BYU Basketball 24-25-Bring out the Jelly!

[BigPiney]

I was working on my yard replacing my fence with my neighbor but came in to watch the end of the game. I am regretting that decision.

[Joe Public]

Demin, Saunders and Hall were a combined 2/13 from three, while Cincinnati shot 50% from three as a team and over 58% overall from the field. BYU was outrebounded 34 to 20.

That is not a recipe for success.

[byufan4ever]

Cincinnati gets revenge and beats BYU by 18 at home (away for BYU). I really don't have too much to say. Honestly, I think the talent level is pretty similar between these two teams, but we beat them by 28 at home and lost by 18 at their place. As was already noted by others, it was basically a matter of cold vs hot shooting. But some of our defensive rotations were really bad. Why is it that other teams get around our screens much easier than we can get around theirs? The "scrubs" brought some energy and started a little comeback, but it was short lived.

Richie Saunders gets the Player of the Game, for 4th time. He had the best PER, GSc, and TS% (Catchings didn't qualify due to too few shot attempts). He's our best player. He wasn't hitting his 3s, but I was happy to see him go 6/6 from the line. Baker had the best DRtg which is really surprising as that's not one of his strengths. Catchings had a really high ORtg, but I feel like he didn't really do that much.

Kanon Catchings gets the Struggled to Perform, for just the 2nd time this season. It would have gone to Mag, but he missed my cutoff by 1 minute. Catchings had the worst PER, GSc, and DRtg. He got an assist, but no rebounds for a 6'9 player is just sad. As a team we were really bad on the boards this game. Only 16 total rebounds? Cincinnati had 11 offensive rebounds to our 3. That battle a lot of the time signals who gave the better effort. Demin had the worst TS% and ORtg. I get the feeling that he's not really acting like a PG or distributor anymore. He can take the ball all the way to the rim and he can hit the 3 ball, but he's not doing either very well right now, and his passing is leaving a lot to be desired. And although Mag missed this cutoff, he truely had a horrible game too. When he brought the ball up the court and telegraphed that pass, I was just shaking my head. I was actually surprised that he didn't travel and/or trip over his own feet before he managed to get that horrible pass off. I would rather have Keita or Foos take the ball up the court over Mag.

The season average PER has been updated for the two games this week and there has been no change to our top 5 of Saunders / Demin / Keita / Traore / Knell.

BYU is now 15-8 (6-6) and #36 in Kenpom and was #36 in NET prior to today. Cincinnati is now #52 in Kenpom. As an away game, this is a Q1 loss. Up next is West Virginia at Morgantown. They are 15-8 (6-6) just like us and are #45 in Kenpom. Another Q1 game.

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[Joe Public]

I don’t know much about WVU other than that they have the same overall record as BYU going into this game and they already beat ISU and Kansas. After the loss at Cincinnati, this game feels more important for BYU’s tournament chances.

[BigPiney]

in Trey Stewart we trust

[Pelado]

in Trey Stewart we trust

Trey was clutch. Boskovich had some great plays, too.

[LiveCoug]

Solid win!

[Pelado]

Solid win!

Quad 1, baby!

[BigPiney]

That was a fun game. Nice job getting a much needed quad 1 win.

Two home wins over the weekend/next week would punch a ticket for the dance. Both will be tough as K state is playing out of its mind lately.

[Pelado]

That was a fun game. Nice job getting a much needed quad 1 win.

Two home wins over the weekend/next week would punch a ticket for the dance. Both will be tough as K state is playing out of its mind lately.

They've won their last 5 games, the last three of which were Quad 1 games.

[Joe Public]

Stewart with the game of his season. Boskovic is getting more and more minutes and contributing. That was fun.

Man, what a close game. BYU was just keeping up for most of the game. It was awesome to see them close out a close road win; they should gain some confidence from that.

Also, Demin continues to improve with his drives to the rim, which is a difference maker. His clutch FTs at the end were huge, too.

[byufan4ever]

BYU beats West Virginia by 4. This was a fun game that was very close throughout. There was no one standout player for BYU, but Stewart was stellar off the bench (he had a whopping 1.7 PER/Min) and Boskovic made a clutch play. I imagine that KY did indeed draw that play up for him, which is a genius move by him, knowing that WV would double Saunders. If we had not won, I would have been livid about the late foul WV did on Demin not being called an intentional foul. That was the very textbook definition of it. Should have been 2 FTs and the ball back. Oh, and Mag's defense was stellar. I loved his intensity to try to take their PG out of the game. You could tell he was getting under their skin. I want to see more of that!!

Demin Egor gets Player of the Game although this was very much a team win. This is by far the lowest game high PER. With WV taking away the 3P at every opportunity, Denim gave us some much needed points, although he could have had at least 3 more easy baskets that he missed. He had the best PER and GSc. Catchings had the best TS% (going 5/6 from the line on while getting fouled on two 3Ps was nice) and ORtg. Knell had the best DRtg although I didn't really see anything that stood out.

Trevin Knell gets the Struggled to Perform. He had the worst PER, GSc, TS%, and ORtg. Ouch. And personally, I think he did commit an offensive foul on that screen. Maybe it wasn't super dirty, but he was definitely moving and not set when it happened. Saunders had the worst DRtg. It wasn't his best game, but I also didn't see anything that horrible out of him.

This was a very good away Q1 win.

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[myboynoah]

Stewart with the game of his season. Boskovic is getting more and more minutes and contributing. That was fun.

Man, what a close game. BYU was just keeping up for most of the game. It was awesome to see them close out a close road win; they should gain some confidence from that.

Also, Demin continues to improve with his drives to the rim, which is a difference maker. His clutch FTs at the end were huge, too.

Yeah, I like this Demin a lot more that the earlier Demin. Need that threat from him.

Also, how in the world does Trey's shot go in?

[Pelado]

Yeah, I like this Demin a lot more that the earlier Demin. Need that threat from him.

Also, how in the world does Trey's shot go in?

When you're living right on and off the field court, magic happens.

[Pelado]

BYU men's basketball current ratings:

NET: 36
KenPom: 31
ESPN BPI: 29
BPI Resume: 50
Faktor KPI: 60
AP: NR
Coaches: NR

Record against Quad 1: 1-3
Quad 2: 3-3
Quad 3: 4-0
Quad 4: 6-0

Games remaining against Quad 1: 8
Quad 2: 1
Quad 3: 2
Quad 4: 0

ESPN's BPI predictor model gives BYU a 59.6% chance to win the game at UCF (NET: 62, KenPom 59) on Saturday, predicting a margin of 2.4 points. It's ranked 16th of the day's games in "Matchup Quality".

For Tuesday's home game against Arizona (NET: 13, KenPom: 16), BPI projects an 53.8% chance of a Wildcat victory, with an expected margin of 1.0 points. It's ranked 1st of the day's games in "Matchup Quality".

For the tournament projections, BPI currently shows BYU with the following chances:
Round of 32: 48.5%
Sweet 16: 17.9%
Elite 8: 7.0%
Final 4: 2.6%
Title game: 0.7%
Champion: 0.2%

They are listed as the 29th highest odds of winning the tournament. Big 12 teams with better odds:
Houston - 24.1%
Iowa State - 5.2%
Kansas - 3.6%
Arizona - 3.0%
Texas Tech - 1.3%
Baylor - 1.1%

BYU men's basketball current ratings:

NET: 40
KenPom: 34
ESPN BPI: 30
BPI Resume: 45
Faktor KPI: 58
AP: NR
Coaches: NR

Record against Quad 1: 3-5
Quad 2: 3-3
Quad 3: 4-0
Quad 4: 6-0

Games remaining against Quad 1: 4
Quad 2: 2
Quad 3: 1
Quad 4: 0

ESPN's BPI predictor model gives BYU a 78.5% chance to win at home against Kansas State (NET: 70, KenPom 57) on Saturday, predicting a margin of 8.1 points. It's ranked 14th of the day's games in "Matchup Quality".

For Tuesday's home game against Kansas (NET: 11, KenPom: 10), BPI projects an 54.7% chance of a Jayhawk victory, with an expected margin of 1.2 points. It's ranked 3rd of the day's games in "Matchup Quality".

For the tournament projections, BPI currently shows BYU with the following chances:
Round of 32: 32.7%
Sweet 16: 10.8%
Elite 8: 4.1%
Final 4: 1.3%
Title game: 0.3%
Champion: 0.1%

They are listed as the 33rd highest odds of winning the tournament. Big 12 teams with better odds:
Houston - 20.4%
Arizona - 4.0%
Iowa State - 3.4%
Kansas - 2.7%
Texas Tech - 2.2%
Baylor - 0.8%