Back when he was just a young basketball mind in Georgia, Kevin Young made a habit of studying the college game on ESPN’s Big Monday.
Tipoffs were rolling at 7, 9, and 11 p.m. He’d be in his basement in Marietta, a suburb of Atlanta, soaking it in.
“That’s how I even watched BYU games. I was never a big BYU guy back in the day. But they were always on late,” he said.
He got his first taste of the BYU-Utah rivalry in those marathon sessions. He was a kid as Rick Majerus prowled the sidelines for Utah and Rodger Reid guided the Cougars.
Now, Young won’t just be watching the rivalry’s characters from his basement. He’ll be taking his place in the line of coaches who have left their mark on this series.
Young’s Cougars will head to the Huntsman Center for a 7 p.m. tip — his first foray into the rivalry. The first-year head coach tried to downplay it, but he knows what it entails.
“I’m very familiar with how much this game means,” he said. “I personally don’t like to make a lot of those types of things. We’ve got to go up there and get a win regardless.”
But it won’t just be business as usual on Saturday. Not when Young poached two of Utah’s key pieces last summer.
Young brought Utah center Keba Keita and Utes assistant coach Chris Burgess to Provo last spring. Burgess was a BYU assistant under Mark Pope, then spent two years with Utah coach Craig Smith before joining Young’s staff.
“Obviously having Keba, is he like the ultimate traitor going from Utah to BYU?” Young wondered aloud this week. “I’m sure he’ll have an earful going up there. And Burgess as well. It’ll be fun man.”
The State of the Cougars
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Brigham Young Cougars guard Egor Demin (3) takes the ball inside, as Queens Royals Kalib Mathews (3) defends, in basketball action between the Queens Royals and the BYU Cougars, at the Marriott Center, on Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2024.
While Young may have been the talk of the offseason, his team comes into Salt Lake still searching for its identity.
The Cougars played one of the weakest nonconference schedules and shuffled rotations so much that Young still doesn’t know what his best lineups are.
Beyond that, Young’s two budding stars are slumping in Big 12 play. Potential NBA lottery pick Egor Demin has struggled with the Big 12’s physicality and array of defenses. He’s gone 2-for-20 from three and coupled that with 17 turnovers.
Fellow five-star prospect Kanon Catchings was benched last game in favor of five-year veteran Mawot Mag.
There was some hope when Demin scored 10 points against Oklahoma State, but BYU needs more production from a player logging 70% of the minutes in league play.
Demin’s assist rate is the best in the Big 12, according to KenPom, but his turnover rate has gone up from 22 to 27. His offensive rating has plummeted from 108 to just 85.
“I think he’s figuring things out, honestly,” Young said. “He’s figuring out some of these Big 12 defenses and how aggressive they are. And how he can find ways to punish it.”
The one issue that’s plagued BYU is turnovers. Even with a top-five efficient offense in the league, the Cougars have a turnover percentage inching up to 21%. Only Arizona State and Colorado are worse — not great company.
Young knows that if BYU can cut down on giveaways, his team will have a chance against a hot Utah team. But if not, almost no amount of three-point shooting will be able to save it (where 50% of its field goal attempts have come from in league play).
The State of the Utes
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Utes head coach talks to Utah Utes forward Keanu Dawes (8) and Utah Utes forward Jake Wahlin (10) During a break in the action, in Big 12 basketball action between the Utah Utes and the Oklahoma State Cowboys at the Jon M. Huntsman Center, on Saturday, Jan 11, 2025.
For the first three games of the Big 12 slate, Utah looked like it might live up to its preseason designation of being the worst team in the league.
Its average margin of defeat was over 25 points. And no matter how much head coach Craig Smith argued the score wasn’t as bad as the actual game, it was ugly in Salt Lake.
But now, Utah may have a rising star. Rice transfer Keanu Dawes has put up 16 points in back-to-back wins for the Utes. Most impressively, Utah went on the road to TCU (where BYU just lost) and came away with a 73-65 win.
Dawes played plenty of minutes early in the year, then took a dip, but has been a key rotation piece recently.
“His minutes went down. And now when he’s been thrown back out there, he’s made the most of them,” Smith said.
The engine of this team remains shooting guard Gabe Madsen, who has earned a reputation as a BYU killer lately. Last year, it was Madsen’s 17 points in 36 minutes that helped topple the No. 11 Cougars in the Huntsman.
Plus, BYU isn’t the only team with some roster crossover. Two former BYU players, Caleb Lohner and Hunter Erickson, are now playing for the Utes.
“Life has a funny way of having its twists and turns,” Smith said. “A lot of these guys are friends. They play pickup together in the summertime. They’ve grown up playing together. It’s just kind of the landscape.”
