Provo • Trailing Arizona in the battle to have the best college basketball attendance in the West, BYU turned to an unlikely source on Saturday night at the Marriott Center.
Ayo & Teo, a hip-hop duo from South Africa, performed at halftime.
Ayleo and Mateo Bowles, brothers, had a meet-and-greet before the game and entertained the sellout crowd for about three minutes at halftime.
Their hit song, “Rolex,” is the tune that the BYU Cougarettes and mascot Cosmo performed to at halftime of a football game last fall. The routine went viral, and is the reason BYU got the group to perform in Provo.
Heading into Saturday, BYU had four regular-season home games remaining and ranked 18th nationally in attendance at 13,983 per game. That’s about 500 fewer fans per game than last year.
Arizona entered its home game against Utah on Saturday averaging 14,339, 14th-best in the country and highest in the West.
Childs misses a start
Sophomore forward Yoeli Childs did not start a game for the first time this season. Luke Worthington started in his place, getting his first start since the Cougars played at Pacific on Jan. 6.
Childs was sick before the 75-62 loss at Saint Mary’s on Thursday and played only 29 minutes while battling foul trouble. He did not start in the second half of that game. He entered Saturday’s game with 15:39 remaining in the first half.
Intense as ever?
New assistant coach Heath Schroyer is in his second stint at BYU, having been an assistant under Steve Cleveland from 1997-2001. Head coach Dave Rose was on that staff as well, and says Schroyer is pretty much the same guy as he was back then.
“The business over the 16, 17 years he’s been gone, I am not going to say it has mellowed him, because he is every bit as intense,” Rose said. “But I think the experience has helped him manage the intense moments. It is still great entertainment. Because he is all in every day, every minute. It is fun to be around him because he is a pretty intense guy.”
Deep streaks
Elijah Bryant and Jahshire Hardnett both made 3-pointers before the first media timeout to extend their streaks. Bryant has made a triple in 23 straight games, and Hardnett in seven-straight games. Bryant’s streak is tied for the third-longest in a single season with Nick Emery.
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