Provo • Kolby Lee and Dalton Nixon, both players first-year coach Mark Pope said he’d rely on to fill in for senior forward Yoeli Childs while he sits out the first nine games of the regular season due to a NCAA suspension, made an impression during Friday night’s exhibition game.
Lee and Nixon scored 13 and nine points, respectively, helping lead the Cougars to a rout of Texas-Tyler, 100-58, at the Marriott Center.
“I thought we all played our role,” Lee said. “I didn’t think we did anything too special, we just went out there and played our game. ... Me and Dalt, we’re great players, so we just played.”
It was Pope’s re-introduction to Cougar Nation. Pope, who served as Utah Valley’s head coach the last four seasons, previously served as an assistant coach under Dave Rose in 2011-15.
Right before the game, Pope had a moment where it settled in that he was heading out as BYU’s head coach.
“It was pretty surreal to be in this gym,” Pope said. “At the end of the day, I feel like I'm the most fortunate, blessed human being in coaching right now that I get to be here and coach at BYU and work with these young men. It's incredibly humbling.
The Cougars open their 2019-20 season Tuesday when they host Cal State Fullerton at 7 p.m.
Childs still got considerable playing time on Friday, which might be in part because he won't be able to play until Dec. 4 at Utah. The forward finished with eight points and three rebounds in 16 minutes.
With senior guard TJ Haws out (illness), Arizona transfer Alex Barcello got the start. Barcello recently received his NCAA waiver, which allowed him to start playing for the Cougars immediately.
The Cougars at times struggled on defense, but caught breaks as the Patriots’ missed open shots, and weren’t able to nail any 3-pointers until the second half. However, after missing their first five attempts, they just kept coming – particularly from Trevin Knell.
The freshman guard led BYU in scoring with 19 points (6 of 7 from the field, 5 of 6 from the 3-point line and 2 of 2 at the free-throw line) and nabbed four rebounds.
Pope said he made a big mistake in the first half by not getting enough 3-pointers up. He brought up the concern during halftime, and Knell was the one to listen and follow up.
“He was so excited to get shots up,” Pope said. “I'm excited to coach him. I recruited him really, really hard for a really, really long time and now to get to coach him is pretty fun.”
Another highlight was the level of passing from the squad. Players were quick to share the ball with each other with some no-look and some tight passes.
Overall, every available player on the roster recorded minutes in Friday’s exhibition win. Besides Haws, who wasn’t even at the Marriott Center, Richard Harward (awaiting NCAA waiver), Zac Seljaas (foot), Gavin Baxter (shoulder), Jesse Wade (knee) and Wyatt Lowell (redshirting) all sat out the action.
