In win over Utah, BYU shows it’s built different — and better — than a year ago

Provo • On the first morning of last year’s NCAA Tournament, BYU went cold.

A team that hoisted 32 threes a game, the second most in the country, looked perplexed as shot after shot clanked off the iron. Outside of guard Jaxson Robinson, the Cougars shot 23% from three and didn’t have another punch to throw as the season slipped away.

“Last year, we’d have off shooting nights and teams would try to take the three away. We would struggle,” guard Dallin Hall admitted last week.

But this year’s team was built to avoid that problem. Head coach Kevin Young created a roster that could play inside and out.

He paired shooters like Trevin Knell with rim-attacking guards like Egor Demin and Richie Saunders. He mixed crafty scorers like Dawson Baker and Mihailo Boskovic with the length of Keba Keita and Fouss Traore.

In theory, it would make BYU immune to the shooting woes that would inevitably come.

And in BYU’s final game before tournament play begins, it showed.

On Saturday night, the Cougars started 0-of-13 from behind the arc. But instead of withering on the vine, this time they built a double-digit lead and cruised to an 85-74 win over Utah.

This March, the floor is higher for this Cougar team. They can win in many ways and head into the NCAA Tournament in a much better spot than a year ago.

“We are more dynamic,” Hall said. “We have a lot more options.”

Nowhere was it more evident than in the opening of the second half.

With the game within two possessions, Young asked his team to punish Utah inside. Saunders got to the rim twice. Demin followed. Keita finished a putback and by the time BYU turned to Knell, it wasn’t for three but another layup that forced a Utah timeout.

BYU, without shooting, went up 10. It wouldn’t have been possible a year ago. Now, it is the reason BYU is dreaming of a Sweet 16 run.

“With our group, you can’t guard it all. You can’t prepare for it all,” Young said. “You can’t scout it all. I think this group can adjust to how they are guarding us. A lot of teams are nervous about our three-point shooting.”

BYU took 33 shots in the paint and shot 47% from the field. It capitalized with 21 points off turnovers and limited its own cough-ups to 10. It outscored Utah, one of the biggest teams in the country, by 18 points at the rim.

Everything BYU needed to do to win a game where it went 8 of 28 from three, it did.

Young went to guys like Baker, who added 15 points off the bench. Boskovic had 11. Keita had 12. Even when the normal three-point shooters like Knell and Saunders went a combined 1 of 9 from three, it didn’t matter.

With under five minutes left, Demin shot a three in transition that thudded off the rim. But Keita was there for a putback and a foul. He celebrated, and so did Young. It symbolized BYU’s new weapon heading into the tournament.

“It gives us another punch,” Young said.

And it’s been part of a wider trend of late. On its eight-game win streak, BYU won three of those by scoring fewer than 90 points.

It can still win a game when it is forced to shoot the lights out, like it did beating Arizona 96-95. But it can also win the games against West Virginia, 73-69. Young pointed that out as a prime example.

The Mountaineers were swarming BYU at the three-point line. Young urged Saunders to get the bucket. He opened up the second half with two quick layups and the flood gates opened from there.

“When our groups decides we are going to do something offensively, we usually can do it,” he said. “Richie comes out of the locker room at halftime and gets two quick layups in transition. That’s what we talked about. He did the exact same thing against West Virginia.”

Next week BYU will be in the Big 12 tournament, likely playing Iowa State. After that it will be on to the NCAA Tournament. There are no guarantees for what happens there. Another first-round exit can await.

But at least this year’s team is better prepared than last year’s. That much is certain.