BYU beats VCU for first NCAA tourney win in over a decade

Denver • If there was one weakness to Kevin Young’s spread and shoot offense, it might’ve belonged to Egor Demin.

Young’s 6-foot-9 point guard will likely be an NBA lottery pick. He can attack off the dribble and dart a cross-court pass. But when it comes to kick-out threes, he was shooting just 27% and hitting one triple per game.

Why not change that for likely his only trip to the NCAA Tournament?

With BYU seesawing with VCU on Thursday afternoon, Demin’s shooting was the difference early. Off the dribble, on kick-outs and coming off screens, Demin buried three triples in the first half. His 11 points sparked a 12-2 run into the intermission.

BYU eventually cruised to an 80-71 win.

Demin finished with 15 points on six of 11 shooting. Richie Saunders added 16. Fousseyni Traore had 13 points and nine boards.

“I thought Egor got us going to start the game,” Young said. “Richie is a guy that’s always consistent for us. Fousseyni gave us a huge lift off the bench scoring inside. All in all, a good team win, which has been kind of the calling card for our team all year.”

With the win, the Cougars made it out of the first round of the tournament for the first time since 2011

“It means so much,” Saunders said of the first tournament win of his career. “We’ve had such ups and downs this season, but we’re not ready to be done yet.”

BYU broke the game open after the break, going up 20 with 16 minutes to play.

With VCU trying to take away BYU’s three-point attempts, the Cougars punished VCU inside. BYU finished with 39 points in the paint.

“They imposed their will on the game and did a nice job,” VCU coach Ryan Odom said.

Two of BYU’s centers flirted with a double-double. Traore had 13 points and nine rebounds. Keba Keita chipped in with nine points and nine boards. When VCU briefly cut the lead to 10, Keita came up with an offensive rebound and putback. BYU extended the lead back to 14 and stemmed the tide.

“This means everything to me,” Traore said. “We don’t want to go down like that. Every single game can be our last and take it super personal.”

Young was concerned with VCU’s offensive rebounding and pressure offense coming into the night. He compared the Rams to Iowa State or Houston. But unlike when BYU couldn’t handle the physicality with Houston, this time it controlled the glass.

BYU outrebounded VCU by 11 and beat it on the offensive boards 14-10.

“We wanted to key in on rebounding, not putting them on the line and taking care of the ball,” Young said. “Those were the three keys for us coming into the game and we won those areas.”

It had 16 second chance points to VCU’s seven. It also finished with 12 turnovers.

“Just thrilled to get the win,” Young said. “This time of year, you hear it all the time: You just want to survive and advance.”

Up next

BYU will play three-seed Wisconsin on Saturday with a trip to the Sweet 16 on the line.

“I don’t know a ton about them,” Young said in the moments after his team’s victory. “I know they score a lot of points. I do know that. I know they can have a team where basically everybody can shoot it from three. We’ll have to be dialed in on how exactly we want to guard those guys.

“My coaches have been hard at work trying to make sure that that scout’s dialed and ready. I know they’ve had some super high-scoring games, as I’ve followed it loosely. I really look forward to jumping into the tape and putting a game plan together.”