(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Brigham Young Cougars guard Dallin Hall (30) collides with Texas Longhorns guard Chendall Weaver (2), in basketball action at the Marriott Center, on Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024.
Provo • In a sold-out Marriott Center, No. 21 BYU fought its way to an 84-72 victory over Texas with a balanced scoring effort on Saturday.
Five Cougars managed double-digit scores with Noah Waterman and Jaxson Robinson leading them at 17 points each.
The ROC — BYU’s student section — came prepared for an exciting game, with the front row wearing shirts that spelled out “Horns Down” — a longstanding mockery of Texas’ hook ‘em horns hand sign — which were removed and replaced by shirts supplied by BYU.
“That’s just not us. It’s not how we roll and it was just a miscalculation from a couple of eager kids, which we love the eagerness of these fans, but it’s just not what we do here,” BYU head coach Mark Pope said.
BYU is the No. 2 team in the nation for 3-point field goals made per game at 12.4; however, it was Texas that came away from dominating early from distance, shooting 5 for 7.
“They had a game plan they were really committed to,” Pope said of Texas containing BYU at 3-point line. “They really did an incredible job and they’re better than anybody else that we’ve faced so far in terms of being committed to that.”
Overall, the Longhorns forced the Cougars to get their points in the paint instead of strictly from 3 as BYU attempted only 17 3s for the game — 17 attempts lower than their average per game.
“I think we went into the game knowing that we had to really protect them from having a great game,” Texas head coach Rodney Terry said.
Dylan Disu and Chendall Weaver led the Longhorns with 19 and 15 points, respectively.
Where the Cougars lacked in 3s, they made up for in inside scoring, which led to an efficient first half, shooting 65.4% from the floor. BYU maintained this efficiency through the second half and ultimately ended the game at 64%.
The Longhorns took an early lead of 5-0 and kept that momentum going to take a 6-point lead over BYU at 10-4. As 3s became scarce for the Cougars, their usual go-to trick, they slowly chipped away at the lead scoring in the paint.
Richie Saunders brought energy off the bench with the first 3-pointer of the night for the Cougars and tied the game 19-19.
Cheers erupted from the crowd as Dallin Hall took the first lead for BYU with a driving layup, followed quickly by a Spencer Johnson steal and assist to Saunders for a two-handed dunk that contributed to his 11 points overall.
This momentum carried the Cougars to a 10-point lead over the Longhorns until Hall was taken out after committing his second foul, which promptly resulted in a Texas 10-3 run.
Starting the second half down 44-41, Texas did not waste any time with a layup from Max Abmas; however, BYU quickly responded with an 8-0 run including 3-pointers from Waterman and Johnson.
Texas scored 41 in the first half, but the Cougars stepped up their defensive intensity as they held the Longhorns to 31 in the second half.
The energy from BYU fans was at its peak after a block from Fousseyni Traore and an exhilarating fast-break 3-pointer from Saunders, pushing the lead to 17 points.
Traore’s impact was immediately felt as he bounced back big with 16 points on 6-for-7 shooting and six rebounds in only 17 minutes of play. After starting the season with an injury, having him back on the court helped the Cougars immensely.
“I thought he was super deliberate and I thought he brought a real physicality to the game,” Pope said of Traore’s performance.
Because BYU was able to attack the paint offensively, the team was able to get better looks from 3, hitting 7 of 17 overall.
The Cougars improved 15-5 overall and 3-4 in Big 12 Conference play. Texas fell to 14-6 and 3-4.
