big 12. Road win with Kanon and Egor going nearly scoreless? I'll take it!

[BigPiney]

Those blocks were amazing

[beefytee]

If BYU cleans up the turnovers, they win this going away. Hopefully they get that figured out.

They are learning how to win close games.

[Omaha 680]

Those blocks were amazing

Incredible. The UCF player that wanted a goal tend on the second one made me laugh. I think that is what set Keba off chirping at their bench.

[myboynoah]

Dawson Baker just bricks the two free throws from the technical foul, bricks a three, and commits a foul all in less than 20 seconds. Jeepers.

I think he had 2 points? And Demin, Hall, and Catchings were not much a factor in scoring as well. Nice to have talent enough that others can take up the slack.

I need Foos to get it together.

[Green Monstah]

That was a fun game.

[Jeff Lebowski]

That was a fun game.

BFM didn't have fun!

[Pelado]

Really struggled against the pressure (and swallowed whistles) in the first half but the team executed much better in the second half. Hall seemed to have much more success splitting their traps and/or making the right pass than Demin.

Glad that Egor was able to rise up with confidence and hit that long 3 in spite of having gone scoreless to that point.

I freaking love Saunders. Plays with so much heart and energy and has that lighting-quick release that has been swishing through at a high rate. In the post-game interview with the announcers, he was very deferential to the team defense. Might be my favorite player on this team.

Loved the contribution from Trey Stewart, too. Got a lot more time than usual and he performed his role very well.

Mag really stepped up, too. He played well defensively, as usual, but also really picked up the slack offensively.

Frustrating outing offensively for several players, but glad for those who were able to fill the void.

[byufan4ever]

BYU goes on the road and survives the physical (more on that) play of UCF to win by 6. Mag played great offensively and Keita stepped up defensively. You tell the UCF bench, big man! Ok, let's talk fouls. The first half UCF should have been called for about 20 fouls. It is possible to play aggressive defense and not get called (see Houston), but that is not what I saw in the first half. Repeated obvious fouls. I'm not talking touch fouls. Slaps, full body contact 20+ feet away from the hoop, you name it, this was not just in your face defense. But it definitley rattled Denim and as a result Hall and Stewart got more playing time. What's surprising to me is: 1) KY didn't match the aggressive defense. If the refs aren't going to call mugging and raping on UCF, then why not deploy the same tactict (although I bet BYU would be called on them)? 2) UCF did not stick with the aggressive defense in the second half. Maybe they got warned at HT that the refs were going to tighten things up, I don't know. But, I'm not going to loose sleep about whether Keita hip checked that player and the refs missed the call. We're up 10+ at HT if the refs call a fair game.

Mawot Mag gets Player of the Game, for the third time, and rebounds from his Struggled to Perform last time out (last two previous games actually). He scored an efficient 19 points and got 5 assists. I still clench every time he drives the ball, thinking he's going to trip over his own feet. But today he was a star! He had the best PER and GSc. Saunders narrowly beat out Mag for the best TS%. Rich was hot, cold, then hot again. He has really improved his jumper, but I love how he doesn't just rely on it (I do believe I've said this a few times now!).

Egor Demin gets the Struggled to Perform award, for just the second time this season. He had 6 assists, but 5 TOs. He has to somehow learn how to deal with intense defensive pressure, and even uncalled muggings. Just think of it as NBA playoff defense and officiating from the 90s. He had the worst PER and GSc. Hall had the worst TS% as he missed his only FGA and went a horrific 1/4 from the line, including some crucial misses late in the game.

The season average PER has been updated for the two games this week (two great wins!) and as a reminder, I'm only showing the last 10 games played, but I am using all games this season for the PER average. Saunders has over taken Demin for the #1 overall spot, which shouldn't be too surprising really. I am kinda surprised that it took this long, but Saunders has a had a few duds as well. The top 5 right now are Saunders / Demin / Keita / Traore / Knell.

BYU is now 15-6 (6-4) and #31 in Kenpom and was #36 in NET prior to today. UCF is now #59 in Kenpom and was #62 in NET. As an away game, as long as they stay within #75 this will be a Q1 win. Up next is Arizona, who is 15-6 (9-1) and #12 in Kenpom and was #13 in Arizona. This is a home game and another chance at a Q1 win.

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[Bo Diddley]

Saunders has been my favorite player for a couple years now.

[myboynoah]

Saunders has been my favorite player for a couple years now.

[Omaha 680]

Free throws and defense in general are by far our biggest problems right now. Turnovers were bad yesterday but that was an aberration. But even with the defense taking a dip from the Pope years, we would have at least two more wins (Utah and Texas Tech) if our guards' FT percentage was where it should be. With our turnover and FT shooting problems combined yesterday we were very fortunate to escape Orlando with a win. I like what I see from the offense in general. Our PPG are edging up to where we need to be to compete. It has been said a couple times above but we need to toughen up on offense and be able to give it back on the other end when the refs are allowing the kind of defense they did yesterday. I'm convinced if we had started playing defense like UCF was the refs would have either been forced to rein the entire game in by calling more fouls or we would have pulled away by creating more turnovers.

[Pelado]

https://x.com/myboynoah/status/18858...iQh11Apdw&s=19

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[Joe Public]

Free throws and defense in general are by far our biggest problems right now. Turnovers were bad yesterday but that was an aberration. But even with the defense taking a dip from the Pope years, we would have at least two more wins (Utah and Texas Tech) if our guards' FT percentage was where it should be. With our turnover and FT shooting problems combined yesterday we were very fortunate to escape Orlando with a win. I like what I see from the offense in general. Our PPG are edging up to where we need to be to compete. It has been said a couple times above but we need to toughen up on offense and be able to give it back on the other end when the refs are allowing the kind of defense they did yesterday. I'm convinced if we had started playing defense like UCF was the refs would have either been forced to rein the entire game in by calling more fouls or we would have pulled away by creating more turnovers.

FTs have been atrocious. Not only is the team percentage low, but we don’t really have even one individual who is reliable in crunch time. I’ll also add the struggles to inbound the ball under pressure to the list of challenges that have impacted the ability to close out games.

Overall, though, a really nice road win for the Cougars and a much-needed little win streak here. I’m already looking forward to Tuesday’s game against Arizona. Big 12 basketball is so much fun.

[Omaha 680]

9 pm MST tip tomorrow? I'm too old for this. I'll definitely go, but I don't have to like it!

Looking at the Big 12 schedule, there doesn't appear to be set times from week to week. Probably follows a combination of the time zone the games are in and the quality of the matchups but I'm not smart enough to figure it out at a glance. I just want more 6 and 7 local starts on Tuesdays when we are at home.