The day after Kevin Young finished his NBA duties last April, the new BYU coach found himself in a Scottsdale ballroom just a few feet away from Utah head coach Craig Smith.
At the time, Young was deep in talks with Smith’s top assistant, Chris Burgess, about joining his staff. In fact, he had just called BYU associate athletic director Brian Santiago to fly Burgess down to Phoenix to meet face-to-face. He didn’t realize the Big 12 coaches meetings would coincide with his deceit.
“I just felt it was very uncomfortable. Craig is right here. I am interviewing his guy. It was just super weird,” Young recalled back in October.
But within a few days, Young closed the deal — poaching Smith’s top guy right in front of him.
“Stuck it to Utah at the same time,” Young proudly told a group of BYU donors after it happened.
A few months later, Smith was more than happy to stick it right back.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Brigham Young Cougars react after forward Mawot Mag (0) hit a big 3-point shot, in Big 12 basketball action between the Utah Utes and the Brigham Young Cougars, at the Jon M. Huntsman Center, on Saturday, Jan 18, 2025.
Utah handed BYU a 73-72 overtime loss in the Huntsman Center over the weekend. It happened in equally cruel fashion, as Smith sent out former Cougar Hunter Erickson to put BYU away with six points in overtime.
It leaves Young, the darling of the offseason, now in a precarious position. His team is 2-4 in conference play and fighting for its NCAA Tournament life. This was supposed to be the easy part of the schedule, but Smith just knocked the Cougars back.
“We’ve got to learn how to win close games. We are right there to win all of these games. You win or lose games on the margins. We’ve come up short too many times,” Young said.
This one, though, exposed the weaknesses of Young’s roster that have lingered for weeks, if not months.
Whereas Utah went to its strength to beat BYU — punishing the Cougars inside — BYU didn’t have an identity of its own to fall back on when the game tightened.
The Utes' top two players, big men Lawson Lovering and Ezra Ausar, combined for 39 points. Even as BYU tried defender after defender — switching guard Trevin Knell on the 7-foot-1 Lovering at one point — there was no matchup that was effective.
“I thought our one-on-one technique was poor in the post on some of that stuff. He is a big strong guy. He made us pay,” Young said.
The Utes scored 14 straight points on layups and putback dunks to start the second half and played like a team that knew its identity: 38 of its 73 points came in the paint.
“We were playing almost like Golden State Warrior basketball, without making as many threes,” earlier in the year, Smith said. “And I said no, this isn’t how this team is made. We are going to play how we play [inside]. ... Keep going to it until they stopped us.”
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Brigham Young Cougars center Keba Keita (13) blocks a shot by Utah Utes guard Mason Madsen (45), in Big 12 basketball action between the Utah Utes and the Brigham Young Cougars, at the Jon M. Huntsman Center, on Saturday, Jan 18, 2025.
But when it came time for BYU to counter with its identity, none showed. Point guard Egor Demin, the star the offense was built around, was largely ineffective in a nine-point game where he shot 4-of-12 from the field. He added only two assists.
Kanon Catchings, the other five-star Young was banking on, was 1-of-6 with two turnovers.
It left Young with no choice but to close the game with senior Dawson Baker trying to make a play. It may have been the right call in the moment, but certainly not how the Cougars were built back in July.
“This game is so fragile,” Young said, adamant that his team’s execution down the stretch was improving.
He pointed to Knell missing the would-be, game-winning free throw as proof his team was close.
“You know Trev steps up and bangs two free throws, Craig’s pissed and I’m not. That’s life,” Young said. “So no, I don’t think as a team we need to execute differently.”
But right now, the problems extend beyond just the end of the game. It gets at who this team is. Utah figured it out. Young admitted last week that he is still searching.
Yet, the calendar is moving close to February now and the margin for error is gone to figure it out. On the horizon are games against Baylor, UCF and Arizona. It only gets more difficult. And then, of course, Utah will come to Provo more than happy to officially finish the Cougars season.
But Young says he is looking forward to that, particularly Utah coming to the Marriott Center.
“I didn’t hear anything over the line. You hear all kinds of horror stories [about coming to Utah]. My kids thought they were walking into a UFC fight. They were scared to come up here,” Young said. “I thought it was classy on Utah’s part. Hard fought game. Will make me hungry to play them again, for sure.”
Young got round one. Smith sent a gut punch in round two.
Round three may very well decide BYU’s season.
